Not afraid to re-saddle

She has traveled to Germany four different times, to four different cities. When Optimation asked if Carolina Hertzberg wanted to move to the west coast to start up the Gothenburg office, she was therefore not scared for this opportunity.
– I’m used to moving to new places without knowing anyone, it’s not a big deal, she smiles.

Carolina grew up 20 km outside the student city of Uppsala. Horses were the big interest and all
time she had over was spent in the stable. When it came time to choose a high school program, it was Carolina therefore about to go to horse high school, but the parents were of a different opinion.
– They did not want me to specialize in something so early. And today I think it was
good that they made me to rethink. Horse careers are quite tough and today it is not something I would have wanted to
work full time with, says Carolina.

Instead, it had to be the science program. In addition, she made a compromise with
the parents so that Carolina could keep the horse interest alive.
– Through my elective courses, I was able to focus on special sports and riding. It was
no horse high school but I got to ride in school at least, she says.

No, Carolina’s high school did not become a catapult to a career as an elite rider, but it was
a catalyst for the career she has today. During high school, biology had been a favorite subject
but in high school the love of math and physics was aroused.
– It was probably because I had a very good teacher and a good class. Studying together became
a way to socialize.

Germany 
After the graduation, the urge was aroused to see a little more of the world. Carolina had studied German during high school and the choice therefore fell on going as an Au pair to Bremen in northern Germany. There she enjoyed herself and remained for six months before she moved home to Uppsala again. And in the coming years
there would be three more stays in Germany.
– It is so easy to return to Germany once you know the language. I have been going back two summers to work in the summer and also spent an exchange year in Hamburg.

But now we are moving to fast. After the first stay in Germany, she came home and
felt it would be fun to study an engineering program. The choice fell on the master’s engineering program in media technology at KTH in Stockholm.
– I thought the creative part and the programming seemed fun. But I felt pretty fast
that it was not really my thing, so I dropped out after six months, says Carolina.

Instead, she downloaded a program catalog from Uppsala University and carefully went through it all engineering educations. The program that sounded the most fun was a civil engineer in energy systems and who luckily, reality turned out to live up to the description.
– It was a very mixed program with technical pieces such as courses in physics and technology
also environment-related courses. A cool mix quite simply.

Unplanned Gothenburg move
During the final year of her education, Carolina attended a job fair. She already had in
pre-looked companies that seemed interesting and Optimization caught her attention
with its optimization and control technology. Optimation had plans to open an office in Gothenburg and therefore looked for people who could imagine moving to the front of Sweden.
– I do not know if I really wanted to go to Gothenburg really. I just knew I wanted to surface from
Uppsala. But I thought why not? I have been a bit in Gothenburg in the summers and it seemed
as a nice city, she explains.

The move took place in the summer of 2020 and shortly afterwards Carolina opened up the Gothenburg office together with another colleague. Fortunately, the job at Optimation turned out to be exactly the same funny as it sounded on paper.
– Right now I am working on a very fun project where I am building a model of a salmon farm in Norway.
It is a very exciting type of modeling because it is new to both me and Optimation.

Although Gothenburg is her new hometown, she has not left Germany completely. Biweekly
she joins her German group to speak the language.
– It may not be so serious German training, more friends I train and speak German with now and then. But you get a little rusty when you do not talk so much, so it’s fun that I have mine
small German group, says Carolina.

Nor has she given up her interest in horses. At the end of 2021, Carolina bought one
degree present to himself in the form of the horse Tanja. She is accommodated in a stable for a quarter of an hour
from home and Carolina is there four to five times a week. But the question is how much riding
it becomes?
– She is not really ridden in yet so we are working on it, she laughs.
The natural follow-up question will of course be whether Carolina has ridden horses before.
– No, she answers and laughs even more. But I have help to ride her in so I do not do everything
all alone.