Ojārs Heinsbergs
Software Developer
Ojārs’ career story: working smart today and in the long run
Ojārs describes himself as a data analyst, product owner, programmer and automatization enthusiast. He says that his work doesn’t stop while he’s having this interview, with some tasks being handled by a programme he designed a while ago. Talking about working smart, Ojārs has it covered.
How did your journey start at SEB?
I have been with SEB for almost 5 years now. I have a background in programming. When I started working here, I was given an internal process that involved daily repetitive tasks, and I felt like if you have to do the same thing more than five times it should be automated.
This is where my automation journey began. Within a year, after trials and testing, I designed a programme that could do those small repetitive tasks for me. Now, part of my work is being done by “little robots”.
What does long-term thinking and sustainability mean to you personally?
I think working smart is working sustainably. Looking for those opportunities to do tasks in a way that works in the long-term, not just for today. Sustainability is about flexibility and ability to adjust. If you create a solution, it has to be able to adjust to different situations and still be relevant. It has to be self-sufficient and work for you or anyone else who needs it.
It used to be about stability, now it is also about how well you can adjust to change, and that makes sense as the world is changing fast.
Do you see sustainability as a part in your everyday work?
The solutions I create help me and my colleague to perform our tasks more efficiently, and as our processes are interconnected, other colleagues also benefit from it. Of course, I invested quite a lot of time in this, but the return in efficiency is at least three times the amount of work that was put in. There are things now that can be done in five minutes instead of an hour. And many things can be done in parallel, without sacrificing the quality.
This gives me time to concentrate on issues that really need my attention and frees some time to participate in different social engagements in the office, like playing table tennis or having a cup of coffee with colleagues.
Is SEB’s focus on sustainability different from other companies in the financial industry?
Yes and no. We do have similar challenges we are going through, but I think SEB’s approach is not to dive in headfirst. That could, of course, give us an upper hand in some situations, but is also very risky. I think our approach is to monitor, check, double and triple check the innovations and only when we are 100% sure it is worth it, we will implement it.
On one hand, you might not be the first to get the newest feature, but you will get responsibly evaluated solutions that are safe to use. So, the focus is more on things that will really work in the long term.
What is something that is on the horizon that you think is going to be impactful in the world of finance or sustainability?
AI is definitely changing the way we work with data. Of course, you need to follow through and validate the output, but even now testing out different tools for work and personal needs I can see that the results are quite good. I am considering adding AI powered data analytics to my toolbox to simplify the data analysis in my work.
Outside of work – I recently let AI plan my vacation for me. I entered the destination region, said that I want a plan including hiking, one or two landmarks per day for a certain number of days, taking into consideration the season and asked for suggestions for places to stay that fit the planned route. It provided a good plan, and I easily found a place to book. It saved me a lot of research and planning time I could instead spend with my family. Ideally, I think this is the impact AI should have on our lives – simplifying processes and saving time for other things we would like to do.
