In which I remember about the short interview, in which the question “Who the hell is Carlos Eriksson?” finally gets an answer.

Oh, Right. I Forgot

588 words about life — 17:30 · 18th Sep 2014

Talk about showing up late to the party.

There’s fashionably late and then there’s “I completely forgot about it for a month” late.

This is more the latter.

Last month, Kris asked me to write a short article answering some questions he had sent me, to introduce me to their billions millions handful of readers.

But rather than copying and pasting the article here I’m going to do the adult thing and link to it instead. Read Meet frontend developer Carlos Eriksson. I especially enjoyed pretentiously posing and pretending to read. Though in hindsight I wish I would have turned the book upside down as an Easter egg for those with a keen eye.

And for those of you who are even more curios, I’m by the way pretending—don’t worry, I have read it—to read the excellent Design Is a Job by Mike Monteiro.


This article originally appeared on 27th October 2014 at squider.com. Reprinted here for posterity.

Meet frontend developer, Carlos Eriksson

In early August Squiders welcomed Carlos to our team, here you can find out just a little more about him.

What’s your story Carlos, who the hell are you?

Finland. The year is 1984. The summer winds are sweeping through the birch trees as a young woman gives b—

Oh, you didn’t mean that kind of story? Right.

My name is Carlos Eriksson and I’m a Designer / Front end developer originally from Finland who together with my wife and son each packed a bag and embarked on an adventure to UK. This was just over 2 years ago and we haven’t looked back since, though I do miss Ruispalat (Finnish rye bread). I’m inquisitive and critical by nature and get genuinely excited about learning new things, whether it’s a new tool in my profession or baking exquisitely complicated cupcakes. Add to that, a bit of self-depricating humour and a cup of freshly brewed coffee and you get Instant Carlos™.

Warning: Instant Carlos™ is only sold at selected retailers. Limited stock availability.

What is your technical background?

Whilst I have a degree in Audiovisual communication—for whatever that’s worth—most of what I’ve learned through the years has been by following—and not always following—the path of the titans that came before me, such as Dieter Rams and Jeffrey Zeldman, to name but a few. Practically speaking, I’ve been designing and developing websites for the past 15 years—you would think I would be better at it by now. Before starting at Squiders I worked at another web design agency in Maidstone and before that it was at a printing house back in Finland. I’ve also worked as a Florist at one point.

What is your role at Squiders?

As a Front end developer who likes to get his proverbial feet wet in both typographical choices as well as database queries my role is to bridge the gap between Kris and Jo by giving life to websites through semantic and well-structured markup, built to withstand the tide of fleeting trends and free from deceptive dark patterns.

What’s for lunch?

Bacon and bean soup with German style rye bread.

How do you occupy yourself when not slaving away at work?

If I’m not spending time with my family I’m probably engrossed one of my numerous side-projects. From putting the finishing touches on my first novella, developing my own board game and sculpting dolls, to name a few, I tend to keep myself busy.

You’ve just read Oh, Right. I Forgot.

In which, 10 years ago, I wrote 588 words about life and I covered topics, such as: jobs , and interviews .