About me
If I should condense my background in two sentences, those would be:
Born, raised and grew up, faster than I should, in Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Dreamed big, had it all figured out, got punched in the face by the life’s very awkward sense of humour, only to end up in Sweden.
In reality, things were much less boring and much more nuanced than those two sentences.
I got my degree in mechanical engineering — major in product development, at University of Zenica in 2010 and started off my career with bold ambitions and genuine desire to make the world better place. As much as I would like to think that I’ve indeed been making the world better, the reality of the engineering profession is that we actually do some harm as well alongside whatever good we contribute with.
Very early in my career I learned that there are no fool proof career plans and that question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” is the most meaningless and ridiculous of them all. For the past 16 years not a single day of my career, or my life for that matter, looked like I planned or wanted it to look. Is that bad? Not necessarily. But it certainly puts things into perspective and forces you to build the ultimate resilience.
Professionally, I’ve started as a generalist and I’ve lived to the full potential of that word. My working experience stretches over at least 5 different industries and who knows how many fields for each project I’ve contributed to as a mechanical design engineer. As the time went by I felt that I really needed to find the niche as my indefinite curiosity and endless desire to learn everything about everything became unsustainable. Although my idea of niche field looked differently at different stages of my career, one thing was common denominator to all of them — steel. Heavy machinery and steel structures are definitely “my thing”. So naturally, I specialised in welded design. Fun fact is that I completed my IWSD (International welded structures designer) specialisation and passed the exam in my third foreign language — Swedish, which I’ve spoken barely two and a half years at that time.
In professional and personal context I appreciate the honesty above anything else. Clarity, curiosity and accountability follow immediately behind. I set high standards for everything I do and I expect from others to own their shit as well. I take great pride in being recognised as reliable, thorough and someone who will get the job done. However, I can be someone’s worst nightmare to work with, and I will definitely be that if there is a lack of communication, structure, clarity and system.
And since I have such low tolerance for lack of clarity and inadequate systems, I decided to engage my engineering mind and start to solve problems outside of engineering as well. Initially I did it for myself. But I soon realised that personal finances and overall life satisfaction are not relevant only to me, but worth questioning and approaching systematically for everyone else. I called it a personal project, made it a mission and named it Neatsheet.
By this point in my life problem-solving became part of my identity, it’s no longer a skill. I guess that is why I also found great interest in dog behaviour and psychology, especially after facing harsh reality of owning a dog who is built differently.
It would be probably smarter to say that knitting, crocheting and sewing are hobbies I enjoy recreationally, but the truth is that I usually find the ways to turn them into serious technical projects.
I could never imagine 16 years ago that my life would look like it is today, or that I would grow into this genuinely multi-faceted and wise person I became. That is why I don’t paint the perfect picture of how my career and my life should look in the next five years. Instead, I keep my mind and myself open to the world of possibilities and opportunities that feel right for the person I’m becoming tomorrow, not the one I was the day before yesterday.