The interns’ guide to the galaxy
Strise summer internship 2022
What is it like to work in Strise? How do I become a good decision-maker? These questions, among others, will be enlightened in the following article where we share our experience from working in a fintech startup for the summer internship program 2022 in Strise.
By Kristian Arnesen Vik, Janna Opheim, Sindre Kummervold, Helene Amlie, Swarny Appakkuddy and Mikkel Angelo Anchissi Joner
In the past years, Strise has changed a lot. Now they are putting all hands on deck becoming the most user friendly and compliant KYC[Know Your Customer]-software in the world (okay, we know, very ambitious — but that’s what company visions are supposed to be), by helping financial institutions decide which customers are safe to onboard and not, due to the strict AML[Anti Money Laundering]-rules in the financial industry. They are currently expanding to the Nordics and eventually will be available globally. How has Strise been able to grow and expand so fast? By having core values that the employees live and know by heart — the first and most important one being: You are Strise, make decisions. Decision-making is not only important to Strise’s customers when deciding whether or not to onboard a new client, but also for Strise as a company to get things done and grow as a startup. By giving the individual employees responsibility and influential power, you remove the bureaucracy and create a more free and open-minded work environment.
For six weeks this summer we were given the chance to partake in this work environment, by getting the same responsibility as any other employee in Strise. We used our individual experiences and competence to improve Strise’s product on our own, and at the same time we gained new experiences and competence from each other. In total, we were 6 interns: 2 from design and 4 from tech. Through 6 individual mini-interviews with each one of us each we will take you through our experiences, what we have learned and some tips for future jobseekers of Strise.👇
Kristian Arnesen Vik
23, from UiO, Oslo
UX Designer
Kristian is studying Interaction Design at the University of Oslo and is starting his Master’s Degree this fall. He loves working with users to understand their needs and design solutions for them.
How has your overall time in Strise been?
It has been great! I have really enjoyed my time working in the designers’ corner at the office, getting so many tips, tricks, and guidance from everyone around me. During the summer I worked mostly in Notion, Miro, and Figma, doing analysis and designing elements for the Strise application. I had some smaller tasks and one main brief to work with, mainly related to helping users use the application to its potential. People from every corner of Strise were super helpful and gladly shared their knowledge, skills, and feedback to shape my designs. I also enjoyed attending all kinds of meetings, getting a greater understanding of how a real business operates🛠️.
What is the best about working in Strise?
For me, the best thing about Strise as a workplace is how fun it is being at the office– that you feel that you are missing out if you’re working from home. I also like how good all the teams are at cooperating and communicating with each other, making the whole organization feel very united.
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. Figma! I have learned so many shortcuts and best practices
2. Working within constraints, like a design system, or with a user group that is mostly on vacation
3. Looking at the bigger picture, seeing components as parts of a bigger system
Do you have any tips for future jobseekers that want to work at Strise?
If you’re an intern: don’t feel like you need to know everything before starting an internship, you’re there to learn and develop!
Janna Opheim
23, from HK Oslo
Graphic Designer
Janna finished her bachelor in Graphic Design 2022 from Høyskolen Kristiania (prev. Westerdals) and will further study for a Master’s Degree in Germany this fall. Her speciality is strategic identity design.
How has your overall time in Strise been?
During my internship I’ve been doing a lot of different stuff: from handling content on Strise’s Instagram account, to redesigning and updating design elements on the website, exploring features in Figma as well as producing this article. I was also given a brief to redesign Strise’s identity, which was a pretty big task, but also very fun!
What is the best thing about working in Strise?
You get to take control over your own working day and tasks. If I’d feel like working on my given brief, I’d do that, but if I didn’t feel inspired I could just find myself another relevant mission. There is no boss hanging over your shoulder telling you what to do. Also, if we see the potential for improvements and give feedback, it always gets taken seriously. There is no formal hierarchy and I love it! And of course, all the social stuff and the super cute office dog Sara, which is a super diva 💅
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. Making a bad decision is better than not making any decision at all
2. Learned a lot of new terms within KYC, finance, and tech + got a better understanding of how tech-people work
3. Learned Figma, which I’d never first opened until I started at Strise. A great design platform, except for the pen tool, it’s super annoying!
Do you have any tips for future jobseekers that want to work at Strise?
I think the most important thing is to be confident in yourself and your own decisions. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can anyone do?
Sindre Kummervold
24, from NTNU Trondheim
Software Engineer
Sindre is starting his final year of Cybernetics and Robotics at NTNU specializing in autonomous systems. He has experience in several technical organizations at NTNU, most recently as the Lead perception engineer in Ascend NTNU. In the fall he will start writing his Master’s thesis in the field of autonomous driving.
How has your overall time in Strise been?
Primarily I worked on Strise’s python project in the backend. Some of the tools I have used include Docker and spaCy — an NLP library for python. There are also a lot of social activities at Strise, including Beer O’Clock every Friday after work.
What is the best about working in Strise?
One of the best things about working at Strise is the freedom we have to choose what we work with and that everyone is allowed to come up with suggestions — even interns. In my second week, I made a suggestion for some changes and was given the green light to implement them.
The social environment at Strise is also very good. Everyone was very welcoming from the start. We had several events together outside of work throughout the summer, including renting a sauna, escape room, and having a BBQ.
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. I have become a better programmer by working with people with a lot of experience. This has made me more critical of my own code.
2. Life is better with a rubber-duck
3. Got to try out a new programming language: Scala
Helene Amlie
23, from NTNU, Oslo
Software Engineer
Helene is studying Computer Science at NTNU in Trondheim and is starting her fourth year this fall. She looks forward to learning more about her field of study “System Software” and especially working on a customer-driven project.
How is a normal work day at Strise?
In Strise we were included in the important meetings giving us an insight into Strise and how it is to work in a startup. This was also a huge factor that made me feel like a part of Strise and not just an intern. We were encouraged to come up with suggestions for improvement and the core value you are Strise, make decisions was often repeated. I got better at making independent decisions and seeing that it is OK to fail and that everything has a solution.
I could also choose what tasks I wanted to do based on my experiences, knowledge, and interests. I worked mostly front-end implementing design features from the design team because I wanted to learn more about React and best code practices. When I wanted to do something else I got to look at how customers are using Strise and I made some graphs to visualize the usage.
What is the best about working in Strise?
Learning new things and being able to see the things you’ve worked on actually being implemented in the app and used by real users. Strise also has an awesome social environment with amazingly talented and welcoming coworkers. It is a lot of fun both at work, but also after work with social happenings. A bonus is that you are assisting the global fight against financial crimes!
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. I have learned more about AML and KYC through their podcast “The Laundry”
2. Learned more React and Typescript
3. Learned how it is to work in a start-up
Do you have any tips for future jobseekers that want to work at Strise?
Everyone is very helpful. So don’t be afraid if you feel like you don’t have enough experience or knowledge, you will learn it during the internship.
Swarny Appakkuddy
22, from NTNU Trondheim
Software Engineer
Swarny studies Computer Science at NTNU in Trondheim. She starts her fourth year this fall and is attending a foreign exchange program in Milan at Politecnico di Milan. Swarny prefers working with Front-end Development and is excited to learn new features and frameworks in Milan.
How is a normal work day at Strise?
Great! The tasks at Strise have given me a sense of achievement but have also been challenging. This is exactly what I was looking for in an internship. I am left with a feeling that I know everything about the React Framework that Strise uses for front-end development. (I don’t :), but it built my confidence).
What is the best about working in Strise?
There are many reasons to apply for an internship at Strise. The feeling of inclusion socially, and in the business is what stood out the most. All the colleagues are friendly, humble, and helpful. We always have fun at lunch breaks and at social events. The interns are invited to all important meetings and are encouraged to participate. This gave me more ownership of the product.
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. Use the React framework
2. Working together with a design team to implement new design features
3. Rubber-ducking is very useful
Mikkel Angelo Anchissi Joner
25, from NTNU Trondheim
Software Engineer and Designer
Mikkel Angelo recently completed a Bachelor in Informatics at NTNU and is about to start the third year of an integrated Master in Industrial Design at NTNU. He is interested in both technology and design, and how they complement each other.
How has your overall time in Strise been?
It’s been good working at Strise. I wanted to specifically work in a startup to get experience with how the startup-life was. I expected way more noodles 🍜 and red bull. I worked mostly with React+Typescript as well as GraphQL. It was nice to work with GraphQL since that is something I wanted to learn. I was also given design tasks, and these were completed in Figma. It felt good to be able to both design something in Figma and then actually implementing it. Sindre and I were always the first ones in the office in the morning. I got the vibe that the Strise-people are more night-owls, and that fits most people in our industry — cause who don’t want to sleep long in the morning?
What is the best about working in Strise?
I liked that the vibe was chill. People were knowledgeable and skilled, but at the same time pretty laid back. It never felt like I had a deadline that had to be met. There was no stress involved during my internship, which was actually surprising since Strise’s favorite meme is this one:
A cool thing was that our code was actually included in the final product. It felt good to look at something on the actual app and be like: “I made that.”
Strise also has cool merch. I received a sweater that I actually can wear in public without looking like a walking billboard. I also liked that we were given mentors who followed us through our journey. This was nice. However, a lot of the time it felt like this:
What are 3 things you have learned or gotten better at during your internship?
1. I’ve definitely become a better programmer by being exposed to best practice code
2. I’ve learned different marketing strategies and how a company is more than just its product
3. I’ve learned that some industries are more prone to be used as a cover-up for money laundering
Do you have any tips for future jobseekers that want to work at Strise?
Follow Strise’s principle You are Strise, make decisions. Don’t wait for permission if you have a good idea or something you want to try. Just go and do it. Even if you might not succeed, you will have learned a lot, which will probably be useful later.
To conclude, it’s impossible to find the perfect answer, as we will never find the answer to life, the universe, and everything (even though someone claims it’s 42). Our advice after working six weeks at Strise is to stop chasing the perfect solution and start making decisions instead! You can always go back and correct mistakes, but you will never know if you never try. To grow and expand into the universe, you must expose yourself and challenge your comfort zone. Okay, you get the point, we will stop now before you die of cliché overdose. If you find yourself questioning whether to do something or not, the answer is you do it. Or you don’t. That’s up to you to decide. And fellas, before you start making decisions and exploring the universe — don’t forget to bring your towel!
For more insights into the social life at Strise, check their Instagram ✨here✨
