Einride Portraits: Hadla, Front-end software engineer

DJing at techno clubs across Stockholm, building schools from scratch in Ghana, and front-end software engineering at Einride are pursuits that are seemingly worlds apart. Hadla Bergman – one of the bright minds shaping the freight mobility platform Einride Saga – reveals why her biggest passions have a thing or two in common.

What made you want to join Einride?

I wanted to work at a company that strives to make the world a better place – a place where things are done smarter. That’s why I became a software engineer in the first place. 

Also, as a kid, I had this image of how the future would look: robots and self-driving cars – all of that. And now, I’m working at a place that’s bringing those childhood visions to life. It feels especially real when you think about Einride achieving some historic milestones around the world for autonomous vehicles. 

What is your role?

I am one of the software engineers working on the digital platform Einride Saga. Being a front-end engineer, I focus primarily on what the user can see – how the information and data get displayed – while my back-end colleagues focus on what’s behind the curtain, such as the information that comes in and how it gets processed or stored. I work closely with back-end engineers, but on the flip side, I also work closely with UX designers and UX writers to ensure the best possible user experience.

What does this platform do?

Because electric and autonomous shipping is incredibly complex, it really needs a powerhouse solution to bring everything – and everyone – together. With Saga, you have an intelligent digital platform that acts like the brain coordinating the entire shipping operation. It removes the complexity, thanks to the wealth of data and algorithms behind it. 

”I love the idea of creating something the world has never seen before.”

I’m totally unbiased when I say that Saga is a game-changer. Based on the shipping data of our clients, it will identify which routes to electrify for the greatest environmental impact and cost savings. Once the client is ready to ship, Einride handles the moving of the goods while Saga serves as one interface for the client to do everything from booking shipments, planning routes, and making adjustments on the fly – taking into account all the charging needs. They can also see how much they’re saving in direct emissions. But really, this is just a fraction of what Saga is capable of – I could go on!

What does your team focus on?

I work closely with the features or “apps” known as Orchestrate and Deliver. Like all of the Saga apps, they tap into the same intelligence and the same pool of data, but they serve different uses within the shipping operation. Orchestrate is like the control tower of Einride Saga, providing oversight to all of the shipper’s transportation operations and allowing them to make adjustments in real time. 

Deliver is more specifically for drivers. Bear in mind, Einride doesn’t only do autonomous shipping! Most of our customers are moving goods with human-driven electric trucks. So those drivers – including those who work for our partner carriers – get their instructions through Deliver. They can see where to pick up the shipments, where to drive, and where and when to charge the vehicle. When developing the Deliver app, the driver's input is crucial for our product’s success. In our team, we get the opportunity to actually sit with the drivers in the electric truck while they complete a real-time delivery.

What do you enjoy most about the job?

I like how Einride’s mission feels like it comes through in everything we do. We’re working together, harnessing digitalization, to deliver better experiences and to really help the companies of the world become more sustainable. 

And I love the idea of creating something the world has never seen before. Especially as a software engineer, you get a true sense that you are helping to define the solutions and the positive impacts they are bringing. You have a voice.

Another fantastic aspect of Einride is our people. I’m surrounded by geniuses every day. There’s always something new to learn. And not just within my role. It’s tempting to see what other teams are working on, even if it’s something seemingly unrelated to my focus area, like the lidars on the autonomous vehicles.

”I’m surrounded by geniuses every day. There’s always something new to learn.”

At the end of the day, with how Einride’s solutions are presented to the world as one complete offering, everything is connected. It feels like we’re all working on separate puzzle pieces, and each of them is as important as the next one. And they all connect together, amazingly, to show a better way forward.

What are some of your passions outside of your day-to-day work?

I founded a non-profit charity organization in Ghana called Classrooms for Change. These past five years, I’ve worked with assisting and improving schools that lack funding. Last year, I took it a step further. I purchased land near one of the villages to build a school from scratch. So that school – in Krofu, a village in Central Ghana – is currently in development.

In some villages, children need to walk extremely far each day to get to school – sometimes on an empty stomach. They’re not given a fair chance in life. My goal is to enhance the education rate in villages secluded from these opportunities by enabling better access to schools.

Do you see a link between your charity work – building schools in Ghana – and your day job?

I would like to think my organization has a similar solutions-oriented mindset to Einride. With both, there is a sense that you’re solving problems by challenging existing ways of thinking and diving into something new. By asking: “Why is it done this way?” and “What if we did it this way, instead?”.

When you build something from scratch, a whole world of possible solutions can be found. Of course, Einride is about transforming an industry on a broad scale, while my charity work is much more on a local scale – but it’s certainly going to make an impact in these children’s lives, and I’m very grateful I can contribute in this way.

Where might we find you on a typical weekend?

I like to DJ! I’ve always had a passion for music – to express art through sound. But unless the art I’m trying to express is the sound of a distressed cat, my singing voice hasn't really been an option. Instead, I got hooked on producing music on my computer, which is what eventually led me to start DJing at techno clubs and events.

One thing I love is the way you get immediate feedback. You instantly feel the crowd's response to what you are playing. You create a “music journey”, choosing the path as you go and bringing the crowd onto that journey with you. And it takes effort to lift the crowd. I can’t just rattle off my favorite songs. I have to listen and sync the crowd to my wavelength to build up that feeling.

I have to admit, there is something about it that echoes what I do as a software engineer. You can’t just create a one-way interaction. You leverage the feedback you get – everything from how something looks once you’ve entered the code to real feedback from customers who have used the interface – and you constantly iterate upon that. 

And of course – whether it’s in my day job, in my charity work, or during my DJ sets – it all comes back to connecting with people. And, in one way or another, hopefully brightening their day.

___________

Want to join Hadla and Einride in building the future? Einride is always on the lookout for ambitious, creative and kind-hearted people with relevant expertise to join the team. Check out Einride’s career page to see our current open positions.

See our job openings →

‍