My name is Douglas Halse.
Personal interests
I have had a huge interest in technology since day one. As with most children, I kept asking the question: “How does that thing work?, Why does it do that?”. This thirst for understanding remained after growing up (although I pose any questions in a less annoying manner nowadays).
One example of this is my interest in China and its political situation. What started as simply watching some intriguing youtube videos discussing the controversial Hong Kong national security law ended with me having taken a course on contemporary China at a university I have never attended and consuming book after book about the social, political, and geopolitical situation in China. This is one example of me diving headfirst into a new concept and keep posing the questions: “When?”, “Why?” and “How?”.
Engineering traits
I am a very analyzing individual who tends to internally deconstruct concepts and theories to get a clearer understanding of the domain and potential solutions. I will gladly present and share my ideas and findings. I am also prudent in hearing colleagues out.
My analytical nature aids when trying to understand a system as-a-whole and my intuition of system architecture help me to raise concerns and highlight intelligent decisions.
Academic experience
High school
3-year high school program with a focus on science and engineering. Included university math preparation.
I attended the high school known as REAL gymnasiet in the town called Norrköping.
University
I am studying for my degree of Master of Science in Engineering with a focus on computer science and artificial intelligence. I will graduate in 2022.
I am currently attending Örebro University of Sweden.
Work experience
2016 – Skate park security and kiosk attendant
During the summer of 2016, I got a job as Groundskeeper and kiosk manager and was responsible for the park. I also ran the kiosk at the park and ran multiple services such as selling food items and drinks. I also handled renting skateboards. I had the responsibility that all the rules of the skatepark were followed and that order was maintained.
2017 – Safety inspector and attraction host
During the summer of 2017, I worked as a safety inspector for the roller coaster rides that is available at Kolmården Wildlife Park. At the park, I was responsible for performing daily safety and security checks to ensure the safety of the customers. A regular workday started with a 40-minute car ride to start my shift at 06:00.
To ensure proper function I followed the daily safety inspection form and verified that everything was in order and replaced any wear and tear parts that had to be changed. After all the inspections and maintenance, my role at the park transitioned into being an attraction host at the ride called “Wildfire”.
Working at the ride I made sure all the park visitors had a great time and that they were safe during their stay. I answered questions about the park and told the riders about the safety precautions that we had in place. While being an attraction host you need to meet all the customers with respect and a smile.
2021 – Summer intern developer
During the summer of 2021, I got the chance to work with the IT department at the national institute of statistics known as “Statistiska centralbyrån”.
The task was to investigate how an alternate database structure known as a graph database could speed up the search for correlations between certain statistics. The work was successful and together with a programming partner, we created a working prototype of a graph database implementation.
The prototype showed a speed-up of several orders of magnitude when compared to the previous approach.
2022 – Master thesis
During the last semester of my studies at Örebro University, I decided to do my master thesis together with my classmate Amanda Håkansson at a company called SECTRA.
The project revolves around evaluating how well an automatic voice-based authentication would work in one of their products that uses a dictation process.
The project is due to finish 30:th of May 2022 and I can not wait to share out progress here! Stay tuned…
Additional volunteer work
Class representative
During my 5-year studies at Örebro University, I was the class representative for my class. I was the contact person for formal complaints and suggestions regarding the program and forwarded these to the program leader at the University.
There were also quarterly meetings with the other class representatives where we discussed matters regarding the school facilities and general student life at the University.
Program representative
At the University fair known as “Universitetsdagarna”, high school students from around the county were invited to attend presentations about the different programs available at the Örebro University. I signed up to represent my program called Master of Science in Computer Science.
Together with the program leader, I created a presentation showcasing the program and my experience with the program. I also acted as the presenter for the presentation.
Teaching assistant
I wanted to help the newly enrolled students of the program I was in at Örebro University. During my duties as a class representative, it was made clear during a discussion with the first-years that many struggled with the introductory courses in programming.
I decided to volunteer as a teaching assistant for the introductory course to help the new students with the basics of programming.