About

My name is John Ahlroos and this blog that you are reading is my attempt to gather my thoughts on different topics that are relevant as time passes by.

John me

I've always found the question “Who am I” hard.

Just because I generally don´t like to think in those terms. For example I could say “I am a Software Engineer and have done plenty of things in the 15 years I have been making software”. But that would leave out all my life experience in traveling. I could also say I am a traveler as I have had many, many opportunities to travel the world, but that would leave out my passion for amateur photography. And I couldn't define my life without mentioning my beautiful girlfriend with whom I have shared over 15 years with already.

So who am I?

If you ask people who I am, they most likely will describe to you the version I was when I was with them. For my parents, they think of me as someone from my childhood days. If you met me in school you probably think I am am this awkward boy in the computer lab. If you met me at work you might perceive me as ambitious or the guy who always spoke his mind. If you were an old friend and no longer are then I apologize and sincerely wish you well, maybe ping me sometime?

But this is how it goes. For everybody I have met, that is what I am to them at the time I met them. For those who are just meeting me I am most likely something different. And for you people who I haven´t yet met, please come say hi, and let us chat, I am a very friendly person :)

So... who am I?

All I can say is how I perceive myself at this time. To do this I can state the facts as they are. Depending on your upbringing and background you will judge these facts and draw your own conclusions. So be it, I accept my faith.

My name is John, and at the time of writing I am almost 40 years old (editors note: I have no idea where those years have went, literally no idea...). I live in Marbella, in Spain, with my lovely girlfriend who I have known for over 15 years now (and counting). I don´t have children and I don´t have pets (that should answer 99% of your questions). I love to travel and experience new things (and that is the final 1%).

I have two parents who live close by here in Spain and a sister and her family in Finland who I see a few times a year. My family is pretty split over the world but that is how it goes these days.

Originally I am from Söderkulla, Finland. I don't expect you to know where this is, even if you are Finnish born. All you need to know is that it is near Helsinki, in southern Finland.

I grew up boating in the summers in the Finnish archipelago and wondering in the forests in the winters. This meant nature has always been very close to me.

I have studied Computer Science but never achieved Masters degree, only a Bachelors in CS Comp. Came close though, only the actual thesis remained from graduating. I still am humoring my supervisor after 10 years though and writing on the thing on and off. My supervisor has elephant level patience.

I have worked in a few companies as a software engineer, in many cases writing complex code, in other cases leading team efforts. I enjoy the coding and designing software in all forms, from design, to product, to implementation and further to devops and end-user support. It is such a thrill seeing people use something I've built.

When I was younger I played basketball and was pretty good at it. Later on I gave it up since I couldn't really find anyone to play with once I grew up and my knees couldn't take the pounding. Finland was more of a hockey type of country. Probably will start throwing hoops one day again, it was fun.

These days I mostly hike, run and go to the gym. I'm not ultra fit by any standards, but I think a good counter-balance to programming work is exercise in one form or another. Currently contemplating moving into something new like golf or some watersports as there are plenty here to choose from in Marbella.

So that is who I am. Now.

Final thoughts.

This site you are on right now is my way of getting ideas, opinions and whatnot out of my head into written form. I don´t expect you to agree about everything, nor do I expect you to find everything interesting and novel. But would it be the case that you find something useful or interesting, let me know in the comments section.

I write these text mostly in English even though I am a native Swedish speaker with a strong background in Finnish (look up what a Finnish-Swedish person is, I dare you!). This means my English grammar might not always be perfect, I acknowledge that, and hope that even if you are one of those who find it impossible to live without perfect grammar can find my mumbles useful. C'est la vie.