Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Systems all the way down

Viktor Klang bio photo

About

I am Viktor Klang, a programmer, researcher, problem solver, life-long student, leader, mentor/advisor, public speaker, Java Champion, and Porsche enthusiast.

In my professional career I’ve focused on enabling developers to do great things with minimal effort. As a result of this I have contributed to the standard libraries of several major programming languages, been involved in many Open Source projects, and enabled some of the largest companies in the world do things with software they didn’t think was possible.

I occasionally blog about technology.

Professional highlights

Between 2019 and 2021, together with my colleagues Jonas Bonér and James Roper, I created Akka Serverless—a novel solution which allows developers to create stateful serverless applications without ever having do deal with a database, using practically any programming language.

I am one of the earliest, and most prolific, contributors to the Akka Project, which was started by Jonas Bonér. I was Akka’s Tech Lead between 2011 and 2012—preceded by Jonas Bonér and superseded by Roland Kuhn.

In 2013 I helped found the Reactive Streams Initiative which I have since then stewarded, together with a group of world-class contributors.
There is now a JVM version and a .NET version, and it is included in Java 9.

I co-authored Scala Improvement Proposal 14—scala.concurrent—in 2012, and have been maintaining it since then.

Also, I am a co-author of Scala Improvement Proposal 20 (improved lazy val initialization).

I’ve been ranked, by Computer Sweden, amongst the Best Software Developers in Sweden, as the 11th (2016); 18th (2015); and 15th (2012).

In 2018 I was elected Java Champion.

Work

Since June 2021 I am working as Director of Engineering, Developer Experience at Sinch where I am responsible for making sure that developers using Sinch products have effortless success, and that developers at Sinch can deliver value without friction.

From 2010 to 2021 I worked for Lightbend Inc. As the first employee of what was then called «Scalable Solutions» my responsibilities changed over time: from first working on the Akka team; to leading it; to becoming the first Dir. Eng. in the company; then Chief Architect; between 2015-2020, I served as Head of Cloud Engineering and Deputy CTO, to then in 2020 I became Vice President of Engineering, Cloud where I was responsible for creating Akka Serverless, which I co-created during my time at the Office of the CTO, and subsequently took to production.

Between 2003 and 2010 I worked for Yves Rocher Suéde AB building their «Next Generation» Enterprise Management System—everything from CRM, ERP, WMS, Billing, Marketing, Statistics, Payment processing, the works… I started working there as a Junior Software Developer and left as Systems Architect.

Speaking engagements

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

  • Devoxx
  • W-JAX
  • Lunds Tekniska Högskola - Campus Helsingborg
  • Gothenburg Scala Enthusiasts
  • ÖreDev
  • Scala Days