Fun Friday: Meet Sebastian Ohm

This Friday say “Hej” with me and help welcome Sebastian Ohm to the team in Berlin!

Hi Sebastian, thank you for taking the time to do this interview! How are you doing today?

Most excellent, kind Madam.

First, welcome to the SoundCloud team in Berlin! Can you tell us what your role entails and what you enjoy most about it so far?

I’m Iteration Sensei (Scrum Master) for the Content/MIR team and help my team translate ideas into code. As a developer I touch all parts of the stack in various programming languages from back-end to front-end. I currently focus on solving infrastructural tasks and scaling challenges which I enjoy quite a bit.

Where are you from originally? How do you like working in such an International office?

I’m originally from Emden (Niedersachsen, Germany), a small coastal town on the North Sea. I have to say that I haven’t spoken German at work since I moved to Berlin 3 ½ years ago, even before starting at SoundCloud. Fun fact: Canadians are everywhere. International companies like SoundCloud have an open and collaborative atmosphere that I enjoy being part of. It’s all about solving problems, not about red tape.

What are your favorite things to do in Berlin so far and what do you like about the city?

I enjoy the good coffee. There seem to be more and more places serving great coffee popping up everywhere. The little Asian girl in me is delighted by the number of recently opened bubble tea shops. I’m an avid cyclist and even though I’m not riding a fixie (a bike with 16 gears of which 8 work is pretty close), I enjoy biking around town. Berlin is best traveled and experienced by bike.

How were you introduced to SoundCloud?

I was introduced to SoundCloud at a Ruby User Group meeting that was held at the office. I had previously seen Sean talk about the AWS Infrastructure at various Berlin Tech Talks and always found the challenges to be interesting. When Eric announced the need for Ruby devs, my girlfriend made me apply. I rocked the challenge and here I am.

What do you like most about being a part of the SoundCloud team? (3 reasons)

1. Interesting work
2. Talented and knowledgeable co-workers
3. Open and communicative vibe

What are your favorite sounds you have found while scouring SoundCloud?

Here are some:
Foo Fighters – White Limo – [The Prodigy remix] by The Prodigy

White Wedding by Queens of the Stone Age

and http://soundcloud.com/bassnectar/where-is-my-mind-bassnectar-remix

Finally, do you have any fun facts that we should know about?

I learned English by listening to Henry Rollins’ Spoken Word albums and watching Conan O’Brien on TV. Keep cool my babies!

Excellent! Thanks for the interview Sebastian! Remember to say hello in the comments!