About Me

Who I Am

I'm Joel Hägvall, 26 years old, born and raised in Stockholm. I've always liked figuring out how things work. These days that means workflows, systems and products. I studied Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University and now build microservices, tooling and automated workflows at Scania.

My way of working is simple: find every blocker and remove it. Most of a normal workday isn't hard problems, it's glue between systems, so I automate everything possible. At work, in my own projects, and for clients. I wrote more about that in Automate Everything Possible.

I also care a lot about privacy. Automating with AI means sending data somewhere, and a lot of that data should never leave your machine. That's why I built Maskera, a tool that redacts Swedish personal data completely locally.

Next to my full-time job I do freelance work building AI SaaS features, and I'm the sole engineer at ResiliaAI, a pre-launch venture.

I think the next few years belong to builders. People who can talk to the customer, design the flow, write the code, ship it and fix it. That's what I'm going for.

Where I Live

My Interests

• For as long as I can remember, I've always been interested in technology. Today I'm also drawn to tech that makes a difference:

  • Blockchain technology fascinates me: a distributed ledger combined with cryptography gives transparency, immutability and security, and smart contracts make transactions more error proof and public. I believe it can solve some of the big problems with managing and securing data.
  • The use of artificial intelligence, especially for health and optimizing mundane human tasks. AI agents are very fascinating.
  • Blind computing with multiple PETs (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) on private and sensitive data, especially while using AI.
  • Thinking of new software ideas, iterating on them and actually building them. Open sourced on my GitHub profile.
• I'm also interested in other things, like:

  • Physical fitness and working out.
  • Reading and learning new things through books and podcasts.
  • Investing in different markets and learning about the human psychology connected to it.
  • Using my time well: clear communication and short, focused meetings built on quality and respect.
  • Music and movies with a deeper meaning or story.