Bjørnar Hagen.

Born and raised in Larvik, Norway. Currently living in Sandefjord.

I’ve always loved building and taking things apart, so when I at a young age was introduced to computers, it didn’t take very long before I was taking them apart and learning about how they worked. When I was 14 I saved up scholarship money originally meant for school equipment to instead buy computer parts so I could build my first desktop computer. Once I had that built, I started learning about code and software. I was instantly fascinated with the web technologies and building websites. Since then I’ve learnt more and more about programming and different software technologies.

I learnt HTML, CSS, JS and PHP through self study and got a few gigs through some close friends. Later on I got my first “real job” as an apprentice at Optimale Systemer in Larvik. Around the same time I started the company Datahjelpen so to take on extra jobs outside of work and school.

After 2 years at Optimale Systemer I had learned a lot and considered myself a full-stack web developer, though still very much a junior. I now knew how to setup the LEMP stack from scratch on a VPS, and I could make both the front-end and back-end of a webapp. After this I moved to Halden to start on my Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering at Østfold College University.

3 years later I got my degree and moved to Sandefjord, where I still live. I started working full-time in Datahjelpen. After a good year, Covid unfortunately became a thing. I had to find a more stable job as no one was willing to start new projects at the time. That is how I ended up at Adstate, where I stayed for 4 years.

After Adstate I spent a year at River Security as a senior full-stack developer, building tooling for continuous offensive security — attack-surface management and always-on penetration testing.

In 2023 I started NUVA with a couple of friends.

I’m currently working full-time at Gokstad Akademiet.