The engineer of the future learns by example

"I feel a bit like a copycat sometimes," admits Gustav Friman. Big brother Simon is also an engineer, and helped Gustav get his foot in the door at POJI.

And so far it's only a foot in the door, because Gustav has been working as an engineer over the summer, and works one day a week during his final year at Chalmers.

Gut feeling decided

There he first completed a technical foundation year, but soon ended up in architecture and technology. When it was time to choose a specialisation for the master's, gut feeling had to decide.

"I wavered a bit, because I like both the creative side of architecture and the concrete side of engineering. But in the end I chose Structural Engineering and Building Technology. It has probably always leaned a bit more that way," smiles Gustav.

Big brother a major role model

He thinks that his career choice has probably been influenced a little by his brother Simon, who is seven years older. When Simon got married, Gustav's speech was about how he had followed in his brother's footsteps.

"He has always been a major role model for me, and in that way he has had an influence, but of course it's ultimately my own choices that have determined things. It's great that we share the same interest and get along well, so it's just fun that we work with the same things," says Gustav.

The farm made him hard-working

He grew up on a farm in Österbymo near Eksjö, with a great interest in football and sport. And that has definitely left its mark.

"Constantly helping out on the farm and being out in the forests and fields has made me hard-working. I don't give up at the first hurdle, I keep going. The same applies to sport. You don't back down," Gustav believes.

Has developed template files for faster design

The summer job at POJI has been interesting and educational.

"During my studies I've worked a bit with parametrisation, so it's been fun to learn more about it at POJI. I've also got to help with developing template files for faster design of house foundations. When you build modular houses many details in the construction are the same between different projects. So you can often use the same detail drawings in many different projects, which gives synergies," says Gustav.

Must develop more efficient and resource-efficient construction methods

Going forward Gustav is open to trying different tasks in the construction industry to learn more. Getting to be involved in developing the automation and modularisation of the sector feels very appealing to Gustav.

"When increasingly higher demands are placed on environmentally friendly construction I think we have to develop more resource-efficient and effective construction methods. And perhaps both the construction work and the buildings can become safer into the bargain too."