“I met a lot of very knowledgeable and experienced professionals”

Andreas Helgesson is a student at Chalmers University of Technology. As the winner of Tech Talent of the Year 2024, among other things, he received a specialized eight-week summer internship at SEB, which led to a variety of new insights and experiences.

What stood out to you most about SEB?

– The best part was the people at SEB. I met a lot of very knowledgeable and experienced professionals. It´s been invaluable for my own future career to listen and learn from their wisdom and experiences. I would especially like to say a big thank you to my mentors Stefani Peck and Predrag Mitrovic for helping me with my projects and for sharing their knowledge with me. 

Explore SEB's Tech Programme

The application for Tech Talent of the Year will open on the 22nd of November. In the meantime, read more about our Tech Programme here.

Why do you think that you won the award?

– We were eight students, and everyone had great ideas and solutions to the challenge, which was to improve the security of the bank using AI. I think my focus on SEB‘s business was what earned me first place. I tailored my solution specifically to SEB with an emphasis on customer focus.

Give us an example of an assignment at your summer internship!

– I´ve been working on automating SEB‘s threat modelling process using AI. We are hoping to help developers design more secure system architectures to prevent vulnerabilities and security risks before it’s implemented in code.

Tell us about your experience of your summer internship!

– It´s been interesting to experience all these aspects in banking, where everything is focused on the customer. SEB is a very large organisation, and I´ve been quite surprised by how many functions are required to make it all work. There is a tremendous blend of people from all walks of life and all kinds of areas of expertise: traditional banking, security, customers, and asset management. The tech side is a massive part of the bank maintaining infrastructure, security, data analytics and statistics. We are all working towards the same goal and that is bringing SEB forward.

You were in Lithuania for a week, tell us about that!

– I visited SEB Global Services, a support function for all internal and external IT applications and platforms, where they also do software development. SEB has offices on almost all continents, and it is fascinating to see how our cultural differences help strengthen the organisation as a whole. Of course, SEB also helps spread the best parts of Swedish culture around the world – the Lithuanians were always joking about having “fika”.

How would you like your professional future to look like?

– I’m hoping to do my master‘s thesis at SEB. After I graduate from Chalmers, I would like a role where I can combine tech and business. I want to use technology to deliver value. I see myself in a strategic position where I can lead the development of technology from a higher perspective.