Many people wait for the perfect moment to change direction. Sindre Gangeskar decided not to wait any longer. As an adult without a traditional academic background, he took a chance on online studies. Today, he works as a full-stack developer.
Sindre Gangeskar had known for a long time what he wanted to do. He spent his free time building games, teaching himself programming, and contributing to a project that eventually became its own game on Steam. The passion was always there. What was missing was the belief that it could become something more.
“There’s a lot to learn, but if you spend enough time with something you don’t fully understand, it will eventually start to make sense. Never give up.”
- I had very little hope of building a future around something I was passionate about, considering my grades and lack of formal education, he says.
He continued working and spent a lot of time on personal projects, but he wasn’t sure how to turn that interest into a career.
At 26, he decided to challenge that way of thinking.
Sindre now works as a Full-Stack Developer at Kilter. Photo: Private
Taking a Chance at 26
It wasn’t part of some grand plan or a dramatic leap of faith. It started with a chance discovery online: Noroff could assess applicants based on relevant experience, not just grades.
- It gave me a bit of hope, so I decided to take the chance, he says.
For Sindre, online studies weren’t just convenient, they made it possible. He could study alongside work, at his own pace, without putting the rest of his life on hold.
A Learning Environment That Motivated Him
He quickly found that getting feedback and support throughout the programme was easy.
- Whenever I built a small project and wanted to show it to someone, the teachers were incredibly supportive. They encouraged me to keep exploring and developing my ideas, he says.
The academic foundation stayed with him. The knowledge he gained during the Backend Development programme is still part of his daily work, and he has found that learning one programming language well makes it much easier to pick up new ones as the industry evolves.
From Hobby Projects to a Developer Career
Today, Sindre works as a Full-Stack Developer at Kilter, a Norwegian technology company developing autonomous robots for precision agriculture. The robots use advanced imaging technology to target weeds and reduce pesticide use by as much as 96.6 percent.
He still spends time working on personal projects outside of work.
For Sindre, motivation comes down to something simple: seeing people use the things he creates.
- It’s incredibly rewarding to see others using the solutions and projects I’ve built. I always keep my fingers crossed that nothing crashes, but when it does, you learn something new while figuring out why, he says with a laugh.
Advice for Anyone Considering the Same Path
For others who are dealing with the same doubts he once had, his advice is straightforward:
- There’s a lot to learn, but if you spend enough time with something you don’t fully understand, it will eventually start to make sense. Never give up. You’ll doubt yourself, that’s called imposter syndrome, and we all experience it. Nobody knows everything, and you’re not supposed to remember everything either. The most important thing is learning how to understand the code you’re reading.
See more of Sindre’s work here.
He is also clear about one thing when it comes to artificial intelligence:
-AI is here to stay, but never use it to do the work for you. Ask what, how, and why, use AI as a mentor. And documentation and a good search engine are still your best friends.
And if you get stuck?
- Take an hour to do something else, then come back to it. It helps more than you think.
Interested in Online Studies?
With Noroff’s online studies, you can build practical, job-relevant skills from anywhere in the world while balancing work, family, and other commitments.