Meet the Pride Worldwide: Carsten Hansen

Name: Carsten Malta Hansen

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Hometown/Lionbridge Office:

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Job Title:

Technology Services Manager

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How long have you been at Lionbridge?

Five years in total—three as PM from 2011, then two in my current role after several years away.

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What does a typical work day look like for you?

Obligatory emails in the morning with some fresh coffee, but after that there is no typical work day. When I’m not in meetings, I prioritize active customer projects where the goal is to build solutions for them. If there is some downtime with that, then I muster up the courage to take a look at my JIRA backlog and start from the top 😊

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What is your favorite place in your office?

The rooftop terrace! When the weather is good, we can see the whole city.

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What is the best part of your job?

I love being able to design and launch a solution to a complex problem together with some very smart people here at Lionbridge. In my job, I get to work together with our customers while they are building their systems to integrate with ours. I love sitting down with the clients and working out a solution to their problems, together with them. It makes them feel like they are an important part of the process (which they are!), and when the first roundtrip of files based on our design is a success, it makes all the trouble of getting there worthwhile.

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I speak 2.2 languages (list them!)

English and Danish natively, Brazilian Portuguese at a very low level. I can understand Norwegian and Swedish if they are kind enough to speak slowly.

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My favorite local saying is ______, [and it means ______, if not English].

“Ingen ko på isen”, [and it means “there’s no cow on the ice,” meaning it’s not a problem]. When I moved to Denmark and had to learn this language, this was one of the stranger ones.

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A tourist visiting my city shouldn’t miss…

Dronning Luise’s Bro—a low bridge that crosses the downtown lakes between center city and the borough of Nørrebro. A summer day during rush hour is fascinating for a foreigner. Almost 40,000 bikes cross this bridge daily, and I can’t think of many other places where there are bicycle traffic jams.

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My coworkers would say my weirdest habit is...

Not sure. Maybe biking to work? I have 23km each way, and I’m trying to do it as much as possible—goal is 4 days a week. I know some think that’s weird, considering I have a car…. and a train pass….

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Outside of work, I always make time for...

My kids. They are almost three (boy) and almost five (girl), and this is such a fun time with them. We try to spend as much time as possible outside, just in the yard or in the woods next to my house, digging for worms and other gross things. And when my kids aren’t there, all my spare time goes into renovating my house—I just put in a new front door and eight new windows; next up is replacing all the siding and renovating a bathroom.

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The best piece of career advice I’ve ever received is...

"Never be afraid to ask a question." Apart from the obvious benefits of asking a question, simply asking a question can shine a light on existing processes. Especially in large corporations, questioning an established process can be a very intimidating thing to do, but it is almost always worth it. Worst case scenario, you simply get an answer to your question, and you have gained some knowledge that day. Best case, the question sheds light on an opportunity to improve a process. There is no downside.

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My hidden talent is…

Building things! Sort of a requirement when you buy an old house I guess 😊

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Hiking, sailing, biking, skiing—just being out in nature makes me roar. Other people out there think it’s strange that there’s some guy standing in the middle of the woods roaring, but I’m ok with that.