Summer at Debricked: Karl-Oskar’s story

A few weeks ago one of the most exciting times of the year started: the summer interns arrived! We are very happy and grateful that they want to join us for the summer, and hope they will have a good time. To find out what a summer at Debricked actually looks like we decided to interview a few of them. First up is Karl-Oskar, intern at Data Science, let’s jump in!

Hey there Karl-Oskar, how’s it going?

I’m fine thanks, nothing to complain about 🙂

You started your internship with us about 4 weeks ago, how did you first come into contact with Debricked? 

My first encounter with the company was when Linus, security expert, held a CTF at Lund university. A little while after I met Emil, head of data science, and Linus again at Arkad, a work fair at Lund university, and we got talking. I mentioned that I was interested in applying machine learning to programming languages, and we quickly realized that we might be a good fit. 

What’s your background?

I study computer science at Lund University and will be starting my fifth year this fall. I’ve always been interested in programming and spent a lot of time doing it during high school. I was really into a language called Haskell, and playing around with that sparked my interest and made me want to pursue an education in software development. 

How much did you know about open source before starting?

Quite a lot I’d say. I’m a Linux user since way back so of course I knew what it was. I’ve also contributed to a few open source projects. But the security aspect was definitely new to me. Both because I’d never thought about it before, and because I wasn’t really that interested. Now that I’m more in it it’s a lot of fun, it feels like very important work.

Tell us a little about the internship and some of your tasks!

The department where I spend my days is Data Science. My biggest task is trying to classify when a code change is a security fix or not. This will later be used together with other classifiers which will then determine how secure open source projects are. What I’m working on right now will be a small piece of the project that Data Science is currently working on, so it feels great to be a part of it! 

Is there anything that stands out as more or less fun?

I love the fact that it’s a project that spans over the whole summer and will continue on forward. It feels great to do something that will actually be valuable for the company. The fact that it’s very investigative also appeals to me, I had to read a whole lot of research papers to get into the subject. It’s also very cutting edge stuff, I feel really lucky to have the chance to work on such a complex problem. 

What’s your plan after the internship ends?

I’ll continue my studies. I have a few courses left, and then I have my master thesis left before I get my degree as a MSc in computer science. 

What was your first impression of Debricked?

I felt like everyone is very invested in what they are doing and that they really love the product. It’s a very inspiring work environment, and it gives a lot of energy and motivation. Being a startup it’s also quite relaxed and social, which I like, but also not “too startup-y”. It feels mature and well structured, and even though the majority of people are young there are also some more experienced people, such as Martin Hell and Carl-Eric Mols. 

If a friend of yours was looking for an internship, would you recommend Debricked? 

I’d definitely recommend someone, if they are interested in the area that we are working with. 

Lastly, do you have any summer plans?

Well, due to Corona a lot of it got cancelled… But I will try to make the best of it and do some studying while trying to enjoy the sun!

Thank you Karl-Oskar for doing this interview, and for choosing to do your summer internship with Debricked!