BRACAU 27 BLOG'S

Hyper Island Stockholm co-worker Maria tells us about what she works on right now:

God, if only I knew!
Let me start by introducing myself:
My name is Maria, I'm 23 (turning 24 April 18! Don't forget to congratulate me!), and since the 28th of April I'm in love. His (or her!?) name is Hyper island, and we might get married one day.
So, I spend most of my time with Hyper Island: I might be with Hyper island on a student fair in Oslo (in January - come and see us!) or I'm talking to some Spanish, Australian or Brazilian (or skåning or German) guy or girl who wants to attend a Hyper Island Master Class.
It could also be that I'm chasing photos from former Hyper Island Master Class students, such as the guys from Hyper Island Creative Social Academy, or maybe I am busy organising a Hyper Island Session.

I share my love with some friends, but no need to worry - there's no jealousy involved.
We miss two ladies in the crew though - Regina & Malin, there are two empty seats but me and Hyper Island look forward to seeing them again soon! Thank you for everything!

At the moment I do a lot of thinking about how the Hyper Island Master Class for Creatives in Karlskrona is (it's happening as we speak!), how the participants are finding the course and if they like the food and if they get enough coffee and if they get enough sleep and if.... well, I suppose you get the point?
I'm sure it will be fine though, up until now all of our Master Class participants have been really happy about the course, and quite a few people from the industry likes us too.

This love has developed to be a new course: Hyper Island Master Class for She Creatives, We're so excited about this and can't wait until the 4th of February when the course starts.

That's it for now, do you want to know more about what I do? Or about Hyper Island? Or about the weather in Sweden?
E-mail me!

Thank you Maria!

Our continuous technical savior Andreas answers a few questions about his work;

What do you do at Hyper Island?
The official title is janitor and technical assistant. Basically I attend to the premises and act as first-line support towards students and co-workers, when it comes to the more practical and logistic issues at Hyper Island.

How did you find the school?
Actually the school found me, last year they were looking for someone with my qualifications, and I kind of fit the description of what they were looking for, if I recall correctly, the ad said “house-elf”.

What do you appreciate most about working at the school?
Never a dull moment. There is always something that needs to be fixed or a problem solved, so the best thing is really, that you never know exactly what your workday will look like. Great fun, and also challenging in many ways, because some of the things that involve caretaking of the premises and equipment are not always that obvious, so often you have to do research and find an unique solution to the problem.

What's the funniest thing a student has asked you?
Once a student asked me if it were okay to bring his bed to the school. That is of course not possible, due to safety reasons, but some students really like this school so much, they never want to leave.

What advice do you have for students who want to apply to Hyper Island?
The most important thing to bring to Hyper Island as a student is your mind and a good portion of curiosity. Of course it helps to have a computer, and some basic skills in using it, but that’s just a tool, as long as you have your creativity and the will to learn new things, then you are ready to attend courses at Hyper Island.

Thank you Andreas!

I've been a shoe salesman, a programmer, a personal trainer. I've been an Internet guide, a team leader and a project manager. I've worked for small companies run by families and for large multinational companies run by guys who resemble G-man.

I've (almost) always been happy at my jobs, but I've never felt that I'm working at one of the best places in the world.

Until February 5th this year, that is. That's when I started working at Hyper Island.

Now you might be thinking that there's a difference between working as a clerk in a shoe store and working with digital media programs. You're right. But job description aside, there's a fundamental difference between Hyper Island and all the companies I've worked for before. This difference is the same thing that makes our students among the best in the world. We call it the Hyper Island way. It's no secret, but it can be hard to really understand if you're theoretically challenged (which I most certainly am - I need to experience stuff to really understand it). Now that I understand it, I can try to explain it.

Example one:
The other day, I was wondering whether I'm easy to read. My own opinion was that I wouldn't do very well in a poker game, but how did others perceive me? So I asked Roger (my boss). I don't think I've ever had a relationship with co-worker, let alone a leader, who I could ask for feedback on that level. (The answer was a little surprising: Roger perceived me as pretty good at keeping up appearances.)

Example two:
Speaking of keeping up appearances: I'm going through a pretty rough period right now. Breaking up with someone I really like made me a mess. On all my previous jobs, I'd wear a translucent mask in a situation like this. I would avoid talking to my colleagues, I wouldn't be laughing or telling jokes or eating lunch with them. Tons of stuff for their imagination to build windmills from, and fantasize about "what's his problem?". At Hyper Island, I could sit at the morning meeting and say "Guys, I went through a really rough patch yesterday, and I'm feeling really sad and broken. It's too hard to talk about it, and I'd prefer to be left alone today".

And so I got to be in my own little bubble, focusing hard on work. And once I was ready to talk about it, they listened and said smart stuff.

Example three:
Have you ever had an introduction with a new co-worker? "Hi, my name is so and so and I've been working there and there and I will be doing this and this". And then maybe a line about who s/he's married to, or living with and how many kids they have. Well, introductions here at Hyper Island are different. Instead of doing a live presentation of our resumés, we talk about who we are. I talked about how I grew up and about experiences and events that formed me as a human being. It's so much easier to understand each other when you see a person and not a walking CV.

Example four:
It's not only our students who practice learning by doing. We - I - do it all the time. We reflect about most things we do, what we can do different next time to do whatever it is even more effective. We ask for feedback from students, from each other, from lecturers and we consider all the feedback we get. There are two sides to each coin, and there's always something that can be tweaked or turned to make the machinery run even more smoothly the next time.

/Micke Kazarnowicz, Project Manager at Hyper Island

Christian isn't just one of the co-workers here at the school in Stockholm. He's also a former student from Crew 5 and the singer in the rock band "Fibes, Oh Fibes!".  Yesterday he also was babe of the day in Swedish evening paper Aftonbladet:


I'm not a translator, mind you, but the geist of the text is basically this: