./about
Hello, I’m Iri. I write software, then I write about it.
Software engineer in Bergen, Norway. Eleven years in, still happiest with a small problem and a quiet afternoon.
01 / cat README.md
The short version.
I started at a university IT desk in 2014, fixing timetables that were wrong in ways nobody could explain. That is where I learned the most useful thing I know: most bugs are not clever. Someone was in a hurry, and nobody wrote it down.
Since then I have worked on developer tooling, a mobile sync layer, websites for museums and a support desk for six small ports. The projects look different. The work is the same: find the boring cause, fix it, and leave a note.
Today I work on my own. I maintain nine open-source packages, take a few contract projects a year, and write down what I learn on this site. If something here helps you, I would like to hear about it. If it does not, I would like to hear that more.
02 / principles
Four rules I try to keep.
01
Delete before you add
The cheapest bug fix is a line you no longer have.
02
Write it down
If a decision lives in one head, it is a risk. Three lines in the repo fixes it.
03
Say what happened
Error messages, commit messages and status updates should tell the truth in plain words.
04
Leave it quieter
A good week is one where fewer things wake anybody up.
03 / history
Where I’ve worked.
Independent software engineer
Self-employed
Building and maintaining open-source libraries, plus contract work on internal tools for small companies. Currently shipping Plumbline 2.4.
Staff engineer, developer platform
Fjordline Systems
Led a team of six that owned build tooling, the API client and the design-token pipeline for 90 engineers. Cut the median build from 14 minutes to 3.
Senior engineer
Nettskap Labs
Built the sync layer for a mobile note-taking product used by 400,000 people. First time I met a conflict I could not merge, which led to Quire.
Full-stack engineer
Kaldera Studio
Shipped websites and small web apps for museums, festivals and a ferry company. Learned to estimate by being wrong out loud.
Junior developer
Vestland University IT
Timetables, room bookings and the student portal. My first code review was a ten-page essay and I am still grateful for it.
Open-source maintainer
Plumbline, Quire, Tern, Lantern, Dovetail
Nine packages, about 4.2 million installs a month, and a rule that every issue gets a human answer within two days.
now.md
# Now, September 2026
- shipping Plumbline 2.4
- reading a book on distributed clocks
- learning to bake rye bread that rises
- listening a synthesiser that plays one note
$ open --to-work 2027-01
04 / now
What I’m up to this season.
This page is updated when something changes, and never because it is a new quarter. If you want to know if I am free, look at the last line.
Iri’s pull requests read like short essays. You always know why a change exists before you read the code.
Marta Solheim
Engineering manager, Fjordline Systems
We asked for a support console and got one that our night shift stopped complaining about. That has never happened before.
Joakim Reinsnes
Operations lead, a port co-operative
Plumbline’s error messages are the best I have used. They tell you what to do next.
Devi Anand
Senior engineer, open-source user