I got hooked on building things playing Mulle Meck on my dad's Windows 98 PC. The goal was a car that actually drove. That urge to tinker until something works never left.
Design, Code, and Refusing to Pick One
My career started with a high school internship at a web agency in Stockholm in 2009. I taught myself the rest. For years I did a bit of everything: graphic and digital design, frontend, backend, and later product and API strategy, first as a fullstack developer at Symbio, then as a senior engineer at Cloudnine.
When My Hands Stopped Keeping Up
I have spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a condition that weakens my muscles over time. I've known since childhood. In my early twenties I could touch-type code late into the night. Around twenty-five, that started slipping: a few fewer keystrokes per minute each year, a bit more fatigue in my hands by lunch.
I adapted the way developers do. I automated tasks and remapped every shortcut I could find. None of it closed the gap between what I wanted to type and what I could type. I wrote about that in The Deteriorating Developer.
Leading Instead of Typing
So I moved toward roles where all-day coding wasn't the job: tech lead at Mr Green, technical lead manager at Bambuser, and often manager, tech lead, and scrum master at the same time.
The hardest moment was the first time I watched someone else type a solution I had designed in my head. Mob programming with my team, me dictating architecture while they wrote the code. The output was mine. The keystrokes weren't. It took me years to understand that the craft was never in my fingers. It lives in the judgment: knowing which trade-off will bite you in six months, or which assumption breaks under load.
Leading teams taught me something else: most team problems aren't technical. In my experience, the vast majority come from skipping three basics: clear expectations, real one-on-ones, and consistent feedback.
AI Was Assistive Technology First
I was an early adopter of AI coding tools, but not by choice. Autocomplete wasn't a productivity hack for me; it was assistive technology. Voice control wasn't a novelty; it was how I kept working. GitHub Copilot, Supermaven, and later Claude Code and OpenCode became the hands I was losing.
Now the whole industry is building through an intermediary, and a lot of developers are grieving the loss of direct contact with their code. I've been there, and the craft survived. The principles I work by are in my AI manifesto: own the output, stay curious, welcome friction, and know when to disconnect.
Where I Am Now
After a stretch back in hands-on work as a senior fullstack developer at SEB, I joined Omni as Head of Engineering in 2025. I still ship code. I still stay up too late thinking about edge cases.
I also founded and ran Crip in Tech, an initiative to get more disabled people into tech by building community, sharing stories, and creating pathways into the industry. The belief behind it still shapes how I build teams: tech needs more disabled voices, perspectives, and talent.
What I Hold On To
- Ownership. The work is yours if you brought the judgment and can defend every choice in it, no matter who or what did the typing.
- Sustainable pace. My body sets hard limits on how much I can do in a day. Teams have limits too; ignoring them just moves the cost somewhere else.
- Curiosity. The craft moved, and I had to go find it. Staying curious is how you follow it.
Speaking & Consulting
I speak and consult on:
- Inclusive engineering culture: Building teams where everyone belongs and can do their best work
- Engineering leadership: Growing from individual contributor to leading high-performing teams
- AI-assisted development: Practical guidance on using AI tools well, from someone who has depended on them for years
Reach me at johnie@hjelm.im.
Bio
This is made for journalists, podcast hosts, and event organizers to copy-and-paste.
Short
Johnie Hjelm is Head of Engineering at Omni. A self-taught developer living with spinal muscular atrophy, he writes and speaks about engineering leadership, inclusive teams, and AI as assistive technology.
Long
Johnie Hjelm is Head of Engineering at Omni, with over -39 years in tech. A self-taught developer, he started as a high school intern at a Stockholm web agency and has since worked across design, fullstack development, and engineering leadership at companies including Mr Green, Bambuser, and SEB. Johnie lives with spinal muscular atrophy and relied on AI coding tools as assistive technology long before they went mainstream. He writes and speaks about engineering leadership, inclusive engineering cultures, and AI-assisted development. He also founded Crip in Tech, an initiative to get more disabled people into the tech industry.