Tower of Babble

 

Yvonne Bengtsson Aelvaeus, now senior vice president in a Swedish financial consulting firm of Bj÷rk-Bj÷rk-Bj÷rk, wasn’t always behind a mahogany desk in the executive suite. She started out as a lowly project team member and COBOL programmer for the Boston branch of Kuhdorf Analytical, a small company that specializes in implementing telemanagement and accounting software for multinational companies.

I wanted to see the world, and in 1984, I got my wish," Yvonne reports from Stockholm. "As luck would have it, my first software implementation was for Bj÷rk-Bj÷rk-Bj÷rk. Kuhdorf chose me for the job because I’m from Minnesota and I speak fluent Swedish and several other languages. My parents came to the States from Sweden two months before I was born. At college, I studied German and French in addition to computer programming. Kuhdorf Analytical was a German-held company, and they recruited me for my language and programming skills. I wasn’t surprised that they sent me to Stockholm right out of new-hire orientation."

Yvonne recalls the good experiences as well as the bad.

"Going to Sweden at age 22 was a lot of fun, but I was in for a shock. I thought I was going to be in Stockholm. In reality, I was just based there. Most of the time I was racking up frequent …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.