Jonathan received a KTH One-Year Scholarship

What has this scholarship meant for you and your studies?

Receiving the scholarship meant that I could better balance work and school in my second year at KTH. During my first year of studies, I was working around 25 hours a week to pay for tuition and living expenses.

What was your academic or professional background before applying for the scholarship?

I have been working as a software developer since 2009. My undergraduate studies were a double major in Film Studies and Computer Science.

Do you have any recommendations for students applying for the One-Year Scholarship?

Make sure that your study schedule planning is realistic. Ask other students about courses you are considering taking. That is the best way to check if a course is interesting and get a sense of the expected workload.

What are the best aspects of your programme and your school?

I like the fact that we get a very multidisciplinary education.

In just 1,5 years, I have learned about Game Design, Robotics, Interaction Design, Accessibility, User Experience, Philosophy, Cognition, Programming, Psychology, Audio, Computer Graphics, Machine Learning and much more.

What would you say to a student applying for your programme?

My programme, Interactive Media Technology, is based on a lot of group projects, and the quality of your education is very much up to you. You get a lot of freedom to focus on your fields of interest, but you need to be reasonably self-disciplined to get the most out of it.

What would you like to do after graduating?  

After graduating from KTH, I hope to start working as a game designer in one of the many excellent game studios based in Sweden. Or perhaps begin working as a PhD on digital games for elderly users, intergenerational play and game accessibility.

What would you like to say to students thinking of choosing KTH for their master’s studies?  

KTH has the reputation of being a top-notch engineering university with an emphasis on sustainable and ethical practices. The students I have met here certainly justify that reputation. They can dive deep into difficult technological challenges, but they do not treat technology as the goal.

Instead, they are encouraged to critically reflect on the role technology plays in our lives and use it thoughtfully.