We sat down with our software engineer, Aiden, to find out a little more about his background, what made him want to join Cortha, and what he can bring to the team.
Behind every Cortha project is a team of experienced engineers, project managers, and machine vision specialists. In this series, we’re getting to know the people behind the work, from our co-founders to our latest recruits. First up: our software engineer, Aiden.
Aiden joins us at the start of 2026 after finishing a degree at Linnaeus University in Sweden. After originally studying electronic engineering and working for several years as a machine vision engineer, he returned to university to further his studies in software engineering. Aiden graduated and returned to the UK just as we embarked on the search for a new software engineer – perfect timing.
With his bags unpacked and his first projects underway, we sat down with Aiden to learn more about his journey, his interests, and what he’s excited to build at Cortha.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
“I went to the University of Surrey to study electronic engineering. During that time, I ended up doing a placement student internship at Stemmer Imaging. Then I went back to finish off my master’s degree in electronic engineering, and after that I was rehired at Stemmer Imaging for a further three years. Then I moved to Sweden, spent three years there studying computer science, and came back this summer.”
Studying in Sweden sounds like quite the adventure! What was that like?
“It was good because it was a course that very much focused on real life employment, on what people actually use. And I have found that stuff to be relevant already in my two weeks here.
Sweden itself is funny because it’s, in many ways, a lot like the UK, but different. It’s a bit colder in winter. It’s a bit warmer in summer. The Swedes have this social bubble that can be quite hard to penetrate, but they’re very nice.”
What made you want to study software engineering?
“When I was studying engineering, part of that is studying software programming. I realised I quite enjoyed that, but I didn’t have much opportunity to do it during the degree. It’s a something I knew I was good at when I did it so I started to develop my skills myself.”
Why did you want to join Cortha?
“Well when I spoke to Paul and Dan, I could see they were very knowledgeable about the field, but in different ways. Paul knows a lot about people in the industry and actually understanding what a project needs. And Dan’s got a very broad and deep technical knowledge that’s really impressive. And you know, given it’s quite a new company, it’s hasn’t got any shareholders to appease right now, so it can actually provide quality and be as good as we want to be instead of just maximising the money – which I really like.”
So what exactly are you working on now that you’re here?
“My role at Cortha is as a software engineer. One of the projects I’ve been working on at the moment is updating software for machinery that makes building materials, to make the user experience much friendlier, make it faster to do things and change how we handle the data. It’s quite a large first project, it’s a complex machine which I have never actually seen myself. I’m just working on the software that controls it, but I’ve been given full access and made changes which is quite neat to do this early on. And it’s all been approved. Hooray! Haven’t broken anything yet!”
That’s good news! And what do you think you can bring to the team?
“I think I can offer diligent and customer-conscious software implementations which do everything the customer actually needs, not necessarily what they say they want. Really speaking to the customer, figuring out and making sure they have a piece of software they’re actually satisfied with. Because people don’t always know what they want.”
Are there any projects you’re particularly excited to work on?
“I’m looking forward to using implementations with Cortha’s AI platform. Applying a modern implementation for a problem which would be quite hard to do via the classical methods, which is what I used to do before. Now fast forward three years, it’ll be nice to apply some of this new AI knowledge I have onto a real project for the first time.”
What skills are you looking forward to developing at Cortha?
“I’d like to solidify my software development skills, because I’ve got the self-taught stuff and university stuff, but this is the first time I’m actually putting those in a real industrial environment context. I think I’m decent at it but you know, the proof’s in the pudding! I’d like to be able to point to something I’ve done, say, ‘I made that. It works. I can be proud of that.’”
What’s something about you that people might not guess from your CV?
“So one of the things I did in Sweden was run a board game club, which ended up being the single biggest club on campus for any activity. It was just crazy, because when it started it was five people, and when it ended, it was 90. I’m also making board games and trying to get them published. And, I also set the school record for most detentions.”
At least all that time in detention was useful for thinking up board game ideas. So, if you weren’t a software engineer, what would you be doing?
“I’d probably be a game designer!”
Makes sense!
So there you have it. Aiden hasn’t been with us long, but he’s already making a big impact, getting stuck into complex software projects, improving user experience, and bringing a thoughtful, customer-focused approach to everything he builds. We’re excited to have him on the team and can’t wait to see where his work takes him next.
Curious how Cortha’s team can improve your inspection, automation, or quality systems? Contact us today to get started.