A little while ago I went around asking some of my fellow Opera co-workers to answer the following simple question: Why I love working at Opera?

Opera has more than 460 employees (and still hiring too) spread across 9 countries. Maybe their answers will give you a bit of a taste of why we love working here at Opera.

Håkon Wium Lie, Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
I love working at Opera because we extend the reach of the Web; we take the Web into new devices that reach new people in new places.

Chris Mills, Developer Relationship Manager
I love working at Opera because it allows me to work alongside more than 450 very intelligent, open-minded people, changing the world - making the web better through improvements in web standards, education and rock and roll.

Tatsuki Tomita, Senior VP of Consumer Products
I love working at Opera because in addition to working with the products I am passionate about, Opera gives me tremendous opportunities I cannot find elsewhere. For the last 6 years, I have worked in three different locations, from Europe, Asia to the US with such a smart and creative group of people!

Johan Schön, Chief Architect of Opera Mini
I love working at Opera mostly because it lets me directly reach (and enrich) the lives of the tens of millions of people who use Opera Mini.

Benjamin Jacobsen, Director of Marketing Consumer Products
Our products have the ability to reach literally hundreds of millions of people all over the world. We have an incredible opportunity to positively affect so many people’s lives by providing access to the internet, and it is the challenges that come with this that make being a part of Opera an incredible experience.

Janne Rud Hansen, Graphic designer, B2B Marketing
Great colleagues.

Pierre-André Divisia, Business Development
I am far from the typical Opera employee from Scandinavia. I would rather say that I am the absolute exception working out of remote exotic locations with an office in a suitcase. Who else in Opera has a travel log with names like Jakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila (not even mentioning the civilized places like Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul or Tokyo)? I would be misrepresenting expectations!

I used Opera well before I joined the company Opera, and I will likely continue to use it well after I leave. We have a wonderful product that can serve so many purposes and really change the way people use the internet - interacting with each other over an extraordinary medium. Being part - being a leading driver, actually - of real social and economic revolution that is the Web revolution, isn’t it exciting?

Daniel Bratell, Core Developer
I get to work with something really advanced, used by millions of people, and I get to do it with some of the smartest and most skilled people I’ve ever met.

Jan Standal, Director of Product Management
Scotland might until recently have been the best small country in the world, but Opera is probably the best small company in the world! I love that no day is the same here at Opera, where creative people from all around the world are working on new and innovative ways of browsing the Web.

Rolf Assev, Chief Strategy Officer
Working at Opera gives me an opportunity to make a difference. We are more than 460 people from 45 different nations making the world’s best browser. More than 50 million people around the world are using it, and we believe we can reach 1 billion users by 2010. Think about the thrill of having an impact on 1 billion people!

Anne Stavnes, EVP Culture & Facilities
I love working with people from so many different nations. Being a part of our global development makes me see that we are indeed helping to change the world. We are enabling Internet access in parts of the world where I believe that communication can help tear down the walls of fear and prejudice. I am proud to be a part of that crusade.

Eira Monstad, Core QA
Working for Opera, I get a chance to play a role in shaping the future of the web.

Christoffer Årstrand, Opera Mini developer
The people, the atmosphere and the constant challenges.

Lawrence Eng, Product Research Manager
In general: Working for a truly international company that’s small, but creates and delivers incredibly important technology that empowers people in new and sometimes unexpected ways.

Specifically: Being part of a global team means that I have weekly conference calls with colleagues calling in from Oslo, Mountain View, Los Angeles, Passaic, Tokyo, Beijing, and myself in San Diego. I get to work in sunny San Diego, but routinely get to visit Norway to soak in the Scandinavian culture (and real winter weather).

Christen Krogh, Chief Development Officer
I love to work at Opera, because I can work with smart people, making great products for millions of end users.

Christian Uribe, Team Leader QA Mobile and Devices
I have been asked this question a few times already, and I used to say that I like the work ethos that exists at the office, the flexible work hours and the freedom that each employee is given.

But I realize now that it all comes down to the superb quality of the people that work here. It is in the “software” of this company - the people - where you find both the strength to develop such amazing products and the joy of coming to the office every day.

This is why I love to work at Opera. Oh, not to forget being able to play ball when brainstorming is a plus.

Anne van Kesteren, Technology and Research
Well, working at Opera is great! Most of my time goes into improving the Web, which is an awesome thing to be working on. I also do some quality assurance to ensure that we keep up with the standards. I’ve been with Opera for two years now and seeing our product evolve is really cool. More so than I expected anyway… Other than that, flexible working hours, traveling, and working from home. What more can I say?

Sigbjørn Vik, Core QA
I get to see millions of users use products I have worked on and take pride in. I believe in a Web for all, and Opera has been driving this forever. I get to work with some of the most talented people in the world. If something on the Web annoys me, I can work on it and make it better. I have been able to work on pretty much exactly what I want to, and from where I want. (Currently I am in my fifth country over the last five years.) My job role has changed to allow me to be efficient in doing what I think is necessary.

Navjot Pawera, Web evangelist
The work culture is so amazing here that my work fits into my life, not the other way around.

Saito Toshiyuki, QA
Working at Opera means working together with subtle and discreet specialists. That is, I think the joy of working at Opera improves their personality. Would you rather work with bloated, selfish people who protect their own interests? Even though they have good technological quality and excel in many other fields of businesses, I would not want to work with them. The open nature of Opera appeals to me.

Torstein Aasebø, QA Mobile and Device
My small “best things” about working for Opera

1. Friendly people all around you.
2. I really like the “Open the Web” mentality.
3. We do not try to bind or lock our users to use our products

We give our users choice instead of locking them in and we listen to them (when we can)!

Shwetank Dixit, Web evangelist
The people here at Opera are extremely smart, fun and supportive. This makes for a great work environment and makes me to look forward to coming to work every day.

Arjan van Leeuwen, Desktop developer
I like working at Opera for two reasons:

1. I love working on a product that I and many others use daily
2. My team does stuff like this.

Tim Altman, Desktop QA
I’ve always wanted to make the World a better place, and working at Opera Software gives me a chance to do just that. We develop software used by millions of people every day. By making Opera more usable, faster, and issue free, millions of people work more effectively, more efficiently, and avoid frustration.

Thruth Wang, Marketing
I cannot expect an office mini ice bar full of Oslo honey (Xmas presents), nor annual seminars on snowboards/in hot springs from other companies. Opera is just UNIQUE in its coolness.

Kai Leppanen, SVP for Internet Services and Solutions
I love working at Opera because Opera is all about open innovation and standards support - always with end users in mind. So many claim to be open and end-user focused, but being open and supporting standards means so much more than words! In Opera this is a reality. These virtues are so deeply engrained in Opera’s more than 450 employees’ DNA, that it makes me very proud to be one of them.

Another thing that I love about Opera is its flexibility and “open-minded” approach in its wider and more inclusive sense, technology wise but also as a working place! Our Opera core rendering engine is working and optimized for different flavors of operating systems across different devices such as mobiles, STBs, portable media devices, PCs, etc. This multiplatform and multi-device support guarantees that every day here at Opera is a new day. And not only that, but very often a new day full of nice surprises and news, either directly from end users or from our global tier one partners and customers.

And yes, Opera has also become a major part of my life after work. Already before I started working here at Opera, around 3 years ago, I trusted and enjoyed Opera for being my gateway to the real world. E.g. I browse news, transport timetables, sports results, and I also pay my outstanding bills via Opera Mini with my SE K810i mobile, while commuting to work, or at my usual workstations at the office. And lately, I enjoy using Opera in my flat screen TV at home via Nintendo Wii, sitting on my sofa and watching my friends’ crazy YouTube videos and Facebook updates from all around the world.

Gerður Jónsdóttir, User Interface Designer
Everyone is allowed to have an opinion and voice it without risking consequences.

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If you think working at Opera sounds exciting, why not check out some of our current openings?: www.opera.com/jobs

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