Nicoline Onchoy Jensen from Denmark.
Project Manager and UX Designer at Minds & Co.
Master’s degree in IT Product Development from Aarhus University in 2024.
Thesis: Explorations into IoT and Ecovillages: Design Case, Technical Challenges, and Theories. supervised by Peter Gall Krogh.
It wasn’t the IT side of the IT Product Development that convinced Nicoline to apply for the programme. But today, her technical understanding is key when collaborating with developers and testing data products with users.
You probably know that wind turbines produce green energy. But did you know they also generate vast amounts of data?
Nicoline Jensen knows all about that. She studied IT Product Development and now works as project manager and user experience designer at the Aarhus-based company Minds and Co., powered by Antire.
“We work with data from critical infrastructure like wind turbines, where we among other things, transform raw performance data into actionable insights,” she explains.
Minds and Co. takes raw data from technical systems and makes it more accessible to users, enabling real-time performance monitoring and response to anomalies. The goal is to make complex data operational and action oriented.
“Most of my colleagues are software developers who build the technical solutions. My focus is on the human side – how users interact with and understand the technology,” says Nicoline.
She’s responsible for managing projects, solving emerging challenges, designing and testing user interfaces, and presenting final solutions to clients.
Her work draws directly on her academic experience – and she’s come to appreciate just how well her education prepared her for professional life.
“As a recent graduate, there’s a lot about the job market that’s unfamiliar. When I started at Minds and Co., I was relieved to recognize concrete working methods from my studies – it made me feel at home,” she says.
The ability to work project-oriented and across the full design process
A solid technical understanding of IT
Practical tools and methods for user-centered design
“In IT Product Development, we worked very project-oriented, which I really liked. It gave me the chance to explore the role of project manager, strengthen my teamwork skills, and gain a holistic view of project processes,” Nicoline says.
It was also through these projects that Nicoline developed a passion for sustainability. For example, her thesis focused on improving workflows at a willow-based water treatment facility in an eco-community – a sustainable living collective striving for minimal environmental impact.
“The residents had to manually check water levels in multiple wells, lifting heavy concrete lids to measure, which was difficult. Our project group designed sensors for each well, connected to an app from which the residents could measure the water level on the spot. It felt great to help solve a real problem for real people,” she shares.
After completing her thesis, Nicoline used the experience in her job search.
One day, the Department of Computer Science invited alumnis to speak about their careers. Nicoline attended a presentation by Minds and Co. and her curiosity was sparked.
She explains: “I didn’t want to manage projects contributing to the arms industry or fast fashion. As a new graduate, your options are limited, but I really wanted to work with something sustainable - that’s what motivates me. So finding this job has been amazing!”
After high school, Nicoline took two gap years, and then she was ready to start studying - but what should she choose.
“I wasn’t sure which direction to take, but I followed my gut. People often told me I was creative, so I searched for ‘design’ on UG.dk and found IT Product Development,” she explains. It was the project-based learning, design processes, and hands-on group work that really appealed to her.
“I hadn’t fully realized how IT-technical the programme was. There are heavy theory and coding – it can be tough and frustrating, but it’s also empowering to master those skills. And today, that foundational understanding is crucial in my job,” she says.
For Nicoline, being stronger in design and ideation than in coding wasn’t a problem. The study environment was supportive and collaborative, with students complementing each other’s strengths across disciplines.
Her former classmates have taken many different career paths – many now work as developers or consultants.
“We still meet up in our dinner club. We talk, among other things, about our jobs, and it is fun to see how many different titles people have today, all from the same degree,” she says.
