Amanda’s Visma journey started as a Corporate Summer Intern while studying Industrial Economics and Technology Management in 2018. Then, she moved onto a second internship with Visma Resolve – her current workplace. Today, she fulfils her passion for optimisation as an AI Project Manager, leading their route optimisation team.
Simplifying our everyday lives
Amanda’s main field of expertise is mathematical optimisation and creating solutions to simplify others’ everyday lives. “The AI trend I follow most closely is how optimisation is applied in different industries. Of course, I keep an eye on developments within the machine learning domain, such as ChatGPT, but that’s mostly out of curiosity,” Amanda explains. She’s constantly on the lookout for new and improved technology to solve today’s optimisation challenges.
During her time at Visma Resolve, the route optimisation team has expanded from offering optimisation products only in the Norwegian health care market to offering them in the Finnish market, as well.
“Having collaborated with this company for my master’s thesis, and now leading this team as we’re piloting and delivering route optimisation to a new country – it’s an amazing feeling,” Amanda excitedly says.
She firmly believes that in 10–15 years, this type of technology will be much more widespread than it is today. She finds it thrilling to be a part of that development.
“I’m happy to work for a company that bets on AI and optimisation technology and pushes it out to the markets, enabling us to help others. I’d say what I’m most proud of is the impact we’ve had on the Norwegian municipalities that use our route optimisation service daily. We tracked the face-to-face time health care workers spent with patients in one municipality – both before and after using the optimisation – and saw that their time spent with patients increased by 14%. That makes a difference, both for patients and health care workers.”
Amanda Lange
From intern to leader
Amanda initially found becoming a team leader quite challenging. As a young AI professional with minimal leadership experience in a big organisation, she felt the pressure. “Finding my own leadership style has been imperative to me. After acknowledging that I cannot be an exact copy of my own leader, or anyone else I look up to, it was easier to get comfortable and confident in my own leadership style,” she shares.
Upon entering her new role, Amanda found herself having to shift her focus to facilitate the best possible working environment for others to thrive in. Now, when she sees the team collaborate, she feels a sense of validation for the working environment she’s helped create – and she’s fully embraced her current role.
Her advice to other women entering the field of AI, and becoming leaders without much leadership experience, is clear:
“What I would have told myself is ‘You can do it. Be brave and confident and speak up’. However, I’d also like to see a shift in society where women aren’t constantly told that they need to be brave to work in a certain field or role. Ideally, it should be natural to do something that you find meaningful and fun. Doing something you’re passionate about is always a good starting point for your career. With that said, I’ll always encourage women to go into the field of AI – we need diverse teams to create the best products.”
Amanda Lange
