Consulting at Vaern
Meet Mikkel Nordberg, consultant at Vaern
Mikkel Nordberg is a consultant at Vaern. He’s worked with Azure and cloud infrastructure since 2016.
Freedom was what first drew Mikkel to Vaern. What he also found was a network of some of the most talented people he’s ever worked with.
Here, he talks about being part of a network for independent consultants on “ultra steroids” and the importance of building your own toolbox.
September 22, 2026
- Vaern consultants
consulting at vaern
What motivates you in your work as a consultant?
There’s high demand for cloud consultants in the market, but not everyone delivers the same quality. The difference comes down to the mindset and expertise you bring to the work.
I go all in on the things I do, whether it’s work or something in my personal life. But I can only do that if I genuinely enjoy it. I believe the level of commitment you bring is reflected directly in the quality of your work. The same applies to my interest in new technology — I stay up to date with developments in cloud technology. It’s essential to keep up and adapt if, as an IT consultant, you want to remain relevant and work on exciting projects.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
At one point, I was working on a project where the contract had ended, and a new vendor was about to take over. There was still time left on the contract, but very little meaningful work left for me to do. I was demotivated by the situation and felt like I was wasting my time. That’s when I received some good advice: use the time to invest in myself and think about how I could make the most of a situation I couldn’t change.
So I started documenting what had worked well on the project and thinking about how I could reuse those lessons in future projects. That’s how I began building my own toolbox of knowledge, and I’ve been adding to it ever since. It also means that I often have concrete examples I can draw on to support the advice I give.
Why is it appealing to you to be part of Vaern?
One key factor is the freedom that Vaern’s business model gives me. Even though I sometimes work more than I used to, there’s tremendous freedom in knowing that, to a large extent, I’m in control of my own time. I have the flexibility to work 60 hours one week and 15 the next, as long as I coordinate that with the client.
Alongside that, I’m surrounded by incredibly talented colleagues whom I trust completely. Others might say, “Yeah, yeah, that’s not true—no one has only good colleagues.” But I actually feel that’s the case here. No one here comes up with bad solutions—everyone comes up with good ones.
For me, it’s also about the satisfaction of building something myself. I’m adding knowledge to my toolbox that I can build on year after year—and the same goes for my finances.
Consultant's Perspective
“I’m challenged by the technical exchanges with truly talented colleagues, and that motivates me to stay on top of the latest developments. The cloud is a vast field, and no one can be an expert in everything. That’s why it’s invaluable to have colleagues you can turn to for advice in areas that aren’t your strongest. And when someone asks about something within my own area of expertise, I want to be able to help. I call it a network for independent consultants on “ultra steroids.”
Mikkel Nordberg
Consultant, Vaern
How does Vaern challenge you professionally?
I’m challenged by the technical exchanges with truly talented colleagues, and that motivates me to stay on top of the latest developments. The cloud is a vast field, and no one can be an expert in everything. That’s why it’s invaluable to have colleagues you can turn to for advice in areas that aren’t your strongest. And when someone asks about something within my own area of expertise, I want to be able to help. I call it a network for independent consultants on “ultra steroids.”
At Vaern, we also attend training courses and conferences together, and we organize our own “geek nights” where we dive deep into a specific topic. It’s motivating to be part of a team where everyone is driven by their own curiosity and desire to learn.
What kind of projects do you work on at Vaern?
Today, most companies have migrated parts of their infrastructure to the cloud. The projects I work on therefore usually focus on the challenges that arise as companies scale their cloud environments. One main theme is operations. Another is security and compliance, including how to meet new regulatory requirements and manage identity and access securely.
Companies are also increasingly using multiple cloud providers at the same time. Previously, 80–90% of the infrastructure was hosted on Microsoft Azure, but now they’re also incorporating solutions from providers such as Google and Amazon. My role is to help bring those environments together and create an infrastructure where the different elements work together as a single, unified system.
Most cloud projects have become so large that we typically have several Vaern consultants working together with the client. We’re brought into these projects because of our commitment to continuously developing our expertise and staying current across different cloud technologies.
What characterizes a Vaern consultant?
Three things come to mind:
1. You need to be curious about new technology and keep your expertise up to date.
2. You need to have one or more core competencies, but also be interested in the bigger picture.
3. You need to be self-motivated and able to take ownership of your own work and deliverables.
And it’s a huge bonus if you value the community and want to grow stronger as part of it. Insisting on going it alone can limit both what you learn and the projects you get access to.