Behind modern traffic infrastructure are teams of engineers solving complex problems that most people never see. Their work ensures that millions of people can move and commute every day without giving the technology a second thought.

We spoke with Mia Fornes , Software Engineer in Norway, and Gozde Kos , Senior Software Engineer in Australia, about their paths into intelligent transportation, daily life at Q-Free, and what keeps engineering interesting years into their careers.

Their journeys into Q-Free differ, but both share a common appreciation for challenging work, continuous learning, and the opportunity to make a real-world impact.

Two paths into Q-Free

“What drew me into the ITS industry was the combination of software and real-world engineering,” says Gozde. “I love writing software, but I love it even more when I can see it interacting with hardware and doing something tangible in the real world.”

Before joining Q-Free Australia, Gozde worked on a variety of engineering projects across consumer electronics, renewable energy systems, and professional audio networking. “But the industry I ultimately fell in love with was Intelligent Transportation Systems,” she says.

For Mia, Q-Free was her entry point into the industry altogether. “My history with Q-Free actually goes back to 2021, when I wrote my bachelor’s thesis here,” she says.

The thesis turned into a summer internship, then a part-time job alongside her studies, followed by her master’s thesis, and eventually a full-time position at Q-Free.

What drew her in was the combination of demanding technical problems and the fact that the systems Q-Free builds are out in the real world, working every day.

Gozde, by contrast, was already familiar with Q-Free’s products and technology from her time elsewhere in the industry, and had long been impressed by the quality of the engineering. “When I relocated to Australia with my family in 2016, I kept an eye on opportunities at Q-Free — I even subscribed to the careers page before moving. So when the Sydney opportunity came up after the Cross City Tunnel project win, it felt like everything had come full circle,” Gozde says.

“Joining Q-Free wasn’t just finding a new job; it was joining a company I’d admired for many years.”

The value of diverse days and projects

It’s been seven and five years since Gozde and Mia joined the company, respectively. Reflecting on what keeps them there, they both point to the same thing: variety.

“In addition to my colleagues, one of the biggest reasons I’m still at Q-Free is that no two days are ever the same,” Gozde says.

“I’m representing a branch office in Australia, where we work across many different parts of our tolling solutions. Some days I’m writing software for roadside or back-office systems; other days I’m analysing production data, developing Python tools, investigating customer issues, configuring systems, or helping with deployments.”

Mia agrees, and adds that Q-Free has opened up a lot of new experience for her. “Q-Free has given me room to take on responsibilities well beyond those directly tied to my position. Already in my first year here, I took part in recruiting and following up with interns, which taught me a lot about people management. On the technical side, I’ve picked up a lot of new technologies since I started.”

The range of projects the two work on is just as diverse as their days.

“Many people think Q-Free is a large company, because we work on and deliver so many different projects,” Gozde says.

Of the many great projects they have worked on, both have a few particular favorites. ”A project I enjoyed a lot was a system deployment at Melbourne Airport, where I configured lane controllers and completed the geometrisation of all the cameras.”, Gozde shares. “It was a great opportunity to combine software with hands-on system engineering, and to understand the complete solution, from the roadside hardware through to the software.”

Another, more recent favorite projects has been developing Roadwise, a Python-based roadside data analysis library. “It started as a tool to help our team analyse roadside data more efficiently in a JupyterHub environment, and to communicate technical issues more clearly to engineers and customers in one of our projects,” she explains.

“Adding new capabilities, Roadwise quickly became a really useful tool for verifying changes made in the production environment for other projects as well, helping us understand system behaviour with much greater confidence,” Gozde says.

Working globally from Norway and one of Q-Free’s main offices, Mia highlights Q-Free’s roadside solutions as a favorite area of work, alongside the project she is currently working on.

“Right now I am developing a frontend for an operational tool that will manage the devices connected to Q-Free’s Road User Charging solution,” she says. “The solution is at a large-scale test phase, and there will be many devices out in the field – we need a tool to keep track of all of them.”

It’s the first time Mia has worked with this technology since she was in school, so it’s been a good chance for her to get back into it and learn a lot in the process.

“It’s also rewarding to work with technology related to RUC, as it aims to make pricing fairer and can help regulate traffic and reduce congestion,” she adds.

A small company with deep domain expertise

Asked what sets Q-Free apart from other companies, the two are unanimous: the depth of expertise packed into a small company.

“We work in a very specialised field, and we’re surrounded by people with deep knowledge and decades of experience,” Gozde says. “It’s an environment where everyone is willing to share what they know, which means you’re learning every day, no matter how experienced you are.”

Mia says one of the things that surprised her the most was how complex the systems behind something that looks simple to the end user actually are.

“As a driver, you just pass a tolling station without thinking about it, but there are a lot of components behind the scenes that must work together. Q-Free has such deep knowledge in this niche, and everyone is so generous about sharing it.”

During her studies, Mia says, the difficult part was usually writing the code. She assumed it would be the same at work. “To me, it turned out that the difficult part was actually learning the domain rather than the programming – understanding what all the components are for, how to cover all the edge cases, and how everything connects in such sophisticated solutions,” she says.

Independence and ownership

Being part of a small, international company also demands the ability to work independently.

“I expected interesting technology, but I didn’t expect the amount of independence you’re given at Q-Free,” Mia says. “As a fairly small company with many tasks to solve, we’re required to be flexible in scope and with that comes great opportunities.”

For Gozde, working out of the Sydney office has made independence less of an option and more of a necessity.

“One of the biggest skills I’ve built at Q-Free is reverse engineering – learning how to understand and analyse complex systems independently,” she says.

“Being in Sydney means our working day is almost the opposite of Norway’s, so there were many times I needed to investigate a problem without being able to ask the original developer. Over time, I became much more confident at reverse engineering software, analysing system behaviour, creating flow diagrams, and understanding how different components interacted. Those experiences have strengthened my analytical thinking and taught me that with enough curiosity and persistence, even the most unfamiliar systems eventually start to make sense. It’s a skill that has helped me across many projects at Q-Free, from recovering legacy applications to investigating production issues.”

Looking ahead

When talking about Q-Free as an employer, it’s easy to focus on experience gained and milestones reached. But looking ahead matters just as much.

Having come in fresh from university, Mia is looking forward to collaborating further across the organisation on how to attract, onboard, and retain a diverse workforce. “It takes time to learn a domain properly, so those who are introduced to it gradually have a head start by the time they join full-time,” she says.

“New, younger people bring a lot to the company, such as new perspectives and new technologies. I’d also like to see us focus on recruiting more women, as that’s a real area for improvement today. Recruitment strategy is a natural place to start.”

Gozde agrees that diversity is key, and has always believed that the best engineering happens when experienced people with different perspectives collaborate to solve complex problems –  something she genuinely enjoys being part of. “Some of my most rewarding experiences have been collaborating with engineering teams across Australia, Norway and the Netherlands to deliver solutions that continue to support production systems today,” she says.

Looking ahead, Gozde would love to see Q-Free continue strengthening collaboration across its global engineering teams.

“We have an incredible depth of technical expertise across different countries, and I think bringing those perspectives together even more closely will continue to strengthen our products and create exciting opportunities for engineers to contribute across different technologies.”

“I’d also love to see Q-Free continue to explore the potential of artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, and automation to further enhance intelligent transportation systems, while building on the strong engineering foundations that have made the company successful so far,” Gozde concludes.

Interested in solving complex engineering challenges that make a difference in the real world? Explore career opportunities at Q-Free.