Where code matters

I’m Jarle, founder of The Last Viking and a freelance C++ developer for hire. I have held many fancy job titles, like Senior Software Architect and Principle Software Developer - but when I look in the mirror I see only a very passionate and curious software developer.

More about my personal qualifications at cpp-freelancer.com.

I am one of those guys who got a home computer back in the 1980s and got hooked. The moment I lay my hands on my first computer, I knew that this was the passion of my life. I learned the C programming language and wrote my own multi-user BBS under an early version of QNX, running on 8086 and 80186 PC's (ancient things built to run MS-DOS for a single user at most). The same year I was hired as a PC technician by a large university hospital in Norway. I spent the days making computer cables, servicing terminals and printers and a few PCs and Macs, and the nights hacking together software in C. A year later I started to work full time as a software developer. Since then, I’ve worked at both small startups and large enterprises. Being mindful about my love of programming, I have turned down roles focused on management. I don’t mind earning less. It's more important for me to do what I love.

Today I work for my own company in the EU, offering freelance services and developing useful software.

Do you need a hand with your project? Hire me.

Latest blog posts

• We need to rethink how we design software

  AI will eat anything weak for breakfast, and hack pretty much anything if someone is willing to foot the bill for the tokens. That means that making software "more secure" is no longer enough.

• Microsoft Recall potentially opens up a new can of worms

  After tens of thousands of publicly disclosed security vulnerabilities over the decades, Microsoft has learned nothing.

• DarkSpeak released in Beta

  This is an instant messaging app over Tor that I started working on in 2016.

• Making GitHub Releases Almost Effortless

  A simple GitHub Actions workflow that turns releases into a one-click task.

• Monthly update, June 2026

  A productive month

Software Products

• NextApp — A cross-platform personal organizer and GTD powerhouse. Join the beta to help shape v1.
• Settled — The wellness app (Android).

Open source projects (selected)

• QVocalWriter — Speech to text, translate and chat app running AIs safely on the local PC/laptop.
• yahat-cpp — Minimal HTTP server for embedded REST APIs and metrics endpoints (OpenMetrics-friendly).
• restc-cpp — A pragmatic C++ REST client that makes JSON APIs straightforward.
• RESTinCurl — A minimal libcurl-based HTTP client wrapper in C++. Supports C++20 coroutines.
• logfault — Header-only logging for modern C++ on all major platforms.
• shinysocks — A small, fast SOCKS proxy (single binary, simple config).

...and many more →

Blog & insights

Monthly updates, deep dives in modern C++, distributed systems, and tooling → Blog