Kun itse 80-luvun lopulla valmistuin graafiseksi suunnittelijaksi, päädyin työmarkkinoille, joilla ammatin taidolliset vaatimukset muuttuivat perusteellisesti muutamassa vuodessa. Uusia taitoja opiskellessani huomasin, että myös työpaikat olivat kadonneet. Tämän kujanjuoksun jälkeen olen joutunut keksimään itselleni työn kerta toisensa jälkeen sen mukaan, millaiselle tekemiselle yhteiskunnassa on tarvetta. Kokemus on pakottanut arvioimaan uudelleen, mikä opintojen ja työssäolon suhde pitäisi olla. Työelämää myllertävät isot muutokset, joihin kannattaisi henkisesti valmistautua jo koulussa.

1. Vain muutos on pysyvää. Yksi keskeinen muuttuva piirre on ollut teknologian muuttuminen. Työurani aikana olen joutunut opettelemaan kymmeniä uusia ohjelmistoja ja järjestelmiä. Jo vuosituhannen vaihteessa pohdin, milloin tekninen työympäristö rauhoittuisi ja voitaisiin keskittyä arvon tuottamiseen. Vastaus taitaa olla, ettei koskaan. Juuri nyt tietotyö muuttuu ehkä nopeammin kuin milloinkaan aikaisemmin. Muutama viikko sitten Helsingin Sanomien artikkelissa vähäteltiin lukio-opiskelijoiden IT-taitoja seuraavin sanoin: ”Ei ole itsestäänselvyys, että nuoret osaisivat esimerkiksi käyttää Office-ohjelmia.” Tiedoksi teillekin: Itse en ole käyttänyt Office-ohjelmia enää vuosiin!

2. Sankarikonsulttia ei enää tarvita. Työ Elisalla on luonteeltaan tiimityötä. Tiimissämme yhteyttä porukan kesken pidetään ryhmätyösovelluksilla ja erilaisilla mindmap- tai whiteboard-työkaluilla. Tuotettu tieto on yhteisesti ylläpidettyä ja kommentoitua, ja virtaa tarvittaville henkilöille. Emme hautaa tietoa lukuoikeuksia vaativiin dokumentinhallintajärjestelmiin vaan lähtökohtaisesti tieto kulkee avoimesti aina, kun se on tietosuojakäytäntöjen puolesta mahdollista. Ajattelen, että henkilö, joka panttaa työnsä tuloksia, ei osaa ottaa palautetta tai ei halua pyyteettömästi kartuttaa yhteisön osaamispääomaa, on työyhteisölle riski.

3. Töitä voi tehdä missä vain. Kirjoitan tätä tekstiä kotisohvallani. Työn tekemisessä ovat oleellisia tulokset, ei se, missä ja milloin työtä tehdään. Elisassa saa halutessaan tehdään etätöitä, ellei työ erityisesti vaadi työpaikalla oloa. Keskimäärin kolmasosa elisalaisten työpäivistä tehdäänkin kotona, mökkirannassa tai jossakin muualla. Oheinen juttu kertoo, miten Elisalla joustava työ helpottaa perheen arjen pyörittämistä: http://www.hs.fi/ura/a1459479104797?jako=c8898a31fd50036ce0c752605100cea4

Missä itse olet luovimmillasi?

4. Työkulttuuri muuttuu ja sitä muutetaan. Koska kokoukseen voi liittyä milloin vain puhelimella – vaikka olisit vasta junassa – ei myöhästelyä katsota enää hyvällä. Kokoukset ovat virtuaalipalaverien tultua myös lyhentyneet selvästi. Toisaalta kun työaika ei määrity työpaikalla olemisen kautta, työntekijän täytyy myös miettiä ja sopia tiimin kanssa, milloin ei halua olla tavoitettavissa.

Etäyhteyttä voidaan käyttää myös sosiaaliseen vuorovaikutukseen: kun tiimi istuu hajallaan ympäri Suomea tai maailmaa, tarve jatkuvalle yhteydenpidolle kasvaa. Jokainen tiimi muokkaa tässä itse omaa työkulttuuriaan: Millainen on etätiimin kahvitauko?

5. Lean startup opettaa. Erityisen paljon Elisalla opitaan nyt kasvuyritysten toimintamalleista ja asenteesta: uskalluksesta olla ylpeä omista saavutuksista ja samalla halukkuudesta kertoa niistä julkisesti. Kasvuyritykset opettavat meille myös, miksi nopea epäonnistuminen on tärkeää – tällöin jää aikaa uusien ideoiden testaamiseen ja todennäköisyys kultajyvän löytymiseen kasvaa.

Startup-maailmasta on kopioitu myös ketterien tiimien malli.  Elisalla tiimi itse vastaa työympäristönsä rakentamisesta: työtapojen, käytäntöjen ja työkalujen valinnasta. Yhä useammin tiimi joutuu myös etsimään itse ongelmat, jotka ovat ratkaisemisen arvoisia – vain yhteiset tavoitteet saadaan johdolta. Miten koulussa voisi opettaa vastaavia taitoja?

6. Omaa työtä on osattava markkinoida. Suomen asiantuntijamarkkinat seuraavat alan toimijoiden mukaan Ruotsia 5–10 vuotta perässä. Ruotsissa asiantuntija ei halaja isoon yritykseen töihin, vaan etsiytyy saman tien kansainvälisille markkinoille, kilpailuttaa omaa osaamistaan aktiivisesti ja tekee tarpeen mukaan joustavia työsuhderatkaisuja esimerkiksi rekrytointiyritysten kanssa. Jokaisen asiantuntijan tulisi ymmärtää perusasiat sopimuskäytännöistä ja oman työn markkinoinnista. Opetetaanko tätä sinun koulussasi?

7. Töihin oppii vain töissä. Omakohtainen havaintoni on ollut, että vain töitä tekemällä saavuttaa osaamistason, jolla on kaupallista kysyntää. Vain todellinen tuotannollinen haaste tai asiakas voi tarjota uskottavan kontekstin uusien taitojen omaksumiselle.  Siksi vaatimukset koulutusaikojen lyhentämisestä ovat mielestäni perusteltuja – jotta olisi mahdollisuus palata kouluun yhä uudelleen.

Mitä koulussa kannattaa opiskella? Toimialasta riippumatta tietotyö vaatii nykyisin oman työskentelyn johtamista, halua ja kykyä keskustella työn tavoitteista ja siitä, miten onnistumista mitataan. Monipuoliset kommunikointi- ja yhteistyövalmiudet ovat välttämättömiä, sillä vain tiimin yhdessä tekemä työ ratkaisee. Huomisen tietotyöläisen perustaitoja ovat tiimin aktiivinen rakentaminen, sidosryhmien osallistaminen sekä suunnittelun ja päätöksenteon fasilitoiminen. Kyky hahmottaa syy- ja seuraussuhteita, ennakoida ja laatia simulaatioita ovat arvossaan.

Mitä koulussa ei kannata oppia? Lähtökohtaisesti tenttiä varten ulkoa päntätyt faktat ovat hyödyttömiä, sillä työpaikalla kaikki maailman tieto on koko ajan saatavilla ja sitä syntyy määrättömästi koko ajan lisää. Oleellista ovat kyky etsiä tietoa ja jalostaa sitä.

8. Kouluun kannattaa palata. Vaatimus elinikäisestä oppimisesta haastaa kuvitelman siitä, että koulusta valmistuttaisiin elinikäiseen ammattiin. Omaa uratoivetta tukeviin töihin kannattaa mennä heti, kun se on mahdollista, sillä kouluun voi palata milloin tahansa. Vasta työelämässä opiskelija ehkä huomaa, haluaako edes loppujen lopuksi alalle.

Koulutuksen lyhetessä tulisi yhteiskunnan taata mahdollisuus palata kouluun aina tarvittaessa. Ammattia vaihtaessa olen löytänyt itseni koulun penkiltä 5–10 vuoden välein. Miksi? Opiskelu voi auttaa pistemäisesti kiinnostavien kirjojen ja henkilöiden äärelle, mutta myös kuulostelemaan sitä, mitä itse haluaisin oppia ja missä haluaisin olla hyvä. Sen kysymyksen äärelle joudumme kaikki palaamaan yhä uudelleen.

Kirjoittaja on toiminut urallaan suunnittelijana, yrittäjänä, konsulttina, tutkijana, esimiehenä ja vastaa nyt Elisan palvelumuotoilusta.

Toni & Thu Nha blogged about their work experiences at Vaisala. Both of them have studied in Aalto University and started their Vaisala career as trainees in summer 2015 and continued onboard. Currently, Thu Nha works in our Global Sourcing team and Toni on his master’s thesis in R&D. Take a look at what they have to say about Vaisala, a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement that has been helping to predict the unpredictable for over 80 years.

Starting as a Giant Leap Intern & Summer Trainee

Thu Nha: “I started at Vaisala as a Giant Leap intern in 2015 in our sourcing team which was a really good opportunity for me to kick start my career. The program is for students with 3 + years of studies in various fields of education. The project topics deal with real business needs and practical problems from various parts of the organization, which makes the projects interesting and diverse. Regardless of the university or program you are studying in, you just need to show your true interest and your potential what you can do and what you want to learn and develop. Obviously, the projects are challenging, especially in the short limit time of three months but not lacking of fun activities.”

Toni: “In 2015 I was studying my fourth year of Electrical Engineering studies in Aalto University. I had applied for Vaisala Giant Leap program and was accepted to interviews. Unfortunately I was surrounded with really good applicants and for the position I was considered, they found a more suitable applicant. A month after the interviews my interviewer contacted me again and told me that he could have a trainee position for me for the summer. Ending up well, in the beginning of the summer I started my career at Vaisala. Summer went by quickly as my work was to build new prototypes for a new growing R&D project and doing necessary tests for the devices. I had to learn a lot of new things to be able to do my job and collaborate with the quick moving project team to get the project forward.”

Staying onboard as Project Coordinator & Thesis Worker

Thu Nha: “I stayed onboard after my Giant Leap summer in our sourcing team. Currently, I am working in the Global Sourcing team as a Project Coordinator for production technology transfer. I analyze Vaisala’s suppliers and check if there is any demand of the components that we still need to procure more. What I like about this job is that I can interact with many colleagues from different backgrounds. That helps me to learn different things in the product development, operation and supply chain.”

Toni: “After the summer I had to go back to continue my studies, but I was lucky enough to also continue working at Vaisala as a part-time trainee, coming in twice a week. I kept working on the same project, building prototypes and helping where I could. It required some effort to balance work and studies, but my contract with Vaisala was flexible and my manager was understanding and helpful, which made it all much easier. I am currently starting my master thesis at Vaisala. The topic came through the project I’ve been working on and matches with my studies from electric grids and high voltage technology, because Vaisala has products in many fields of industry.”

Putting studies into practice

Thu Nha: “I’m lucky that what I am doing now is related to what I’ve studied. I graduated from Information and Service Management (ISM), specialty in Logistics and Service Management in Aalto Business School. The program provides me the basic background in Information Management. Through my studies, I gained basic understanding of product data information in ERP systems, as well as, the knowledge to analyze and optimize data in production, inventory and complex supply chain. There are lot of work opportunities where you can apply after graduating from ISM.”

Supportive working environment with wide range of opportunities at Vaisala

Thu Nha: “I really enjoy working at Vaisala because of the company’s meaningful business but also the working environment which is open-minded and low-hierarchy. You always have opportunities to develop yourself and there are many new things that you can learn every day.”

Toni: “There is a lot of work for electronics designers, software developers, mechanics designers, scientists and engineers alike, as Vaisala puts a big effort to develop product design. I like this because you get to see how all the different fields of expertise combined is what makes the product. Vaisala is a company that I would definitely like to continue working for after graduation, because of the working opportunities and challenges provided.”

Vaisala offers a career with scope and purpose, not to mention an exciting future. Who wouldn’t like a chance to work with cutting-edge technologies, industry-leading products and 1,600 top-notch professionals worldwide? We take pride in being innovative pioneers who strive to bring about positive changes in both the society and environment, and our world is not quite ready yet. Find out about our career opportunities on our career site.

Author:
Tuomo Laine
Asiakasvuorovaikutuksen ratkaisut, Yritysasiakkaat, Elisa

I am now going tell you the story and reason behind my decision to join Elisa and more specifically the co-founder team of Elisa’s new pilot service Omaduunari. For those of you, who don’t know what Omaduunari is, it is a pilot service, which tries to help small renovation and home improvement companies to connect with new potential customers. Also it is part of Elisa’s effort to improve and digitalise services for the SME sector. But this isn’t about what Elisa is doing. This is about me.

First the basics – I have a Bachelor of Science in Information Networks in Aalto University. For 95% of you who haven’t heard about IN: in Information Networks we try to understand how to create successful services and products technically, economically but most importantly for the end-user. In other words you could say that we aim to be the some-what generalists in the Bermuda triangle of Business, Technology and the User.

Personally I’ve always been interested in entrepreneurship and have pursued these goals with a company which we founded with two of my colleagues from Information Networks. More than often I find myself spending time validating some business opportunity either for myself or for a friend. The main kick that I get out of it, isn’t the opportunity to earn money, it is the feeling of being your own boss. This means defining the goals, success criteria and the tools or actions of how your company pursues these goals. This leads me to the reason, I wanted to join Elisa and Omaduunari.

What makes Elisa a great environment for an entrepreneur-like mind?

From the first moment I got introduced to Omaduunari, I felt the enthusiasm of the people making it happen. It wasn’t just a project, it was something more personal. And most importantly I felt that my skills and personality were something that could benefit the project, but also that the people making it happen now, were all more talented in many areas than me. In other words there was much that I could learn from them. The same goes for Elisa as an organization.

Of course at times there can be moments that remind you about the fact that you are working in a company with 4 100 employees, which means there are certain limitations on how agile it can be with some things. But these moments have been almost non-existent. What is more common is the feeling of child-like enthusiasm when you get to learn about a new resource or talent inside the organization. The feeling when you come up with an idea that you are not sure how to put in action and what resources it might take (in other words you are not an expert in the field). And instead of a painful learning process which might take weeks, you can quickly find the go-to guy of that field. Two hours later you are talking face to face or in Skype with a professional in that field, and after the talk you have a clear plan on how test your idea. For me this has been the key value of Elisa thus far. For a starting entrepreneur, who is used to bootstrapping with low resources, this is the dream. “Have an idea? Go get it.”

So why did I join Elisa and Omaduunari? Simply because I get to do what I love, which is building and validating new things, with amazing people in an organization that seems to really appreciate its employees and offer them the tools that are needed for them to succeed.

Thanks for the read, and as the last note: Be open about who you are and what you want to achieve in life, and you will probably end up doing things that you enjoy.

Tuomo

Author:
Beatrice Palmgren
Business Development Trainee, Retail, Tieto

How did I manage to convince my future boss that I had an idea of what IT was? Sure, I did take a couple of programming courses and I do have a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management. However, had they placed me in front of a computer to pull off some cyber magic, they would have realized that they had picked the wrong person.

I thought I’d better take some IT courses in the summer before my internship at Tieto. Did an “IT for dummies” course even exist? These were the thoughts I had about a year ago when I was recruited to be a trainee in business development within retail, logistics and services at Tieto.

Now I can laugh about my hesitation and see why my employer wasn’t really sharing those doubts. As a trainee, I work on companies operating in such industries as retail, fashion, pharmaceuticals, gas, logistics, real estate, travel, and so forth. What business development needs is an awareness of market trends, observing changes in consumer behavior, and knowing what’s currently hot in IT. Questions that I’ve faced so far range from household digitalization to the future of brick and mortar stores.

The projects we trainees have been involved with illustrate the point that Tieto’s business covers a wide range of topics. Caroline has been working on projects that help us diagnose cancer more quickly, Karl has had his hands on the EU data protection reform, Carl-Fredrik has worked on block chains, and Carl has tested and developed an internal product. I’m not saying that IT doesn’t include data centers, software development and similar tech staples. On the contrary, they are a very large part of what we at Tieto do. But our jobs go beyond that.

Without the exchange between industry knowledge and profound IT competence a company like ours wouldn’t survive. Business and technology simply can’t be separated. That’s also why my programming talent, or lack thereof, wasn’t measured in the interview. Curious by nature, I’ve been glad to see that my colleagues at Tieto are always willing to take their time to help and explain new things to me. It goes without saying that there are lots of those.

So what have I learnt about the IT? At its core, it involves the storage, exchange, transmission and transformation of data. IT helps us connect with each other and grow businesses. IT stretches from your personal computer or smartphone all the way to the data nerves that keep society’s most crucial systems running. We might not see it, but it’s there and continues to grow.

One thing is for sure: the learning path will never come to an end. I’ll never gain a complete understanding of information technology, and that’s fine. There will always be a new challenge ahead and an opportunity to be seized. Quite frankly, this journey is why I enjoy working on IT in the first place.

GenerationT trainee program is a Nordic, 10 months long program which gives you an understanding of Tieto and its business. During the program trainees participate in four training modules in different Tieto locations, complemented with additional online sessions in-between and a rotation period during the program.

Read more about the program and apply by March 6, 2016 at GenerationT trainee page.

Tämä teksti on osa Työelämäblogi -sarjaa, jossa AYY:n yhteistyöyritykset kertovat toimialoistaan, toiminnastaan ja työllistymismahdollisuuksistaan.

Digitalization is a buzz word of today. The word is thrown into conversations and articles, and companies strive to appear as trailblazers in the area. But what does it mean? How does it affect me and my work at Tieto? How does it affect my surroundings? How to make the right decision on what creates value?

Gartner defines digitalization as the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. Following this definition, digitalization is a positive, forward-looking movement creating benefits for consumers and companies alike.

At its best, digitalization adds transparency, shortens the time-to-market of products, facilitates co-creation and collaboration, and improves customer experience. As a consumer, my expectations have shifted dramatically in just a few years. Not long ago, I thought paying my bills online was as good as things would get; now I rarely even visit my internet bank, and use a mobile app as a primary channel. And even now, I feel that service could be improved. Digitalization has become a solid part of my everyday life from WhatsApp to Spotify. At Tieto, digitalization can be seen everywhere in our day-to-day activities developing new and exciting solutions for our customers in virtual multinational teams to help them digitalize their businesses. Digitalization calls for a culture that allows for sharing and collaboration; it helps us as a company to come together and bring people with different backgrounds to come up with truly new thoughts and ideas.

But how can we distinguish the things that create value in the end? The success stories of today, Uber and Airbnb, bring us together to create value to each other. Uber doesn’t own the cars, nor does Airbnb own the real-estate. Digitalization has made this possible by creating a platform, where stakeholders connect. Success, however, is not guaranteed even with a good business idea; we consumers decide who lives and who dies. A company that’s not present online or in social media is perceived as untrustworthy, since we do our homework thoroughly before making a decision to buy. Online reviews can make it or break it for me when I’m shopping, either in an actual physical store or online.

Digitalization can be a two-edged sword for everyone: how can I share enough without sharing too much? What is the image that I want to put out there as a professional and a consumer? How do I decide what content to focus on with my limited spare time? How does this behaviour affect my health, habits and privacy? These are the issues that people face all day long in a digitalized world. Obviously we can gain a lot, but we should always remember that there is still life outside the digital sphere. Next time your colleague or friend shares online content that interests you, maybe talk about it face-to-face rather than in the comment section?

Anna Laaksonen, Project Manager, PCoE, Tieto

Anna Laaksonen works in the Pension Centre of Excellence as a project manager/business developer. She joined Tieto as a part of the Generation-T programme in February. Anna enjoys bringing different perspectives to the table to cultivate new ideas and business cases, and spreading a positive vibe around her.