My background is in embedded software design with which I have worked since early 1990’s, when I created my first embedded software for a mobile crane. Embedded systems are used daily in billions of devices and with IoT the number is only increasing. It is one of our key focus areas also in Tickingbot.

Work culture is at the heart of how we operate. I work as a lead developer in the client's team. I trust that people themselves know best, how to organize their work. Quick thinking and the ability to work on problems independently are characteristics that I appreciate. That you do not get stuck with a problem, but openly create different options to solve it.

Idleness is not for me – I enjoy being active both mentally and physically. I began playing golf few years ago: it offers social stimuli, as you play in a group. But it is also a mind game. Every shot is different, and you need to focus on each shot before hitting it. I also enjoy reading, playing board games, and of course, programming on my own time.

I am an expert of quality assurance and testing, and I have over 20 years of experience in this area. I like best when I get to deeply understand customers business and products or the projects with public administration customers. Most of the work focuses on life better with well performing tools and software.

I studied information technology and industrial economics at Tampere University of Technology. I ended up in Nokia's testing team by chance while studying. Only later I realised how pioneers we were, e.g. in using new testing methods. For example, we introduced exploratory testing methods in the early 2000s, which became common in the field only in the 2010s. Next step in my career Solita taught agile development methods as a testing consultant for 11 years. I also learned that the software testing expert needs to get involved already in the software definition phase to see the entire life cycle of the software. Even in acceptance testing, it must be ensured that the requirements set for the software at the beginning are fulfilled.

In this job, thoughts always revolve around solving problems, so it is good to find a counterbalance to it. In my spare time, I take care of our family’s farm, which my sister and I own now. We want to maintain the family home as a farm, but it is a labor of love that requires a considerable investment in both time and money. I also enjoy shooting with traditional firearms. You can concentrate only on shooting – if not, the shots will miss the target.

I joined Tickingbot just before the pandemic. I am interested in the technical challenges inherent in system-level programming of hardware. Learning something new all the time is what keeps work fresh and interesting. From my very first day, the company culture has made Tickingbot a nice place to work. Work assignments are truly interesting. Our customers offer a wide range of software challenges that require thinking how to overcome challenges holistically. And our focus is always on delivering the best solutions to customers. But otherwise, we try to take things easy.

While I studied computer science at the Helsinki University of Technology, I wanted to try something else professionally. By chance, I ended up studying watchmaking. Although that might sound a world away from coding, it requires a lot of the same disciplines – precision and patience.

Outside of work, I spend time with my family. I also code as a hobby. Sometimes I work on game projects, and sometimes I code software for my own use. And lately, I have been driving races with a race car simulator.

I have a wide scope of responsibilities, including sales, marketing, and HR. As our company grows, the most important HR task is recruiting for new employees. When I interview candidates for open roles, I am interested in seeing how their skills and career aspirations match both with our projects and with our way of working with clients. I know that interviewing can be uncomfortable for some people, so my target is always to have good interaction with the interviewee. It is important to cultivate a good work atmosphere which can be summed up as “you can come as you are”.

I majored in information technology and industrial economics at the Tampere University of Technology. During my studies, I realized that although I can code, I am not a coder. So, after university I worked in various technical sales positions for a long time.

In my freetime I spend time in nature and do cross-country skiing. Especially the ski tracks in Äkäslompolo are very close to my heart.

I am a data architect focusing especially in master data. I have over 15 years of experience in this area. When I started my career in software industry over 20 years ago, I started as a coder. I was coding mostly something for database and business logic layers. From that I moved on to data warehouse projects, which I did for several big Finnish customers - both public and commercial. At that time nobody was yet speaking of master data as a term, but I later realized that many of my work assignments had actually been master data related already during this time. Products, customers, trains for railway company and so on.

In 2017 I moved from an IT vendor to Nokian Tyres to work on the master data area from different perspective. This time I was working on the owning side of the data, which I was also developing as a data architect. This helped me to see the data challenges of a global commercial company, which does not concentrate on IT-development itself, but making products of their own. At Tickingbot my aim is to help customers in the master data field with the lessons learnt during these years.

To counterbalance the work stress, I try to exercise outdoors as much as possible. Lately I have been working on my golf swing. Hitting the ball with a driver is a great stress reliever!