We’re a community of 2,200 tech, data, AI and design professionals, sometimes seemingly scattered in different countries, cities, units, and projects. We wanted to take a closer look by talking to some of our colleagues.
Cloud Architect Kristoffer Löfgren and Software Developers Kelsie Enqvist and Ulrika Blomström from Sweden gave us insights into how the community and collaboration with other Solitans across different projects, units and countries are reflected in their everyday work.
A must have: Knowledge sharing
Being a consultant in today’s rapidly changing and ever-evolving world can demand the need to continuously expand your toolbox. For us, the key to this is collaboration that enables knowledge sharing across different domains and areas of expertise. Solitans had at least one example of this, starting with Kelsie.
“I’ve always been a Developer, but my last assignment has been as a Data Analyst. It’s completely new to me. I’ve gotten great help from people from data in Finland, so that’s been great.”
In an AI project, Ulrika, one other Developer and two colleagues from our data unit got to learn by doing. One of the best ways to learn, if you ask us.
“It was a lot of fun. We sat down and learned from each other. Data Experts did some coding and set up the infrastructure, and they showed us different analyses. It was quite cool how we learned from each other in a project and delivered. In projects, it’s also important to understand how people work and what they do. So it was interesting to see how closely our work actually relates.”
Kristoffer had a chat over coffee (or ‘adventsfika’ to be specific) with his Data Scientist colleague. Kristoffer was curious about how to approach a certain technology. Something that turned out to be crucial to move forward with a design choice in his current project.
“It was great to have that person I otherwise don’t interact with in my role. I haven’t worked with the big-scale data solutions before, but that’s definitely developed me and my skills and helped me figure out which path I want to take. I’m now also more curious about the whole data world.”
The power of 2200 employees (and Slack)
As there are thousands of Solitans, there are thousands of Slack channels for both personal and technical subjects, such as tech stacks or any type of technology, really. Ulrika tells us about the Slack channels for developers that she uses:
“You just throw a question out and within minutes, someone will answer. You learn a lot from that. Even if you’re not the one asking the question or actually answering it, you read it and you learn from it.
For example, Kristoffer, a big fan and user of various Slack channels, had to choose between two (not so great) patterns to go with at his current assignment. Having to make trade-offs, the discussion and exchange of experiences with other Solitans in Slack helped him.
You’re usually not alone in facing different questions and tricky decisions, which is useful to have in mind as Kristoffer explains it:
“Almost every week, I have some niche problem where I feel like this must have been solved before. I usually do a simple search, and I find a discussion. I’m not only looking for an answer to the question or a simple solution. I’m there mainly for the discussion part. When you have about 20 different people in a Slack thread having a discussion about a topic, you get a lot of different points, which is super helpful.”
Now, what is it that makes this really work? Surely everyone can just set up lots of Slack channels?
What makes collaboration at Solita work?
Ulrika, who previously worked in two other consulting firms as a Software Developer, describes the community as having a unique warmth, characterised by colleagues’ attitudes of always being happy to help and never being scared to ask for it. A safe space where people listen and don’t judge if you’re having a bad day or feel like you don’t understand anything.
“There’s always someone who would help you out and make you laugh.”
Kelsie agreed: “Collaborating or helping out is a bit more prioritised. Even if people are busy, they often really try to help.”
Kristoffer, who hadn’t worked as a Consultant before coming to Solita, (if you don’t count being a Consultant in a staffing firm way back, that is), also agreed and added his perspective:
“I chose Solita mainly because of the human values I saw. Having spent many years working with a lot of consultant firms from the other side of the table, I would have wanted to hire consultants who cared. And that’s something I feel we’re quite unique at: caring.”
How does this warm and helpful community show up in everyday work?
”If you say out loud that I have this problem, someone comes and sits down at the computer and looks at it. It might not be something they work with, but they’ll always sit down and see what they can do.”
Then there’s the helping hand from colleagues when joining and switching projects.
Kelsie told us about projects that other colleagues had left. While they might be working full-time on new assignments, they still take time to answer in Slack or over a quick call to explain something.
Or, when Ulrika was starting her first AI project without much handover and was the only one from the development unit, a colleague from the data unit (who was in the project from day one) reached out and offered help and guidance. Besides the feeling of support, this resulted in loads of helpful chats about architecture and different ways of solving the issue.
Let’s not forget our beloved Slack channels. It enables colleagues from everywhere to share their expertise and perspectives, whether you’re in Stockholm, Helsinki, Leuven or any other location. Kristoffer describes it with:
“One thing is the tone, how you actually express yourself and the way we have those discussions with each other. You see a lot of good examples when you look in the Slack channels. For instance, you see people asking and getting help and people contributing with just information or discussion all day long basically.”
A caring & growing community
From spontaneous problem-solving by the coffee machine to never-ending Slack discussions across country borders, being a consultant at Solita proves that collaboration isn’t bound by location or organisational teams. For us, it’s built on a shared willingness to grow and support each other, regardless of the country, unit, or project you’re working in.
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