Meet our Summer Trainees Rasmus and Jon, who worked as Software Designer Trainees at our Dev Community!
We’re in the final phases of our summer trainee experience and it’s been a great growth and learning journey. Rasmus is studying computer sciences at the University of Tampere, and Jon graduated as a software developer from Careeria in December. Jon didn’t have experience in the IT industry before, whereas Rasmus has worked in startups and also has some experience in IT consulting.
Even though Solita is a rather big company already, it’s surprising how easygoing the atmosphere is. People are friendly and authentic; we’ve felt welcome from the start. We’ve also had the opportunity to influence our work tasks and focus on things that are our areas of expertise and interest. Even as summer trainees, we’ve been encouraged to voice our opinions.
The level of caring for people has also been a positive surprise. It’s a real value that comes to life in everyday interaction, catch-ups with People Leads, and discussions with colleagues. We can have deep and vulnerable discussions at work, which is not something that we would take for granted.
Leveraging current skills while learning new
We had a slightly different route to get the Software Designer Trainee positions. Jon graduated in December and applied for Dev Academy in January but ended up getting this opportunity instead. Rasmus was recruited based on a reference from a Solitan, a former colleague of his. He applied for full-time employment but was offered the trainee position first.
Solita has organised the onboarding for new joiners and summer trainees exceptionally. We got materials beforehand, and a boot camp and training have allowed us to meet other colleagues and learn from the culture. The boot camp was a two-day session with new joiners where we did group exercises and heard experts from different parts of the company. We learned, for example, from the sales process and proposal creation; what’s included and how it’s done at Solita.
We both have learned plenty of new things during this period. Rasmus has learned new technologies and frameworks, including the PostgreSQL database. Jon has learned from web accessibility and front-end development and better understood how software development works in real projects. It’s been a rewarding summer professionally; a good combination of learning new and leveraging what we already know.
Flexible work with a sense of belonging
Our work has been flexible. We have been working on a project building and improving an internal tool showcasing our people’s talent and experience, and our team members are scattered around Finland, meaning that we work remotely as a team. It works well because we have regular meetings, and the communication works. At times there are bigger face-to-face events that bring people together; there is value in that too.
We both live in Tampere, so we occasionally work from the office. It’s a nice modern office offering different spaces depending on what type of work we are doing. Snacks and coffee are always available, and all sorts of special sodas are for 50 cents.
Solita has a strong Slack culture which creates a feeling of inclusion and belonging, even when working remotely. There is an open atmosphere about any discussion topic; you can find channels about almost any topic! Slack is also a great channel for sharing information, learning from upcoming events, and asking for help.
It’s been great to realise that there are opportunities for people who are at the beginning of their careers. Solita is genuinely interested in helping people grow and find their place in the industry – we’ve experienced that firsthand!
Learn more about the opportunities that we offer for students and people who are starting their IT careers!
Interviewees: Jon Haataja and Rasmus Rönkkö.