Meet our People of Solita. We have over 1000 employees in different locations with different skills and backgrounds – each with a story to share about what they do and what inspires them.
This is Jiri, our Integration Architect.
My interest in technology started already in high school
Solving different kinds of problems has fascinated me since I was a child. I got excited about IT-stuff already in high school thanks to my teacher back then, who challenged the whole class to ponder about computers’ benefits. Finally, he told us that it’s possible to program the computer for many different tasks and its job is to take away routine work from people. I liked the idea that people can save time and work less with boring manual tasks with the help of computers. So, my orientation for the industry started quite early.
I’m a Czech who has done career in Finland for 20 years. I started my invasion back in the day at Nokia. I also got to spend several years doing IT-work for UPM. I’ve worked for Solita about two years as an Integration Architect in our API and Integration Community, but I’ve got work experience in this area from the past ten years. It’s been nice to notice at Solita, that we can work very efficiently with light bureaucracy. We are here for our clients, and that is reflected in how we use our time.
I can contribute to making people’s everyday work more simple
Working with integrations is special in the sense that it’s very rarely (if ever) a subject you can study at school, but you learn how much you need them in daily life. My job is to understand our clients’ business needs and the challenges the client has in their current IT-systems, and make different systems to talk to each other. This work is often invisible for end-users because good integration shows itself only as a smooth user experience.
Modern consumer can already demand smooth transactions in online stores. It means that shopping, paying and ordering delivery can all be done just by a few clicks. Without carefully planned and smoothly functioning system integrations, it would be nearly impossible.
Sometimes in the corporate world, we face situations, where people need to accept ways of working, that they would see too heavy or slow in their private lives. In companies, the reason can be that they’ve “always done it like that”. But often people just haven’t had the time to think about how things could be done more efficiently. I remember my teacher’s words again during those moments, and my mind starts to work around the issue.
What inspires me in my work is building functioning entities and seeing the successful result. At its best, my work can simplify people’s everyday life and decrease mistakes followed by manual work. People can use their time better and do things that weren’t necessarily even possible before.
One of the most interesting projects at the moment is a case, which is focused on the protection of waters in Finland. We are building a new tech system (in a cloud of course) to help environment specialists collect and analyse data. By the help of this system, they can follow the state of the water areas and plan protective actions.
I’m not a biologist or a specialist in environmental conservation, but to simplify, we aim to make sure that it’s safe to swim in the lake next to your friend’s summerhouse, and that the tap water is high quality also in the future. It’s nice to participate in projects like this because the topic comes close. Of course, this is not a one-man gig, but we have our coders, designers and data wizards on board, and from the client’s side the environment specialists and decision-makers too.
Different clients and technologies have taught me a lot
I’ve been very satisfied with my learning curve at Solita. Wide variety of clients and different kinds of projects have taught me a great deal. Solitans also aim to use the newest technologies in projects, which also supports development. Of course, we choose the tech based on the client’s needs, but the modern solutions often serve our clients the best.
I’ve worked with several technologies, and at Solita we have a stronger focus in cloud-based integrations. I have a long history with the integration platforms of IBM, I also have experience in Dell Boom and some extend Mulesoft. I’ve followed, since 2007, what the newcomer in the IT world; Amazon meant in its “cloud platform” and how it was different from Google’s approach. I didn’t believe that Microsoft would want to jump into the same league back in the day, which turned out to be a miscalculated estimation.
Working at Solita and dealing with such a wide client portfolio has also helped me get closer to Finland, where I’ve lived almost half of my life. It’s given me an opportunity to get familiar with companies and public organisations of today, and in some cases also with their history. What is best is that I also get paid for this 😊
It’s nice to work in an open and encouraging culture
I think that the culture at Solita is professional but relaxed. Openness also describes well our atmosphere; you can talk about anything with your co-workers, and stupid questions don’t exist. People are very encouraging, and I’ve always got help when I’ve needed it. I also love to help others.
You can be successful at Solita if you try your best and are open to new ways of working and learning. The most important thing is that you have the courage to ask and are ready to admit that you don’t know everything. There is very little need for super gurus because we reach the end goals by working together and being proactive. We work in self-driven teams, and the best solutions are born together!
Jiri Hlusi is an Integration Architect who works in the API and integration community at Solita. You can learn more about Jiri and his views in our online meet-up in February (in Finnish); you can sign up here! We are constantly looking for new talented co-workers. Join Jiri and our Solita Community!
