We started our company-wide remote working on Friday 13th of March. A #remotework channel was created on Slack, and since then our community has been sharing tips on staying sane and funny stories from their new remote working life. We asked a few of these people to share their stories and their “new normal”.
This is Mika’s story:
What is your role? Which team?
I work in a team called ADE SWAT which is focused on helping our Agile Data Engine (SaaS DataOps development tool) customers to succeed. Yes, Solita is doing product development as well in case you wondered. As Agile Data Engine uses Snowflake as a target database, my role as a Data Architect and Snowflake Tech Lead is to support both our ADE and Snowflake customers to make best out of the products and assist on the sales. That doesn’t mean that my work is limited only to these products, but those are my main focus points now.
What are you working on?
The aforementioned role is taking most of my time, but currently, I’m finishing off a short consultation gig done together with our Design unit which focused on understanding the use certain data products through user interviews. When you practice as a Data Architect in our company it means that your work can range from hands-on work to pure consultation.
What do you love about your job? How long have you worked at Solita?
Currently, I would say that the job variety is the thing that keeps me going on. I have worked in IT from 2006 and at Solita from 2016, but currently, as Agile Data Engine and Snowflake are both expanding to new markets and I get to be a part of that story, I feel inspired again. Sounds cliché, but there is a certain excitement when you get to meet new people and have the unique possibility to solve their business obstacles.
What’s your biggest passion(s)?
Internal events are my passion. Better wording would be creating events for my friends, their friends and people overall. I mean like we were planning to host Mouho 2020 event with few Solitans just for kicks of having PS4 NHL evening with friends and new faces. You know the type of people how just start something which they like and they like to see that thing crow naturally. I’m one of those people.
What’s your most impactful experience at Solita so far?
Being part of the crew that opened our Munich office from scratch has been my most impactful experience. So far. I would say that had concrete and lasting effects on our company and to me. I just returned to Finland from Germany and I would say that the last year and a half were full of new experiences that will I cherish the rest of my days.
What brightens your #remotework day?
This whole situation is a double-edged sword for me. As a person who thrives for face-to-face discussions, I truly hate this. On the other hand, when my apartment in Helsinki went under plumbing replacement just when I came back from Munich and this whole situation started, I was allowed to go truly remote work mode. I swapped from Munich population of 1.5 million to Vesijako, village of Padasjoki where the population is something like 150 people. The whole freedom which this location gives me brightens my day. It has given the chance to truly slow down without it harming my work and enough space around me to withstand the whole situation.
– Mika
