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 Olli’s story:
What is your role? Which team?
I’m a Senior Software Designer. The role of a software designer is much more than just writing code. In my role I help my customers to succeed. Crafting some code might or might not be part of the help that is needed.
What are you working on?
Currently I’m working on a project for Finrail. In the project we gather data from several different types of sensors to monitor if there are some problems with trains moving on the rails. E.g. if the temperature of the wheel bearing is too hot, there might be something wrong with the train. The system creates an alert in real time for traffic management and they can contact the train to check the situation and maybe set a speed limit for the train until the problem is solved.
What do you love about your job? How long have you worked at Solita?
In my job I love being part of a brilliant team that is capable of doing remarkable things.
I have worked at Solita for almost three years in total but in two separate parts. 🙂 The first round was from 2008-2010. I had been studying at Tampere but after studies wanted to move somewhere near Turku where most of my relatives live. I had to change company since Solita didn’t have an office in Turku at that time. Now it has, so here I am again.
My colleague Saija knitted these warm woolly socks for almost the entire Solita Turku office. They are sure nice to use at the office or working from home! 🙂
What’s your biggest passion(s)?
I’m really passionate about helping others to succeed. When pursuing that passion I was working as a Scrum Master/Agile Coach for a few years because I felt I could help more people in that role. Nowadays, I’m a change agent working as an undercover software developer. 😉
In my free time I like to run. My current training plan has five runs a week, which nicely helps to fill my daily steps goal since normally I gain ~7000 steps already from my commute. I’m eagerly waiting for COVID-19 to pass so that running events can be organised again.
What’s your most impactful experience at Solita so far?
One specific experience comes to my mind when thinking about impactful experiences. I facilitated a retrospective for a team that had had some rough times in the project. I felt that the retro was a catharsis for the team and we also managed to figure out some steps forward to make the situation better in the future.
What brightens your #remotework day?
Flexibility that helps to balance my family’s needs to my work duties. Usually I take a few hours break after lunch to play with my kids: help the older one to do her homework, fill the dishwasher, and just be available. Then I continue working later in the afternoon, at the latest when my wife gets home. Those evening hours are really good focus time since Slack and email have mostly silenced already for that day.
One highlight of my #remotework week is our weekly #kalsariafterwork on Teams together with the lovely people from Solita’s Turku office. It’s incredible how comforting it is to see the familiar faces you are used to seeing almost every day. I recommend trying it with your team!
– Olli
