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 Riika’s story:
What is your role? Which team?
My name is Riika Kaitera and I am working as a Business Analytics consultant. My work is mainly focused on building data platforms for our clients, but occasionally I get involved in sales and recruiting activities, and organising data related events and meetups at our Solita Oulu office.
What are you working on?
Currently I’m in a couple of data platform projects. The domains of the projects are totally different, but it is amazing to see how the same rules applies to all data, no matter if it’s sales figures or IOT data from some devices.
What do you love about your job? How long have you worked at Solita?
I have worked at Solita for 3,5 years now. During that time I’ve worked in several projects for different clients, learned so many new technologies and tools and gained a lot of experience in customer work. It has been an amazing journey so far!
The variety of the work must be the thing I love the most. No day is like the other. And of course the endless possibilities to evolve and learn. At Solita, there’s a strong culture of sharing the knowledge, including countless trainings and info sessions to choose from.
Naturally I love my talented colleagues too! You can always find someone to help you out, and you can always find the person who knows more than you do.
What’s your biggest passion(s)?
I like to get my hands dirty. The best kicks at work I get when I’m solving a big, juicy problem. Also seeing and building the whole pipeline, when small bits and pieces of data starts to shape into something that adds real value to the customer, is something I truly enjoy doing.
What’s your most impactful experience at Solita so far?
I believe that it’s more important to have a continuous feeling of success and meaningfulness at work, than having a one or two “big bangs” in your career. Usually those really memorable and impactful experiences comes with years of hard work and they aren’t one-man shows. I find the meaningfulness at work from customer value, new ideas and perspectives, learning new things and great team work.
What brightens your #remotework day?
I have to admit I had my doubts at first how to combine remote work with home schooling a fourth grader. But it has exceeded all my expectations! It has been a real privilege to spend this time with my child. He’s old enough to do his daily studies on his own, and the teacher is online to help, if needed, so I can do my work without any bigger distractions.
With the kid, we eat lunch together and have breaks outside in the near forest. And when no time is spent on commuting, I have more time to do things – walk, bike, bake, cook, read, everything! Pure luxury in my opinion! During this time, I’ve spent more time outdoors. Summer is just around the corner, although we get snow here in Oulu every other day.
I do miss my co-workers at the office and office life in general, but I see some real value in this time too. When all the unnecessary extra is eliminated from our lives, we can truly focus on what really matters, both at work and in private life.
– Riika
