Solita is a Finnish technology, strategy and design company. We are a force for positive change that creates new ways of operating, and new services and technology solutions for developing companies and society. We help our customers to tackle many challenges related to digitalisation, from software development to business transformation. Between our offices in Tallinn, Stockholm, Oulu, Tampere and Helsinki, we have a total of almost 700 professionals.
Data is one of Solita’s four areas of expertise. The others are design, development and cloud services. We have 150 data specialists, and our knowledge portfolio contains a variety of data-related specialisations involving data solutions in almost all technologies, both in the cloud and otherwise.We also strive to provide added value to our customers through our own innovative software product development, which is changing working methods in the industry.
Working with data is usually central to the strategy of client companies, but sometimes this is such a new thing that companies can be reluctant and uncertain as to how to go about it. Confidentiality, change management, and learning together are extremely important to our cooperation, and so we choose our customers based on our assessment of which customers we can build strategic partnerships with, instead of sporadic projects.
Through in-depth cooperation, we use our experience to create more successful projects with our customers. However, we also offer our specialists more inspiring work to further develop their skills.
At present, the amount of work we do involving data is rapidly growing. This allows us to offer many interesting career opportunities and now we are recruiting 14 colleagues to Stockholm!
A day in the life of a data consultant at Solita
Our expert work involves consulting on the use of data, data solutions, architectural design, related technology choices, or data work from the perspective of master data, data science or design. Of course, we also have specialist positions in support roles, i.e. POs, scrum masters, pre-sales, service management and team management. We carry out projects both in Finland and internationally.
Our experts work in cells that specialise in certain customer relationships and specialised technologies, such as MS or AWS. Other cells include an IoT cell, a data science cell, an architecture development cell, and a planning cell. The number of people working in cells ranges from six to fourteen.
The personnel in each cell are responsible for certain projects that are within their areas of expertise or that relate to a specific customer relationship or phenomenon. The goal is for each person in a cell to become involved in projects that are meaningful for them, to take responsibility for planning their work, and to further develop and expand their expertise. They also order support services as needed, e.g. by contacting the recruitment department if more personnel are needed. We are in the midst of changes in our company, and we are experimenting with how a relatively large company can operate in an agile way in sufficiently small and well-defined units.
For us, transparency and the freedom to choose inspiring projects are key.
We do, of course, have customer relationships and projects that we have been working on for many years, and which do not need to be changed. These projects also need the right kinds of professionals. Every future customer project is visible to our personnel already in the lead phase. The work to be done in the lead phase might be a new need that arises in an existing strategic customer relationship, or a new customer relationship for Solita. In practice, this means that if your project is coming to an end, you have a chance to start working on new things that might interest you. Likewise, if you have been working on a project for a long time, it may be refreshing to work in sales for a new customer relationship, for example, to discuss how the customer sees the transition from the point of view of their field. It is also quite easy to change a person’s work profile in the same customer relationship for the sake of variety.
The typical length of an assignment for specialists varies from one month to a few years, and the situation can be altered according to your wishes. Some people focus on a single project, whereas others may go back and forth between two projects, and still others may prefer to make smaller contributions to multiple projects, also depending, of course, on their own areas of specialisation.
Why do data professionals enjoy working at Solita?
A few months ago, I carried out an informal survey of why exactly our data professionals enjoy working with us. The two most common responses were that Solita gives them that opportunity to develop their own skills, and that they have great colleagues.
For some people, work in the consulting sector is tough, whereas for others, it provides a wealth of opportunities for professional development. In addition to being developed through one’s own activity, skills are also developed in the course of learning together with clients in projects, in various kinds of internal knowledge communities, and through info sessions and training that our more experienced staff provide. For “juniors”, we offer a boot camp called the Academy to ensure that entry-level skills are good enough to ensure success in the job
We also support the development of our employees in identifying the major market trends. We are currently running a year-long Machine Learning Engineering training programme, which has 70 participants from within the company. We also participate in international seminars. In just the last month alone, members of the group have been developing their skills or lecturing in various places, including London, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Stockholm and Vermont.
Data welcomes newcomers – things to know about recruiting
We accept only the most suitable 4 per cent of applicants, ensuring that we have the very best data specialists in Europe. Many people have asked us about our selection criteria for new employees.
One feature is that the team for which new members are needed gets to participate in the recruitment process. After the first round of narrowing down the list of candidates, we select the applicants for the first round of interviews and assess their compatibility with our company culture. At this stage, we also carry out a preliminary assessment of their technical expertise. In the second round, we go into greater detail, or we have the candidates do practice tasks in order to demonstrate their skills. After that, we are ready to start the decision-making.
So if you are interested in joining at Solita, contact us at [email protected] to learn more about career opportunities. You are also welcome to send us an open application.
