Insights, Passion, and Learning as Builders of the Future
Summer is in full swing, and companies have eagerly welcomed new summer employees. Our team is expanding this summer with four promising talents who want to be part of building a better digital future. Meet Aaron, Atte, Essi, and Oskari, and read about their experiences during the first month of their summer internship.
This summer offers valuable experience, the opportunity to learn and develop future career plans for our four interns. Aaron Hirvi, Atte Jokinen, Essi Huhtanen, and Oskari Perinkangas, who joined us in May, are fresh IT talents with diverse backgrounds and ambitious attitudes towards the field. They value the meaningfulness of their work and want to contribute to shaping the future with their skills.
Passion, career transitions, and the impact of the pandemic: Stories of four students in the field
Aaron, a third-year student who has already completed his bachelor’s thesis, pursued studies in computer science at the University of Tampere after finishing high school and completing military service. Aaron admits that he didn’t even know he would enjoy computer science so much before starting his studies. Throughout his studies, he has always had some personal coding projects underway—usually something that would be useful for himself. On the other hand, he also mentions having a lot of unfinished projects. Similarly, Atte, Essi, and Oskari have studied and worked in other fields before transitioning to IT studies.
Atte began his studies in 2016 in laboratory technology at TAMK, but a beginner-level coding course included in his studies sparked his interest in changing fields. After taking a gap year, he applied to study computer science. This fall, this active member of student organizations will begin the final stage of his studies in his fifth year.
Essi, who has also worked as a customer relationship manager in the real estate industry, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Her master’s studies in computer science at the University of Tampere are just one course away from completion, and she will start working on her thesis in the fall. Essi managed her career transition by taking study breaks and focusing on her studies during semesters, while returning to real estate tasks in previous summers.
On the other hand, Oskari graduated as a pharmacist from the University of Helsinki. He worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a couple of years before the outbreak of the pandemic led him to contemplate his career choices. This second-year student in computer science hadn’t written a single line of code before starting his studies. Oskari plans to pursue a Master’s degree in applied mathematics because he is interested in research and development in the field, possibly in an academic environment. Oskari also emphasizes the importance of meaningful work:
“It would be great to be involved in sustainable urban development, for example, and make data-driven decisions.”
The common denominator in their stories is the importance of meaningful work. Each of them wants to be involved in building something truly important and showcase their skills and expertise. Atte shares,
“I really enjoy coding and working on highly technical solutions. I want to develop my skills to the point where I can design architecture or handle higher-level system design and project management.” Essi agrees, saying,
“Leading projects and client relationships feels quite natural to me in the future, and it would also combine my previous work experience.” Aaron adds,
“I want to complete my computer science studies, but I would also like to incorporate business expertise into my work, such as relevant studies in business administration.”
The impact of the pandemic is the other common denominator is . While remote work initiated by the epidemic made Oskari reflect on his career choices, Essi has taken advantage of the opportunities for distance learning. She completed part of her studies from Slovakia and Australia. Both Aaron and Atte nod in agreement and state that remote learning during the pandemic allowed them to focus on the essentials and provided flexibility that has fortunately been preserved.
Our summer interns also get to do practical customer-related tasks
Starting work at Monad was exciting for all four of them. For many, it was their first job in their field.
“Practically speaking, I was nervous about understanding the jargon of a software company,” Essi reflects, but she found that her fear was unnecessary. Similarly, Oskari had not yet done any front-end coding during his studies, so his internship began with studying multiple programming languages.
“It required concentration and took a lot of energy in the first few weeks. But soon I learned that I don’t have to be a perfect coder right away, the most important thing is learning,” Oskari explains.
He mentions that Monad’s training sessions and support from experienced colleagues have been helpful. This is also his first time working with actual production code. Oskari and Aaron are further developing Monad’s own time tracking system, NoTime.
“We can bounce ideas off each other with Oskari, and at the same time, we receive advice and tips from other coders who have been involved in developing NoTime from the very beginning,” describes Aaron.
Essi is also excited to explore larger codebases of clients:
“While studying, you rarely get to see such extensive code structures. From a learning perspective, it’s important to see well-written code by others.”
Atte has also been involved in client projects, receiving support from colleagues Santeri and Sander. He praises the team’s passion for the field:
“The atmosphere is relaxed, but the work is done professionally and with pride.” This sentiment resonates with everyone, and Aaron sums it up:
“Sharing knowledge here is really important, and it’s truly educational for all of us.”
Learning things that aren’t taught in school
The daily routine for our summer interns includes both client work and lectures as part of the Monad.bind(trainee) program. The training program aims to provide knowledge of the fundamentals of software development and practical tips. It also includes a significant component on functional programming and how it improves software quality.
The training program is conducted in short sessions, each covering a different topic, led by experienced software developers at Monad. The content is specifically designed with summer interns in mind.
“Gaining concrete work experience is important for many students in the field. However, we have also recognized that it’s equally important to provide in-depth knowledge that prepares them for client work,” explains Head of People and Culture, Viivi Juutila. She continues:
“We are a sustainable software development company, and it is our responsibility to pass on our proven practices and knowledge to future software professionals. It’s great to see the insights and successes of Aaron, Atte, Essi, and Oskari in their everyday work.”
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