Mikko Suomalainen started at Fluent as a software developer in September. Mikko, who has a long work experience in the field, believes that even though trends come and go in software development, the basics remain the same.
In the fall, Fluent’s team was completed again with new expertise, when Mikko Suomalainen started his work in the role of senior software developer. Suomalainen has a relatively long work history in the industry: he has experience at Fastroi, or later myneva Finland Oy, for around fourteen years. During that time, Suomalainen had time to do, among other things, UX design and software development on both the mobile and web side. Most recently, he had time to gain experience as a product owner and as a head of a product management team.
“At the same time, I was making prototypes, which allowed me to also do some coding after a long time. It made me think that it might be nice to do more programming again”, Suomalainen thinks.
Fluent’s team spirit is really good and the way of doing things suits me extremely well.
Suomalainen graduated as an engineer in plastics technology in 2007 from the then North Karelia University of Applied Sciences, but with the recession jobs in the field collapsed. Suomalainen supplemented his skills by studying programming, where he felt that he was successful. With this, he got a job in Fastroi’s mobile development team in 2010.
“There I gained versatile experience in both software development and the product side, as well as – as corny as it sounds – how to simultaneously produce value for both customers and business.”
Mikko Suomalainen says that it was quite easy to join Fluent’s work team, as there were already a few familiar faces from his previous work.
“Fluent’s team spirit is really good and the way of doing things suits me extremely well. I’m excited and inspired by our work community – even though there’s always some kind of honeymoon going on at the beginning if the job changes”, wisecracks Suomalainen.
Fluent’s products, Fluent Kunto and Fluent Outdoors (formerly Fluent Latu), also became familiar to Mikko Suomalainen to some extent during the past years of work, which has helped him to get into a new job.
The right things have to be done on a daily basis
Although trends come and go in the software industry, Mikko Suomalainen thinks that the fundamentals in the industry basically stay the same year after year.
“I often feel that the same basic things might be packaged in a slightly different package, which does not necessarily add anything to the matter itself. Of course, I myself have joined all the hypes in the industry in my time, but since then I feel that the circle has closed, and I have begun to better internalize what software development that produces value at a maintainable pace requires”, Suomalainen reflects.
We have to be able to react to things quickly and be able to ensure on a daily basis that we are doing exactly the right things.
Nowadays, Suomalainen sees it as especially important that the feedback loop is as short and efficient as possible in software development.
“We have to be able to react to things quickly and be able to ensure on a daily basis that we are doing exactly the right things, and not, for example, make a plan and see in half a year whether it produced value for the customer or not,” says Suomalainen.
As a counterweight to the work, Suomalainen spends time with his family in his free time, for example playing music together, watching series and playing with his two poodles. You can also find him in the gym, on the jogging path, on the cycling trails or on the sports fields.
“Ball games have always been the most interesting thing for me. I have played, for example, padel every now and then. As a new hobby, I now also started my own coding project at home, so there would be enough to do. You just always have to decide for what you use the time that you have in your hands”, Suomalainen says.
