“Never stop exploring”: Career stories from our developers
To celebrate the day of Finnish code, we want to highlight the career stories of our developers. How did they get into coding and what motivates them in their work? Here are the stories of four of our developers: Monica, Teemu, Mira and Ilya!
Monica Tuominen
I’ve been interested in all things related to IT and computers ever since I was a kid, playing Commander Keen and Pinball Fantasies on my first PC back in the 90s or working on school projects. While studying for my bachelor’s degree in marketing, I took information systems science as a minor, but software development never even crossed my mind.
After graduation, I worked in various roles in sales, marketing, and customer service, spending nearly 10 years at OP Group performing different finance-related tasks. However, when it was time to return to work after my parental leave, I felt there had to be another path — something that would better align with my problem-solving skills and analytical thinking. That’s when my spouse, who also works in IT, suggested I try coding.
I started with some online coding courses and then joined a group called Äidit koodaa organized by MiB Ry. In our monthly meetings, I realized that this was something I truly wanted to pursue. So, I made a radical decision: I quit my job at OP, not knowing what the future would hold. I had no job and no study placement, but I had a firm belief that I would make it work.
Soon enough, I was accepted into Turku University’s six-month full-stack complementary course. After that, things snowballed. I joined Saranen’s one-month Code Bootcamp, which was followed by their six-month Code Academy, where I worked as a Developer Trainee at Drama Queen Communications. Eventually, I signed a job contract with them — all of this happened within just a year and a half.
Now I’ve been working as a software developer for four years, primarily with WordPress sites, and I couldn’t be happier that I was brave enough to leap into the unknown. The path hasn’t been easy; there’s been blood, sweat, and tears, and I’ve certainly battled with the infamous impostor syndrome. But here I am, working at one of the coolest digital companies alongside some of the best developers, so I guess I’m doing something right! 😉
Teemu Suoranta
I grew up with the early 2000s internet which was largely about experimenting. Everything was new and I was eager to try out photography, making websites, graphic design, creating videos, composing music and even building a few maps for Counter-Strike. There weren’t any goals or serious aspirations. It was all just good fun.
Though I did well in school, I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do. I tried to get into medical school, dentistry school, and physical therapy school, but couldn’t get in. As a backup plan, I also applied to Turku AMK to study computer science and got in on the first try.
I quite liked programming after all. The studies were for a large part quite generic, but I did get broad knowledge that I wouldn’t have gotten by myself. There was a need to build a few websites on the side, so I started freelancing and learning a lot of web development, web design and WordPress independently.
Freelancing was fun as a side thing, but I wanted to get into bigger projects and a stabler situation, so I went to work for a local WordPress agency. I have since been actively taking part in the WordPress community by organizing events, translating WordPress and releasing lots of open-source code. Nowadays I work at Evermade as a senior developer and my tasks range from client work to product development. This suits someone like me — a generalist interested in many different things.
My grandfather worked as a technician and designer at a paper factory. They couldn’t buy the machines they needed pre-made, so they had to design, build, and maintain them in-house. The times and mediums have changed, but as a sort of developer-designer hybrid myself who helps to build the tools my clients or Evermade needs – I see myself a lot in the footsteps of my grandpa Mauri.
Mira Hiltunen
It’s funny how things work out. I never imagined myself in this kind of career when I was younger. I’ve always been both creative and a problem solver, so I guess it makes sense – but honestly, I did not see myself in a technical career if you’d asked me some 15 years ago.
I was supposed to be a graphic designer, and I started studying design at a vocational school in 2010. My design studies included some basics of web development, like learning a bit of HTML and CSS, and I even set up my first WordPress website back in 2012. Somewhere along the way, I realized that building websites was more fun than designing them, so I slightly shifted my career choice. After graduation, I continued to study IT engineering at Metropolia UAS.
Even though I said I was never interested in working in tech, I guess there were some early warning signs. For instance, I named my doll Windows when I was just a few years old. Make of that what you will.
I have now been at Evermade for almost four years, and I feel like I have definitely found my place. My current focus is on front-end development and accessibility, which makes sense given my background. I can’t say if this is what I’ll be doing until retirement, but so far, I have been really happy with how my career has turned out.
Ilya Nizev, HubSpot developer
My journey as a web developer began in the early 2000s and started with entrepreneurship. I discovered that certain domain names were highly desirable, and people and companies were willing to pay for them. It started by flipping domain names for profit, which evolved into creating websites, and eventually transitioned into building them from scratch.
After high school, I got a degree in Automation and Electrical Engineering. However, my degree has little to do with my current job, so in that sense, I am a self-learner. My journey in web development started with a very basic online course — I’m not even sure if the website offering the course still exists. It was focused on HTML, CSS, and building web pages using table tags. No divs yet!
I am now a HubSpot developer, and my motivation mostly comes from a desire to help people. While pure problem-solving is fun, what really makes me thrive is helping people and improving their lives.
Technologies come and go, programming languages change, concepts and coding libraries evolve — everything shifts over time. I never want to be stuck doing things one way, so I make sure I always keep learning. My favorite projects are those with the biggest learning outcomes. If a task is challenging and helps me grow, it stays with me for a long time. Additionally, I find it deeply satisfying when a project makes a significant impact on sales or helps a company achieve its goals. I’ve had projects where my work helped companies earn more or positively impacted people’s lives, which makes me feel like I’m doing something meaningful.
One funny memory is when I coded for 24 hours straight through the night during Slush, just to show something to potential investors. While we didn’t manage to impress anyone, it was still fun to try!
When approaching problems, I always start by asking a bunch of questions, especially “why” questions. This usually helps me break the issue down. Over the years, I’ve learned that it’s often better to start working alone and then bring others on board a bit later — but not too late. I thrive in small teams and prefer face-to-face communication. If that’s not possible, we at least have video and phone calls.
My typical workday doesn’t start with a cold shower at 5 AM followed by two hours of gym and meditation — though maybe one day it will. For the past ten years, I’ve usually woken up just before work and while my mornings tend to be a bit chaotic, I just go with the flow. This approach helps my creativity, and the most important thing to me is the feeling of progress. I don’t track it daily, but monthly or quarterly to ensure that I’m moving forward.
For anyone starting in software development, I have just one piece of advice: never stop exploring. Challenge everything, ask questions, and don’t hesitate to ask for help. Start with something simple to get a sense of accomplishment. Also, follow the ABC rule: Always Be Closing (a nod to the movie Glengarry Glen Ross). What I mean is: be a person who doesn’t leave things unfinished. Even if the result isn’t perfect, don’t worry — you will learn and improve.
