Mikko, who works as a senior specialist, has a long career in two completely different fields: first two decades as a bartender and restaurant manager at restaurants and nightclubs in Helsinki, followed by nearly 10 years in the IT industry. He has worked at the NLS since 2018, and these years have included many interesting tasks. He has a vocational education in data processing and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
Currently, Mikko works as a senior specialist in information management at the NLS. He works as a large-scale incident manager and is the team leader of a technical team responsible for providing support for many of the systems used internally. In his work, Mikko gets to investigate and coordinate solutions for disruptions, develop processes and participate in various projects. He ensures that the team he leads can work effectively and dynamically. His previous work tasks at the NLS have included developing automation to support the work of different units.
In his work, Mikko values the freedom and responsibility.
‘As a person, I’m quite dynamic and I easily become frustrated if nothing happens. I’m constantly looking for something new and thinking about how our work could be made easier and the processes improved. I’m a problem-solver by nature, and I’m very comfortable working with solutions involving information retrieval, analysis and the application of everything I know so far.’
Mikko ended up at the NLS through the traditional job-seeking process, and the employer was not familiar to him in advance. It already felt great to reach the interview stage, and Mikko found out in the same evening that he had been selected. He has felt himself welcome from the beginning.
‘We have an open atmosphere at Information Management, and people are encouraged to present their own ideas. I feel that I’ve had the chance to try a lot of different tasks and flexibly move to different roles. I also appreciate the fact that combining work and leisure is really easy. A couple of my colleagues have become my good friends, and we also see each other in our free time,’ says Mikko.