Kristian started working for Fortum part-time and also during the summers. During his studies at Aalto University in Finland, he ended up doing his Master’s thesis in the company, which led to a permanent position at Fortum. “I came here to find interesting programming activities, first over summers and then as a part-timer throughout the semesters. At the time when I was looking for a Master thesis topic, we had just started a new project, and my thesis was an essential part of it."
Kristian's work includes, in addition to actual developing, tutoring younger colleagues and listening to users´ needs and requests and designing the implementation of them in the best possible way. “In my current project, the goal is to create a system for optimal operations of the power plants. In the past, the main tool for it has been a spreadsheet file, but with our collaborative efforts, the software can now handle the data easily with a better visual aid.”
Fortum utilizes the Scrum framework in development, which introduces new, ready-to-use features for users after two-week sprints. "After each sprint, the users get a test run, and we’ll continue developing the software based on this feedback in the next sprint.
Laakkonen feels that Fortum is an interesting and significant workplace. “I feel the whole energy sector is relevant for the future of the whole society and mankind. Energy and electricity are critical factors in today's society. Climate change, for example, is a great topic today, and in my work, I have an influence on using energy in the best possible way.”
Like for many other programmers, Laakkonen’s basic knowledge of the domain stems from an active spare-time coding hobby in his earlier years. "Sometimes at junior high school, friends coded some games, and I got interested in it myself. I used to code small applications in my spare time, nowadays, I don't do it as much as I have a career in programming.”
Laakkonen sees Fortum as an excellent and versatile workplace that will provide him with unprecedented opportunities in the future. ”Fortum's various business areas and different energy sources interest me. I see countless opportunities here as we work with interesting and important projects”, he concludes.