For Cloud Archtitect Pasi, a change can be as good as a rest. He took a short break from Futurice to take up a position with another company, then came back to join a different Futurice office in a new city. Now he reflects on why he left – and what brought him back.
If I was advising someone who was looking to make a change, I‘d first ask them to look at what’s stopping them. Usually there’s nothing except themselves.
I’d say 90% of the reason I left Futurice was because of COVID – working from home when you have an awesome company culture and people meant I was losing the best bit of working for the company. The other 10% was that, after seven years at Futurice, I thought it was time for a change. But in my new company I only ended up going to the office two or three times because of COVID, so I didn’t really get to know anyone beyond my team. Everything felt small and I missed the social interactions, which made it quite easy to come straight back to Futurice when they got in touch.
The people at Futurice are very smart and a lot of fun. We actually get things done, and everyone is really passionate about the things they’re interested in. This can lead to chaos, but it’s what you get when you have passionate people – they want to change the world. I love the work I do and its impact on the world, but I know I could do it in lots of places. I came back to Futurice because Futuriceans feel like family.
In general, we don’t have too much structure in Futurice, and because of this we have people who can get things done. There is creative chaos and that’s a good thing. There’s a spirit where anyone here can change the world – or the company – which is very different to more hierarchical companies where you can only change things in a small, restricted way.
If I was advising someone who was looking to make a change, I‘d first ask them to look at what’s stopping them. Usually there’s nothing except themselves. I have made some major life changes a few times in my life and I always spend two to five years thinking I can’t make the big jump until I do it, and then it’s really simple. It’s only complex if you make it complex – as humans we fear change and what it will bring us. Changing from Futurice Helsinki to Futurice Tampere was another quick decision – a leap into the unknown. Me and my fiancée decided to move to Tampere with our child for a fresh start, even though we don’t have wider family around here. It’s turned out really well. I love Tampere and the fact we live near the centre of the city but also have forests nearby. It’s the best of both worlds: a 20 min trip to work and lots of wildlife in our backyard.
Leaving Futurice was, for me, a reaction to COVID and what was going on in the world. I have a habit of making big changes when the world is in flames! It’s one way to cope when life is not so good or the world is in a bad place; I’ll change something major in my life, but of course it doesn’t change everything. Changing things is fun but it doesn’t fix your life as a whole – you bring stuff with you, both good and bad. Sometimes it’s better to change your attitude instead of changing your employer.
When you work in the same place for a long time it’s easy to focus on the problems, but when you move away the good stuff is highlighted. Futurice is an excellent company – any small things I don’t like are issues you’d find anywhere. It doesn’t get better than this; I’ve come to realise that Futurice is one of the best companies to work for in the world.
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