Pinja’s more than 500 employees work at Pinja’s offices and remotely throughout Finland. The workforce consists of a wide range of skills and types, and sometimes the personal chemistries work particularly well. Important friendships have emerged through the work of system architect Pekka Savolainen, HR coordinator Niina Makkonen, software developer Olli Hanhimäki, and data warehouse and BI expert Riku Ojanen, among others.
Academic nerds, witty humor and professional challenges
Systems Architect Pekka Savolainen is one of the long-term employees of Pinja’s Jyväskylä office. Over the years, he has built up a central role among Pinja’s coders, both professionally and at leisure events. Except that Pekka enjoys the deep end of coding, he organizes board game events, LAN parties, paintball events, and poker nights.
For me, the best colleagues are above all those with a sense of humor, and I also appreciate it if a colleague is able to challenge me in a professional sense
After a long period of remote work, Pekka is now happy to work mostly in the office. Pekka particularly appreciates a good sense of humor and good personal chemistry in his colleagues.
- My own experience is that, on average, we have a pretty like-minded group of people at work. We’re all sort of academic nerds, Pekka describes.
Originally trained as an electronics engineer, Pekka moved to the software side soon after graduation, and started at Pinja in a client project in 2011, first as an intern and then as a full-time coder. Over the years, the road has led through the company’s internal projects to the development team of Pinja’s Flow product and the related electronic movement document module.
- Good and long-term friendships have been made along the way, for example during the long projects that I have been involved in. For me, the best colleagues are above all those with a sense of humor, and I also appreciate it if a colleague is able to challenge me in a professional sense, Pekka says.
Pekka also meets his colleagues irregularly but often during his time off. He occasionally plays in the company’s floorball team, and it has become a habit among a certain group to play other sports, from running to cycling, and winter sports. Next on the agenda is to go skiing. These meetings have periods of activity and periods of inactivity, and include current and former colleagues alike.
- Over the years, we have also made various sports trips around Finland. We also ran a marathon in Athens and a half marathon in Brussels.
According to Pekka, during the week we sometimes talk about things in our free time while working, and on the other hand, we may also talk about things related to the software industry during our time off, as we are interested in the same field.
- I admit that I can get a bit caught up in some things if I get really excited about it. You don’t do this work just for the money. When you have a passion, you have to preach sometimes, Pekka says.
The best colleagues are similar and different enough at the same time
HR Coordinator Niina Makkonen has almost 20 years of experience working at Pinja, first as an office secretary, and later as an HR professional. She is known as the ever-helpful spirit star of the Jyväskylä office, who is always on top of the bigger picture and the countless small details, from workplace arrangements to staff cards.
Niina says that her job has changed over time, becoming more and more to her liking and suited to her. As a social person, she enjoys the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people in the workplace, to stop for a chat in the corridors, and also to be someone who listens.
- You can always come to me if you need someone to talk to. Sometimes I’ve wondered if I’m a bit too social and talkative at work. Someone once asked me if I had made new elevator friends again, when I used to talk to strangers in the elevator, Niina laughs.
However, being social and creating a workplace that everyone enjoys is also an important part of Niina’s job description. Her job is to keep the office comfortable, and she is also responsible for HR processes related to new recruits, among other things. In addition, she is responsible for answering enquiries and service requests to Pinja’s HR Help Desk, and also coordinates the organization of joint events of all Pinja offices for the Jyväskylä office. For example, for this Valentine’s Day, Niina has bought cupcakes and craft supplies that fit the theme for the Jyväskylä office.
- I see my work as a holistic way of helping people in their everyday lives. Whether it’s a small service request or a larger project, they are all equally enjoyable and important to deal with, says Niina.
Niina found her closest colleague in the office break room. Both Niina and Ekaterina Piispanen, who joined Pinja as a software developer in 2021, have a habit of bringing their own lunch, and this is how they often found themselves around the same table.
- Ekaterina is a lovely and approachable person. Our jobs at Pinja are quite different, so we don’t really have a common working language. Still, Ekaterina was easy to get along with straight away, Niina says.
As to why Niina and Ekaterina got along so well and became best colleagues, Niina thinks that they are similar enough and yet, different enough. Even after a couple of years, they’re still finding new sides to each other, so there’s never a dull moment. At the same time, each also accepts the other exactly as they are, without judging or steering the other in a particular direction.
Another thing Niina appreciates about Ekaterina is that she is always ready for anything. The friends have also done many things outside of work, and together they have taken advantage of, among other things, Pinja’s employee benefits.
- We’ve tried playing padel, gone for coffee and shopping after work, and Ekaterina has even visited our house. On a few occasions we also went out for lunch together. Next, we plan to take our spouses with us and play padel together, Niina says.
For Niina, it’s a big thing in everyday life to work with wonderful people, to have a job description that has been shaped over time to suit your strengths and to have many good benefits from your employer.
On this Valentine’s Day, Niina would like to send warm greetings to her good friend and colleague Ekaterina.
- Eksu, stay chatty and happy. I’m happy that we’ve become friends!
A power duo that shares the same hobbies and interest in data
Olli Hanhimäki, a software developer, and Riku Ojanen, a data warehouse and BI expert, are best colleagues in Pinja’s Seinäjoki office. Not only do they sit back to back in the office and come up with fun activities to keep each other and their colleagues busy, they also get together for leisure activities.
- We both studied at the same place, Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, but we didn’t know each other back then. We got to know each other when Olli was the first to try out the study path I had developed in my thesis for a data warehousing professional, Riku says.
In a common workplace, they have got to know each other even better. Riku has been working for Pinja since 2018 and Olli since 2019. During Covid, it was often just the two of them in the office.
Both of them have had somewhat different jobs over time, and the two have sometimes worked on the same projects. Professionally, they share an interest in data mining, problem solving and data warehousing, among other things. They think the best colleagues are those who help when needed, but also do their job.
- Of course, the work is serious, but it’s good to have a bit of a twinkle in the eye. Work should also be fun. If someone makes a mistake at work, we solve it in good spirit and leave no bad blood between the parties, Olli says.
Riku and Olli have both done several Business Intelligence projects during their careers, so they have a lot to talk about regarding data, data warehouses, and data management. Sometimes the same data has also passed from Olli’s screen through the applications to Riku’s screen for further processing.
In their free time, common interests can be found in many other areas of life besides work and profession. They both enjoy a wide range of activities, including exercise and computer games.
- We have had time to play quite a lot of sports together. We have played floorball, gone mountain biking and to the gym. We have also played padel with Pinja’s benefit vouchers. Pinja’s reservation here in Seinäjoki is on Mondays. We’ve even been to the movies with the benefit vouchers, Riku says.
In addition to common interests, the friendship is, in Olli and Riku’s words, glued together by a like-minded sense of humor and remarks with good intentions. They both like that their employer arranges an event at least every month where they can get to know their colleagues better. Fun memories include the 2022 summer party. The last Pinja Day on 6 October was particularly memorable, because the friends earned an extra 100 euros of benefit money from the company bingo.
- I like the fact that Pinja encourages a wide range of self-expression. There is also a genuine culture of caring about employees, Olli sums up.
- Well said. Did you learn that by heart from a company brochure? Riku stings cheerfully.
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