Jaakko Sukuvaara works at Pinja in web development. Originally, he came to Pinja for an on-the-job training period when he studied at a vocational school, and today he works as a full-time team member on client projects.
As Jaakko was successful in his studies, the issue was deciding on which job would be challenging enough for a young student from Gradia to train on. Jaakko’s teacher suggested Pinja, and so the practicalities were taken care of and Jaakko started working.
During the on-the-job training period, the task was to explore different Headless CMS solutions and, after a couple of days, a prototype solution was presented. The on-the-job training went well until the end and, as both parties were satisfied, it was clear that the future had to be negotiated.
Full-time work after studies
After completing his studies, Jaakko was hired as a Junior Software Developer at Pinja. In this role, he has had the opportunity to solve a wide range of problems with both old and new technologies. Jaakko works in the Evondos team developing websites on the front-end and back-end. C# and JavaScript have become familiar programming languages for him.
As an employer, Pinja is clear and professional. You get help when you need it, and employees are looked after.
The teamwork has been valuable, as I have always had help from friends in problematic cases. Jaakko thinks that the best thing about his workplace is his colleagues and the variety of the work. Jaakko also appreciates Pinja as an employer.
– As an employer, Pinja is clear and professional. You get help when you need it, and employees are looked after. As an employee, you are free to suggest improvements and your own ideas for projects and everyday matters.
Success in the Taitaja 2021 competition
In addition to the great work Jaakko does at Pinja, he did a great job in the Taitaja 2021 competition in the spring, winning the Website Development category. It is a skills competition arranged by Skills Finland, and according to Jaakko, almost all Finnish vocational schools and their students are competing.
This year, a total of 1,520 competitors took part in the semi-finals. There was no limit to the number of entrants for the semi-finals of the Website Development competition; there were 20 competitors in total, seven of whom progressed to the finals.
In the finals, Jaakko’s assignment was to design and implement a website for a client according to their needs in two days. Entrants were judged on the overall design, web design, technical implementation and other features of the site. According to Jaakko, the technologies used in the finals were freer than in the semi-finals, but due to time constraints, each finalist chose to use the PHP and jQuery programming languages.
– The competition was fun, as the organizers, other competitors and the competition directors were all very nice and we had pleasant discussions outside the competition. During the competition, my endurance was put to the test by the demands of the task and the time limit, but the feeling of success after the competition was most rewarding, Jaakko says.
The participants were presented with a diploma, and the winners received a cash prize. Gradia also awarded cash prizes to its finalists. In addition, finalists were treated to relevant Taitajat-themed merchandise during the competition.
Future plans include higher education and skills development
At the turn of the year, Jaakko will be doing his military service and his work will be put on hold for a while. After the military service, he plans to continue his studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä and work at Pinja at the same time. His goal is to develop general software design skills both at school and in the workplace. At Pinja, Jaakko hopes to work in the future in a challenging and meaningful job. As an employer, Pinja can certainly meet these expectations.
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