Pinja's IT jobs attract professionals from around the world

The software labour market has heated up in Finland, which means that new talent is sought not only nationally but also globally. Many are curious to work in the world's happiest country, and Pinja is happy to offer various interesting IT jobs in a great community to software developers and other IT professionals from a variety of backgrounds. One of many software developers relocated to a new country is India-based Padma who now develops e-commerce websites at Pinja in Finland. Padma enjoys seeking solutions to customers’ challenges and, in her free time, exploring her new home country and the Helsinki metropolitan area.

E-commerce, coding and a sprinkling of snow

In November 2022, e-commerce specialist Padma Varadhan relocated to Finland from India and started in her new position as a software developer at Pinja. Padma is originally from Bangalore, Southern India, where she had previously completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree and worked with e-commerce solutions for over a decade. Early autumn 2022, she was contacted about IT jobs in Finland.

- I was offered an opportunity in Finland and got interested as the job description suited my profile. One of my Indian friends has lived in Finland for twelve years, so I knew a little bit about what to expect. I knew that people in Finland are nice and helpful and that most people speak English. My friend has a family here, so she also appreciates the fact that this is a safe country to live in and raise your children, Padma says.

Before coming to Finland, Padma had a lot of work experience working with multiple customers involved with e-commerce, even major international companies. This gave her good premises for starting in her new position.

- I’ve been happy with my current position at Pinja and plan to stay for the years to come. I really enjoy coding, using PHP and the Magento framework, and finding new solutions to problems. That’s what keeps me going, she says with a smile.
One of the key challenges in her work is understanding customers’ business requirements and finding exact solutions to them. The work also requires technical skills, sharp logical and analytical thinking as well as team working skills.

One of the practical things that facilitates Pinja’s international recruitment is that all the relevant induction materials are in English and all team members are able to communicate in English.

- The people here are really friendly and helpful, and I was happy to notice that everyone knows English so I’ve had no problems with language. As for cultural differences, Finns can be a bit reserved at first when it comes to casual talking, but a bit of patience helps. It is also nice that there are also many events available for the staff, so you can get to know more of your colleagues, Padma notes.

During her time at Pinja, Padma has also used some of the employee benefits available and is happy with her convenient transport card for public transportation, for example. She works at Pinja’s office in Espoo on some days and remotely at home on others – depending on the weather, for example. So far Padma has mostly only seen the Finnish winter weather, as she happened to arrive in Finland on the first day of snow in November 2022.

- My husband also relocated to Finland in February, and we’re now seeking work in Finland for him too. I would recommend relocating to Finland for anyone who’s looking for something new to explore and is willing to see the positive side of things, perhaps even raise their family here, Padma says.

As for her time off work, Padma enjoys going out and about. 

- Now that I’m in a new country, I like to go and explore the surrounding areas. We take walks with my husband and dog, and have also attended major sports events in Helsinki, for example. Next we’re waiting to see and experience the Finnish spring, Padma says.

International professionals working for international customers

Pinja’s decision to recruit new talent from abroad was based on a genuine need for new competent employees. In the Digital Commerce business, for example, the need is particularly focused on new employees who had previous experience in the Magento open-source e-commerce platform. Pinja’s recruiters were glad to see how many applicants were interested in the IT jobs offered.

- We were happy to find such an experienced software developer as Padma, I think we found a great match. Everything has worked out well also otherwise, as the process with all the practicalities went smoothly also from our perspective and even faster than we expected, says Janne Nygård, Operations Manager and foreperson in the Digital Commerce team at Pinja.

Pinja’s Digital Commerce team currently employs nearly 30 e-commerce professionals located in Espoo, Kempele, Jyväskylä, Tampere, and Lahti. Employees are free to work either on-site at any of Pinja's offices or remotely. The business is growing strongly, and new software developers and other team members are constantly being recruited. This first international recruit was carried out in collaboration with a company specialized in global recruitment for IT jobs. To many job seekers around the globe, the various IT jobs currently available in different countries offer a highly attractive and intriguing option.

One of the practical things that facilitates Pinja’s international recruitment is that all the relevant induction materials are in English and all team members are able to communicate in English. Janne Nygård finds that having a more international team has been a welcome change.

- The work itself is the same regardless of nationality or culture, of course, such as finding creative solutions while coding. But it is nice to have an international team. I had a good gut feeling about Padma, she excelled in the technical interview and showcased independent thinking. We found a great, diligent colleague in Padma, Janne says. 

Further encouraged by the positive experiences with Padma’s recruitment, Pinja is also happy to offer IT jobs for other internationals and has already signed an employment contract with another non-Finnish recruitee. The new software developer will start working in the Digital Commerce team in spring 2023.

Pinja offers various IT jobs and career paths

We are looking for new colleagues to work in various positions, such as software developers, business intelligence specialists, data warehouse experts, and many more. 

Pinja’s expert fields include trade and services, digital society, manufacturing industry, forest industry, energy, circular economy and natural resources as well as health and welfare technology. 

Read more about Pinjans’ career paths on our career site, see our open positions, and join our happy #datalovers family!

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