Eeva Lennon, Visma Aquila

What have you studied and what influenced this choice back in the day?

I have studied Industrial Engineering and Software Engineering at Tampere university. I wanted to choose a career between engineering and business, and “tuta” (industrial engineering) was a perfect match for that. I chose SW engineering as a minor because that was still new and exciting at that time. 

How did you end up being in your current position?

My current role is Product Development Manager at Visma, working with Wilma product. It’s difficult to pinpoint how I ended up in this role, but I guess it is a result of having both people skills (and interest in people) and organising tendencies. I’ve done many roles in the interface between techies and non-techies, and enjoyed them all. 

What is the best thing about your job?

Working with different kind of people and products. I also enjoy solving a jigsaw - when things are chaotic, and then bit by bit we sort them out. 
 

What have been the highlights and key lessons of your career?

My first job (at Nokia) was quite international, I enjoyed meeting people from different cultures and had the opportunity to travel. I also spent 2 years in London, and I learned to adapt to different cultures, process and ways of communicating, and gained a lot of confidence while doing that! And had fun!
I have also been working in two different turbulent industries, gaming and tech scale-up, and learned that success is not only hard work, it requires a lot of luck as well! I have worked in a few customer facing roles in IT industry, and learned a lot on customer service and sales. 

What do you expect from the future?

At the moment the future is a bit blurry, Generative AI is changing SW development and the industry a lot. But I’m looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities!