Meet people at Futurice

Mikko has been working at Futurice since December 2006. He is currently working as a software developer in the Symbian team.

Before I started at Futurice I was working on my master's thesis on computational biophysics at Helsinki University of Technology. Programming had been a hobby of mine for a long time and I had used it a lot in my studies. It was at this time that I decided that instead of continuing towards a research career, I wanted to create software that would be useful for large groups of people. When I came across Futurice at the Talent-IT recruitment fair I found that the projects and people seemed interesting and so I applied for a developer position, and was able to start in that role a couple of weeks later.

In addition to the more traditional Symbian C++, I've also had a chance to use Python and OpenC in my work. I have worked on interesting and varied projects, including for example, image processing and a project to create possibilities for new services using open source components in the mobile environment.

My everyday work consists of discussing requirements with our customers, making design decisions, and implementing our software products. I feel I learn something new in every project I participate in here. The atmosphere in our team of professionals is relaxed, and everyone works together to ensure that we can find the best solutions to the challenges our customers have. This together with the possibilities to work with the newest mobile technologies and services makes Futurice a rewarding place to work at, and I'm looking forward to our new projects as well as the possibilities to grow and learn that these projects bring with them.

More about the technological side of Futurice

Markus started at Futurice in November 2007. His duties cover concept and user interface design in all states of product life cycle.

User experience has been a passion for me for several years now. I’m studying usability as a major in Helsinki University of Technology to learn the theoretical background for the field. I'm also keen to examine the works of leading edge user experience designers to stay inspired for my own designs. I see that getting to design easy interfaces and good concepts gives me a chance of doing my part in helping people to cope with today's overwhelming range of technological devices and services.

Futurice has well acknowledged the rapidly growing demand for seamless usability in all software products. The newly founded User Experience team consists of design and implementation professionals, whose aim is to deliver useful products and services in a simple but efficient form. Fulfilling the needs of all users is always team work, which is here encouraged by a very open and cosy work environment.

My work consists of roughly three different kinds of tasks. First, when a new project comes along, I'm there to discuss the overall concept of the product. Second, and the most dominating part of my work is to design wireframe models and interaction flows of the views and features for new products. Wireframes guide the developers in their implementation work and interaction flows show how users interact with the product. Third, I sometimes participate in building the front end of the products by designing the graphics and even writing the HTML and CSS for the web pages.

After I started working here at Futurice, it didn't take me long to become truly convinced of the company's determination in high quality and customer satisfaction in everything it does. I find it very motivating to be able to contribute to significant and recognized products in cooperation with very interesting customer organizations, not to mention working with my very talented colleagues. All of the above combined with great appreciation of the employees make Futurice a perfect employer for me, now and in the future.

More about the aspect of creativity here at Futurice

Mathias has been with Futurice since September 2004. Mathias has a solid background in design and his current position is as Head of the Business Team.

I often approach things through thesis, antithesis and synthesis. When your normal, straight-laced Finnish engineer has already reached his conclusions, I’m still searching for flaws in my original idea. Studying industrial engineering and management at the Helsinki University of Technology has provided me with good tools for my job, while my studies in economics allow me to understand how a company can develop as a part of a bigger whole. I enjoy sports and relaxation, teamwork and success.

When starting off my engineering studies I spent two months in Reykjavik, fixing the city’s lawnmowers, as well as in the South of France polishing off bottles in the local wine cellars. While finishing my economics degree, I did some consulting work for the University of Art and Design, which led me to interview Mikko Viikari at Futurice. Soon after, I received a phone call which eventually ended up with me working at Futurice’s then office in Punavuori. Alongside my work here, I’ve also managed to complete the rest of my studies.

During my three years at Futurice, I was firstly involved in developing our product business before taking over my current role as the team leader of our professional services business. My job is comprised of finding interesting projects for our team of ten or so people and organising the project in a productive manner. I’m grateful we have been able to find such skilled team members at Futurice. The reason our team functions as well as it does is the good cooperation between the members. The most interesting and challenging part of my job is to encourage people’s skills whilst at the same time conducting profitable business.

Our projects include the creation of entire mobile and web applications with user interfaces. These projects often involve various external parties, and it is our job to take firm responsibility for the overall project to ensure it's success and to see to it that the other parties are doing their part and doing it well. Most of our sales come through existing customer references, serving as proof of the competence and dedication of our people.

In addition to Thursday-morning breakfasts, we also have our own floorball team, badminton matches and other social get-togethers. The fact that there are two smiling kids waiting for me at home means I do not get the chance to see my co-workers that much outside work, but on business trips I usually have time to sit down, relax and enjoy a beer with my colleagues.

Futurice’s business grows through the growth of its teams. My goal is to create well-functioning partnerships around my team in order to form new sales channels and to complement our own expertise. Let’s see how far we can get this year.

More about how we do business at Futurice