Introducing Kipinä's Turku office
04 | 2024 Sanna Valkeejärvi & Tuomas Nokkala, Software Architect
Kipinä's Turku experts joined forces a few months ago, and at the office, they spar ideas across project boundaries with skilled colleagues. Clients are also welcome to the Turku office to discuss with our experts—welcome to Tykistökatu 4!
Tuomas Nokkala, the most frequent user of Kipinä's Turku office, sees only good things about the new office. 6 of Kipinä's experts live in the Turku area, so it's not just a one-man office. "We've had an office here in Turku since December 2023, and the idea started in discussions among Kipinä's Turku team back in the autumn. Some of us already knew each other, so we knew that a shared office would be fun to work together," says Tuomas.
Clients are warmly welcome to visit the Turku office to discuss matters with our experts. So, if you are in Turku and need assistance with your company's digitalization, software development, or data initiatives, head over to Tykistökatu 4. Kipinä's experts are always happy to discuss how we can help.
The office is in active use and the mood is good. With such a small sample, at least in Kipinä, the ratio of hybrid work at home to work in the office is very individual. There is no one model that works for everyone. At best there have been 5 people in the office, but there are days when Tuomas is alone in the office. "The whole spectrum is well covered in our team. From one day to five days a week. Everyone's own life situation has a big impact."
Kipinä supports workspaces and their utilization beyond our headquarters in Helsinki. True to Kipinä's culture, the decision to establish the Turku office and distribute responsibilities was made collectively. "It's truly wonderful how Kipinä as a company supports this kind of community-driven activity. We've talked about it many times together—how great it is to work in the same physical space."
"This Turku office is sort of a miniature version of the Kipinä model. Even though I've handled the practical arrangements, everyone has been involved in the decision-making process as a team. We share the responsibility for everything we do here."
A relaxed attitude and a great atmosphere
"At least for me, working from home was starting to reach its limits. Before the pandemic, I already worked remotely quite a bit, and then entirely so during the pandemic. During that long remote stretch, I noticed I was missing a community and contact with coworkers and a professional network. That sense of community and the little everyday interactions are the reasons I want to come to the office every day."
The little things include shared lunch breaks and coffee moments to chat about non-work topics, easy and quick technical sparring, getting to know each other better, and establishing a clearer boundary between work and home.
"Even though I am passionate about my work and could technically do it from anywhere, I also want to maintain a clear dividing line between work and the rest of my life. Having boundaries that are too blurred between work and personal life is not good for anyone. And of course, it's fantastic to get to know people much better through genuine in-person interactions rather than just via Teams, for example."
Spending time at the office has inspired the Turku team in many ways.
"We have a broad scope of expertise and varying specializations across different technologies. It's invaluable to have experts close by who possess deep knowledge in areas outside your own focus. When we spar on technical matters across project boundaries, we consistently achieve better results for our clients. Being at the office enables these discussions in an entirely different way—for instance, you can easily sketch out ideas on a whiteboard on the fly. There is no remote equivalent that works quite as well."
"The Turku office also enabled us to sponsor the local Turku Frontend community's "Code In The Dark" event. This was the first time we participated as Kipinä in Turku's active coding community. It was a great opportunity to promote Kipinä and make Turku residents more aware of us. The best way to raise awareness is to get involved in a local scene."
Code in the Dark event included some blind coding.
About the community and its birth
Kipinä's strong and exceptional community has been featured often. The community has been built mostly remotely, Tuomas listed the things he thinks have contributed to the success of the community:
Kipinä is built around transparency and openness
Decisions are made together
Our operations are naturally inclusive, where shared power and responsibility drive dedication and commitment
Shared mindset and values
Trust among Kipinä people; everyone is on the same page
We have successfully maintained a friendly, tight-knit atmosphere where interaction feels natural
Encouraging collaborative action
A united desire to take Kipinä forward and in an even better direction.
The desire to discuss together what Kipinä is like and what everyone wants it to be
Joint meetings of Kipinä, such as Kipinä Symposium
More collaborative activities are certainly on the horizon, as housewarming parties for both the Turku office and the new Helsinki office are yet to be held.