10 | 2022 Juha Inkinen, Team Lead, Architect

I started at Kipinä in December 2021. I jokingly call myself Kipinä's Tampere office because, at least so far, I am the first Tampere-based member of our fast-growing team. What are your thoughts on my first year at Kipinä?

I must have been fascinated by IT since I was six years old, when I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. As a little boy, I said I wanted to be a computer game designer, because computer programming was - and still is - as close to magic as you can get in reality. Perhaps this poetically describes what, as a Kipinä consultant, I want to deliver to our clients: a dash of life-enhancing, business-enhancing computer magic.

I have worked in the software industry since 2004, when, alongside my studies for a Master of Science in Technology, I started working first as a tester and later as a software engineer at a major Finnish mobile network company where many other IT professionals also began their careers. In 2005, I had the opportunity to learn about agile software development methods through Scrum Master training, and while I am not an extreme fan of any single methodology, I can claim that agility has become deeply rooted in my mindset.

Throughout my career, I have worked in nearly every role related to software projects: tester, designer, architect, project manager, technical sales support, and Scrum-style Product Owner. Of these, programming or coding—whatever you prefer to call it—has undoubtedly brought me the most joy in my work. In my approach to problem-solving, the aforementioned roles tend to blend together: it is difficult to deliver a sensible solution purely by writing code if the user's ultimate goal is unknown, not to mention understanding the opportunities and limitations dictated by the overall system architecture and target schedule.

Juha and Kari pair programming at the Kipinä Code Retreat.

Before finding Kipinä, I struggled for a long time with the traditional employee-employer dynamic. I found the built-in need to constantly prove oneself frustrating: it is not enough for an employee to do good work that clients appreciate; they also have to play the "corporate game." The rules of this game involve proving one's worth to those higher up in the organizational chart and justifying why one deserves an extra euro or two out of the billable amount. Traditionally, the compensation for work that brings tangible value to clients falls far short of the earnings of those higher up the corporate ladder, which naturally steers career development toward administrative roles rather than deepening technical expertise.

This hierarchical view of people is far from my own egalitarian values. I considered self-employment, but the associated sales and marketing duties seemed like they would only distract further from actual work. I have been glad for the opportunity to jump aboard the Kipinä team; in my opinion, Kipinä's entrepreneurial expert-partner model succeeds admirably in giving employees responsibility for business operations and decision-making while enabling them to focus the vast majority of their energy on delivering value to clients.

In my free time, music is perhaps my greatest source of energy, although as the father of two young children, I haven't had much time to touch my guitars in the last few years. In addition to my work, IT plays a big role in my hobbies as well. I play games on both PC and game consoles, and I follow with interest the evolution of various programming languages, among other things. Balancing out technology, I have a strong interest in understanding the human mind: I read studies on interpersonal neurobiology and other psychology literature. I am also involved in voluntary work focused on supporting the mental health of fathers and families.

However, you don't always have to be doing something productive or useful: our family has two adorable Chinese Crested dogs, with whom you can relax simply by lounging on the couch.