Throughout my career I’ve been always coming back to a wonderful quote from the popular character of Pippi Longstocking: ‘I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that’.
I work as a Senior Manager in Delivery Capability at Vaisala, leading a team of eight engineers. Our team is responsible for creating and developing the factory lines in our Weather Factory in Vantaa, Finland. My task is to ensure my team has everything they need to succeed, to make sure our quality stays at the top and that our customers receive their orders in promised schedule. I communicate with various stakeholders and collaborate with our R&D to develop products with easy manufacturing in mind. I have been in this role for two and a half years, but in total, for Vaisala, I have worked for over ten years. It might sound like a long time, but in here, professionals grow long careers that last decades, so I consider myself still a newbie!
Growing inspiration at home
My inspiration and determination for the tech field comes from home: From my father, who is a Physics and Mathematics teacher, I have learned the wonderful world of natural sciences. From my mother, I learned that anything is possible. She would tell me something that I repeat nowadays to my own daughters and to younger colleagues of mine: Studying and learning is our very own capital that no one can ever take away – it is like putting money into the bank, a little bit at a time.
Thanks to the inspiration from home, I ended up studying Material Sciences, at Helsinki University of Technology, nowadays Aalto University. My major was Electronics Manufacturing, and after graduation, I also studied Change Management as a minor. I have to admit though, that Maths and Physics had not been my strongest subjects in high school. And as paradoxical as it sounds, that was exactly what made me specialize in them. Not getting the best grades in these subjects only meant that I had to study more of them!
Salla Alajoki, Senior Manager in Delivery Capability, Vaisala
Fair play, and never settling for less
I started my career at Murata, in heavy engineering testing and design work, but after a few years, I got in touch with the natural organizer within myself and decided to apply for a position as a Project Manager in another company. During the next six years in the role of a Project Manager I was on a parental leave for a few years. When returning from parental leave, I faced reorganizing and changes, which ended up to termination of my contract. This experience made me realize that the decision to have children and acquiring the right to maternity leave is not a trivial thing, even though it should be. After this experience my values shifted completely: It became clear that wherever I would land, it needed to be a place of fair treatment for everyone.
Ever since I have been at Vaisala I have loved it here – the people, the vision, and the tech. Thanks to the growth of Vaisala, we also have opportunities for growing ourselves. Innovation and learning are in the DNA of this company, and I have always been encouraged to experiment. To further grow professionally, I ended up also changing positions within Vaisala, from R&D to operations. Along with ‘tech related’ lessons, I have been able to learn things that simply fascinate me. For instance, I love leadership and group forming, and I do coaching for others.
Vaisala has also felt welcoming for me in terms of gender balance: Right after my first day I would call my best friend and tell her “Guess what! There’s lots of women here, and they are even wearing high heels!’
People behind high efficiency and performance
Working with people is highly rewarding for me, and handling group dynamics has always been one of the best parts of my work. I enjoy setting up effective and well-flowing groups that want to make things happen. In R&D projects, for example, you have to have a well-functioning team right from the start, to avoid waste of time and money waiting people to find a common ground. The key here are the small features of the dynamics that can have, in the big picture, a huge effect. I usually start by learning first about the individuals composing the groups. It feels rewarding to get to know people to the point where you are talking about children and pets! Then, I love making sure people also get to know each other. Psychological safety is the key here.
Endless opportunities in the field of tech
There are multiple words of encouragement I would like to give to those considering a career in tech: Firstly, there are endless opportunities in the field – not only regarding jobs, but also geographics: it is easy to change paths and countries, all within tech. Then, the fields of natural sciences or leadership are universal languages that you can reach unbelievable innovations with – to change the world really. Unlike fields that are more theoretical, tech allows you to see solutions in a visible way, materialised in front of you.
Like for me, encouragement at home can be invaluable. When kids are about to enter high school and make decisions on which path to pursue, parents’ attitude is crucial: I think it’s important already then to give space to the youngsters, to try out sciences with curiosity and open mind.
Two secret treasures for sharing
- I cannot recommend enough Brene Brown’s documentary, streaming currently in Netflix, The Call to Courage.
- Another treasure I have learned a lot from is a free course, actually currently the most popular one, in Yale University: The Science of Wellbeing – it can be taken online, of course, and it tackles the most important life question: what is the science behind happiness and how can we reach it?
