My name is Henri Ihalainen and I am working as a full-stack developer at Gofore. I do coding, infra, and architecture work but I also work a lot with customers when planning new features and systems. I like to work equally with code and people. I feel that working at Gofore as a consultant enables that to me.
Tell us about your career and study background?
I have always been interested in computers and technology. I started programming with Quick Basic when I was maybe ten years old and did that for a while but then it got forgotten. Later in high school, I was interested in computer networking which eventually led to studies at the Tampere University of Technology. I majored in Communication Protocols and Networks and Radio Network Planning but also had a minor in computer programming.
My programming career started when I got a thesis job at Nokia Siemens Networks working with network management systems. When I was doing my thesis, I started to feel that programming was my thing. I worked at NSN for a couple of years and then moved to Gofore in early 2014. At Gofore I’ve been working on various software projects in different roles from developer to the scrum master.
What makes Gofore a great company for you?
A side that Gofore has always been a company where I can develop myself, I feel it has been a very flexible employer in different life situations. I have small children and during my career, at Gofore I have been twice on parental leave for a longer period. Also, I have worked at 80% working time when children have started daycare. I have always felt that I have been supported by the company and colleagues in my choices.
When I started at Gofore the company had only 70 employees. Now that the company has grown ten times bigger, I feel that the people are still at the center and are treated equally.
What are the things you most likely tell your close circle about Gofore?
As my close circle knows what kind of a working place Gofore is, I might tell about things I’m working on (if not secret) that are interesting and may be visible to the public in some way.
What’s the best Gofore memory?
There are many good memories but the first things that came to my mind were family days at Särkäniemi and summer parties at Herrankukkaro. Also, many good memories are related to nice people that I have been working with during my years at Gofore.
What is your favorite internal Slack channel at Gofore?
Currently, I have two: #raksagerho where discussion is about renovations, building projects, etc. which I’m also interested in. Then there is #moneybags where people discuss the finance market, stocks, and economy in general.
What are the technologies and methods you mostly work with?
The programming languages that I have been working on most recently are Javascript and Typescript but before I used to work a lot with Java. My current project has a large stack of different languages and frameworks such as Scala, Clojure, C, Node.js, React, and Angular to mention a few. On the infrastructure side, I’m working with RabbitMQ and services running in AWS. I’m also interested in agile methodologies and estimation which I like to develop in my projects.
How does your typical day look like? What excites you most in your daily work?
I usually start my day before anyone else in the family wakes up and do the work that requires the most concentration in the morning. The rest of my day typically consists of few meetings with customers, Slack calls with colleagues, work planning, and of course some programming. I’m part of the recruitment circle so some days I have interviews. Sometimes I help our sales with tenders as a technical advisor and participate in our guild activities and other internal things. In my daily work, I feel the most exciting thing is to build great software together with my colleagues.
What would you like to do in the future at Gofore?
I want to focus more on software architecture and develop myself in that area. I hope I can take larger responsibility in projects and help to develop our company. Technology is still my number one interest and currently, I would like to improve my skills in functional programming.
What kind of digital world do you want to build with others?
I can identify with the Gofore mission of changing the world for to better. I would like to be involved in projects that have a positive impact on the environment and help society.
It’s often said that digitalisation has changed every part of human life – how we live, how we work and how we interact with the world around us. But when you think about it, digitalisation alone can’t change anything. Without people, it’s all just hardware and code. That is why we want you to get to know our people, Goforeans. Read Our Gofore stories! ?
Are you interested in job opportunities at Gofore, read more about us, and check out the open positions gofore.com/liityjoukkoon
