A move from shoes to software brought ex-cobbler Liisa to Futurice – with their love of change the perfect match for the consultancy work they do. With a mind that can turn to anything, the only question is how Liisa can best balance their many interests.
I was scrolling through the options of what I could study and at the bottom of the list was shoemaking. I didn’t know how to make shoes and thought maybe I would like to learn! I’m pretty crafty so it felt like the natural choice, and also a good balance after all the reading at uni.
I had a bunch – I was interested in everything! I had a schedule of different hobbies from art school to scouts to choir. I liked reading as a kid too, as well as writing and some sports. I also did some HTML at home, writing webpages as a hobby.
Coincidence! It wasn’t really planned. I was studying at university and I quit, but I wanted to stay in Tampere where I was living at the time.
I had my own shoe repair shop in Tampere and when it was time to sell it, I wanted to do something completely different. I made lists of what I wanted to do and what I wanted from a job, like independence, salary and teamwork. Coding was featured quite heavily in the press at the time and there was a new coding school called Hive Helsinki, so I joined in the first batch of students. Again, it was a coincidence because it was a heavily publicised career path and I just wanted to give it a try. When I was there, lots of software companies came to introduce themselves and Futurice was one of them. They talked about their values and I saw they had some that are very important to me, such as transparency and diversity.
I was lucky because I had the financial means to do it after selling my company, so I could just focus 100% on studying full time for a year and a half. The change felt natural and easy, and I was doing it in good company. Working at Futurice has been a really nice learning experience too.
Entrepreneurship is similar to consultancy work because they’re both quite independent. The whole learning experience has been quite similar too – I had to learn entrepreneurship from scratch as well, and for both roles I’ve needed to learn on the job as I go. There’s also something similar about crafts and coding – they’re both about understanding different structures, seeing connections and being able to deconstruct things.
I have been playing roller derby for the last eight years and I’ve also bought a small summer cabin close to Helsinki, so that’s my renovation project. I’m trying to take it easy and work on it one bit at a time.
What does diversity in the workplace mean to you, and is more work still needed in this area?
It’s super important to me personally that I can go to work and be who I am, without needing to have a work persona covering up the real me. But the work to make the world more inclusive will never end. Futurice has done a lot in this area but we can always do better and learn more – it’s not something that can ever be seen as complete. I want to see everybody having the opportunities I have and that takes active work all the time.
It’s not exactly a quote per se, but I like this phrase I heard in a show called Limits by Circus Cirkör: balance is movement. It’s one of the hardest things to do, but I’m always trying to find a better balance with work and fun.
I would say give it time. I have always loved change because I’m not good at staying put, which is why I’m a consultant. Take the time to enjoy learning new stuff – you might not be good at it at first, but at least you won’t be bored!
