Arto Saari, who has worked at Unikie for a good 1,5 years is a long term testing and quality control professional. At the moment he is employed by a company working on the financial sector in the capital city.
Saari, 39, who took a engineering degree in 1999 from Häme University of Applied Sciences, has worked on the testing sector since his graduation. Natural management skills lifted his status from a testing engineer to a testing manager only after a couple of months of working. Arto is still on that path. Leads in testing teams have continued from a project to another and grown to become handling even more challenging entities.
Working with the title QA Consultant, Saari transferred to Unikie from the software company Symbio after working in the company and its predecessor for almost 12 years. At Unikie he was foremost interested in the company model, that the managers he knows back from Symbio times have started to carry out.
– Unikie’s honest entrepreneur model works really well and suits me. One gets to work entrepreneurially and there is a clear reward for the work done. I haven’t found anything negative from the activities, says the content man from Aura.
Diversity is the wealth in the work of a consult
Saari has worked as a consult throughout his career. Most of his working career he has worked in mobile environment application testing projects. During the recent years, the work has concentrated in testing more extensive systems. In the consulting work he is fascinated by the diversity.
– As a consult I get to work with different projects without having to stuck with one and the same. As the projects and the customer change you get more people around you. The diversity is the greatest wealth in this line of work, Saari reasons.
According to Saari, consulting work is also customer service work, where making people content fuels your own motivation. Having worked on the financial sector for the last five years, Saari is really content of the current working environment and its challenges.
– This has been really refreshing after the mobile years. I have enjoyed this customer work the most. Testing mobile applications is testing a small individual piece of software, but in my current work it is about a extensive entity, a range of systems transmitting information.
The challenges on the financial sector are a motivator
– The projects of my current client have been by far the most challenging that I have ever been in, Saari says.
Working in the projects on the financial sector has been so challenging, educational and eye-opening, that he would like to work on the branch also in the future. Working as project managers’ “left hand” has brought diversity to the work.
– When needed, I have also given consultation and guiding in project handling, Saari comments.
Happiness and positivity are brought up when asking Saari’s work mates and colleagues about his personality. He additionally describes himself as extremely flexible. Working hours are not being monitored but work is being done according to the client’s situation even around the clock when needed. One needs to have an eye for the game.
The confidence originating from the experience shows in his actions. Due to this projects keep coming. Arto Saari is a resource that the project managers want to use.
Unikie gets praises
Saari praises Unikie as an employer unconditionally.
– I have enjoyed the atmosphere since the first day. I haven’t been able but to praise my employer to my friends.
Even though the employer doesn’t have such a visible role in the everyday life of a consultant working where the customer is, it doesn’t eliminate the significance of the employer. In addition to the functioning entrepreneurial model, especially the quarterly company events get praise.
Other means of connecting to the community are internal communications channels and regular personal briefings, which Saari regards as highly important.
National defence and modelling work
Arto Saari does a lot of exercise to counterbalance with the work. During winters, he plays hockey and goes to the gym, during summers he plays golf. Saari, who lives in Aura, drives daily back and forth to his job. Weekly he spends around 20 hours in the car, which is especially off from the time spent on hobbies.
However, there is going to be a change in the everyday life. Saari is planning to move with his son to the metropolitan area in the near future. The two daughters of Saari are living with their mother in Jyväskylä.
As a counterbalance for the work Saari is also working as a model once in two months. He was recruited to a model agency one and a half years ago when he was taking his daughters to a photo shoot. Although a bit reluctant at the beginning, Saari got excited of the work, which he now regards as being useful also professionally.
– I have done some commercial photo shoots and exhibited a commemorative collection for a shopping centre. With the exhibitions I have lost my stage fright. Everything has to be tried, says the sympathetic multi-purpose man who also is a member of the Territorial Forces of Finland.