Markku Parvikko is a Full Stack Developer and works as a Consultant for Unikie’s customers, just like hundreds of his colleagues at Unikie. There’s one unique side to this professional, however: Markku happens to be Unikie’s very first employee.
Since signing his contract 10 years ago in 2015, Markku has worked countless hours in customer projects, witnessed the company grow to 600 people and even left Unikie – only to return back later. Let’s see what Markku thinks of Unikie’s beginning and future!
Sowing the Seeds of Growth
In early 2015, Markku was keeping his eye open for a new job. He was approached by two persons, Esko Mertsalmi and Mikko Eloranta, who were founding a new software consultancy company. Before long, Markku was hired and assigned to a customer project for Sandvik, a global mining technology company and Unikie’s first customer.
“It was exciting to join a small company with a clear vision of growth. In addition to providing software consulting services, I remember that the founders’ plan from day 1 was to innovate and build Unikie’s own products, too – and that vision has come to life with our current solution offering,” Markku says.
Back then, Markku’s job was very similar to what it is today: working as an expert consultant, tightly integrated into the customer’s team. At the same time, the company started to grow as new consultants joined Unikie.
“I recall that I got a lot of enquiries about Unikie and our open positions from consultants working for other companies. To me that sounded like we are doing the right things.”
Software Consulting and Adventures Outside Unikie
Today, Markku enjoys working in a very similar role as he did when starting at Unikie: providing software consulting services to Unikie’s customers. This means working in interesting roles and projects, and helping the customer in a variety of ways.
“One very interesting task was helping a customer set up and ramp up an offshore development team in Bangalore. I was involved in planning, talent recruitment, induction and finally acting as the link between Finland and the 10+ strong development team in India.”
At one point, Markku actually left Unikie and worked in different companies for a couple of years.
“This was kind of my adventure to try out a different kind of position in a company that was setting up a team in Finland. While it had its perks, I ended up returning to my consultant role at Unikie – I guess that tells that Unikie still felt as an attractive employer even though it was different from the small company I originally joined.”
The adventures didn’t stop there, however. Markku and his family spent the 2019-2020 winter season on the other side of the planet, in New Zealand, and got to visit Cook Islands for snorkeling, for example. What made the trip even more unique, was the outbreak of Covid.
“Just a week after our return, New Zealand completely shut down its borders. If our departure would have been scheduled for just days later, I would probably have ended up setting up Unikie’s new international branch office in Auckland!”
What Will Happen in the Next 10 Years?
During his Unikie career, Markku has observed the company grow, expand outside Finland and find its position in the international markets. Looking ahead to the next 10 years, Markku believes that the growth will continue.
“I hope and trust that Unikie will keep growing. I personally am eager to see where our own product development takes us, especially our focus on the automotive sector and automated vehicles is really interesting.”
Personally, Markku intends to continue working as a consultant, solving customers’ challenges one by one.
“What I like the most is a certain feeling of freedom. Even though my customer roster at Unikie is fairly small, I have gotten to do a wide variety of projects for those customers and I know there is plenty of interesting work to come.”
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