Today, Unikie employs close to 600 talented individuals, working in challenging yet rewarding projects for our 120+ global customers. For experienced software engineering professionals, we provide truly exciting opportunities to work with cutting-edge technologies – including real-time sensoring, positioning, IoT cybersecurity and AI, for example.
Our consultants work every day to solve our customers’ real-life challenges and add value to their business. Our teams are working at the customer’s premises, Unikie’s offices or at the convenience of their home office.
What kind of support do consultants get from Unikie and the rest of the team? We talked to Team Lead Annika Hörkkö to find out.
Team Leader with a Clear Mission
Annika originally joined Unikie as a Project Manager, with extensive background in software testing. She knew the company through old colleagues and the media, and was attracted by interesting project opportunities that could advance her career.
At one point, her manager asked if Annika would like to take up the role of a Team Lead. Being a strong people person, she agreed.
“If you join a particular project or a job role, it does not have to define your entire future. People’s interests change and they want to develop – and Unikie is a great place to do just that,” says Annika.
The Team Lead role at Unikie is all about supporting software development experts to feel good working at Unikie and develop their competence as professionals.
“Unikie’s greatest asset is our people and my most important task is to take care of them,” Annika adds.
Keeping a Pulse on Consultants’ Well-Being
As a Team Lead, Annika takes care that the consultants in her team feel connected to Unikie and that they have what they need to carry out their work.
“Regular video calls with remote consultants is an important way for me to know how the expert is doing. Our people, especially seniors, are really independent but catching up every now and then is needed – and a live video call is a good tool for that,” says Annika.
The calls also present an opportunity for Annika to check up on the workload of her team members.
“If you’re an ambitious developer, it’s sometimes easy to get carried away and push your limits too much. I remind people that they need daily time to recover and focus on things outside work,” Annika continues.
Sometimes Annika’s team members want to talk about project rotation or the need for additional training. If a team member wants to learn more about a certain topic, Annika can find other Unikie experts or set up training, for example.
Interesting Work and Opportunities to Learn
So, what is a typical software development expert like? What kinds of skills, traits and personality is needed to succeed at Unikie?
“We’re all individuals with our unique personalities. What’s common with my team members is iron-clad professionalism, a can-do attitude and a fearless problem-solving mindset. My people are reasonable, realistic and solution-oriented,” Annika summarizes.
The range of projects available at Unikie is exhaustive simply due to the wide variety of customer business industries. The work ranges from backend and frontend development to IoT and embedded software to mobile applications, for example.
“It’s easy to think that coding is coding, but it’s always much more than that. It’s about understanding the customer’s business, applying your skills to add value in the customer’s context,” says Annika.
“Some people want to develop something completely new, others want to work on an existing solution. Others want to code, some want to design architectures. What’s great in a company like Unikie is that there are plenty of opportunities.”
Want to know more about Unikie as an employer? Check out our benefits and how you can become a member of our team.
