Milan joined us in 2022, attracted by the prospects of challenging work and continuous learning. He shares his experience of moving from a big-company IT-consultant role to the growing Kumorion team.
Let’s start at the beginning of your career – how did you get into IT?
It’s a bit of a roundabout story actually. In 2011, I started studying economics at Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic. But it was kind of boring and I didn’t really enjoy it, so after three years I began studying IT at Brno University of Technology. I quickly realized that this field is a lot more fun for me.
While I was studying I got my first job as a software developer, basically focused on DevOps and continuous integration projects. Then I just started to work more and my studies eventually took a back seat.
What attracted you to Kumorion?
I was actively looking for a new role, as I felt a bit stuck in my previous job. It was a big company and I was mainly being sold as a consultant with expertise in DevOps and automation. But I wanted to focus more on the software development side.
Then one day in early 2022, a headhunter contacted me out of the blue about a role at Kumorion. I did not know anything about the company, but I was curious as it was a senior role. Back then I did not see myself as a senior! It sounded good, so I agreed to an interview to see what the opportunity was about. Now here I am.
"I really like the personal touch here. The company is very people-oriented and takes care of us."
How did you feel about joining a small company you knew nothing about?
I was intrigued, as until then I’d only worked at a large corporation. I wanted to see if a smaller company works better for me – and it does.
In my previous role I felt as though I was simply sold to client projects as a billing resource. But now I feel like I’m first-and-foremost a Kumorion employee. I really like the personal touch here. The company is very people-oriented and takes care of us.
In larger companies you can sometimes feel like just another cog in the machine, but at Kumorion it’s different. Everyone’s voice is heard and the leadership is very approachable. I can go straight to our CEO or CTO with any questions or concerns. If I feel that I’m not suited to a particular task or too busy to handle something, then our leadership really tries to accommodate that.
"We have a relaxed atmosphere. I’ve never felt any pressure to put in more hours than required."
How would you characterize the spirit at the company?
Well, Kumorion is growing! I only joined a few years ago, but since then quite a few more people have started working here. It’s exciting to be part of this growth. A lot of us work remotely – including on-site with the customer – but Thursday is the day everyone tries to come into the Kumorion office in Espoo.
Of course everybody is responsible for their own work, but we have a relaxed atmosphere. I’ve never felt any pressure to put in more hours than required. I’m not saying I’ve never had to rush or work a bit later than normal, but this has always been my choice.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
It’s basically a mix of programming, cloud engineering and problem-solving. One thing I like about my role is the balance between working independently and collaborating with others.
I’m the tech lead for a couple of projects, which means I’m involved in everything from design to customer communication. There’s a lot of discussion to decide the best way to implement something. I think customers value that we’re proactive in bringing ideas to the table. It’s important to me that they see us as more than just a resource delivering work – we really try to add value.
On the technical side, Go is my primary programming language. I also occasionally use Python for scripting, but that’s becoming less frequent. In terms of platforms and tools, I work with OpenStack, Kubernetes and HashiCorp Vault.
“This is a place where I can really grow over the longer term."
Is there anything you find particularly exciting at the moment?
I like that I’m learning all the time. For me it’s fun to identify issues and find solutions; to get lost in figuring out a challenging task. The work I do at Kumorion allows me to dig much deeper into domains that I’m interested in. The company really encourages this kind of learning.
For example, right now I’m implementing authentication for a couple of services, so I’m really diving into the details behind some standards – how the flows work, what is possible, etc. Even though I worked with authentication before, I was not involved in the actual implementation. Now I’m really learning stuff I previously only knew a bit about.
How do you see the future of your career?
When I first joined Kumorion, I thought I might stay for a few years to build my skills and then move on. But pretty soon after joining I realized this is a place where I can really grow over the longer term.
It’s exciting to see what’s going to happen to the company, as there are a lot of interesting development ideas in the pipeline.