Mika Laurila: Telecommunications is a strong and growing industry sector Chief Software Engineer, Mika Laurila, has been working in the Telecom industry since 2007. He started his career as a junior software designer at Espotel (later acquired by Etteplan). During the first years of his career in Telecom, Mika worked as a subcontractor for a large telecommunications company, taking on various projects and tasks. These included developing test software for integrated circuits, platform software for telecommunication modules, PC software for a production repair site and production test software. “I’ve always gotten into a new team and new roles quickly. The team members have been very helpful and shared information openly. In that sense, it has not bothered me that the tasks have varied. In fact, variety has been one of the best things about my job.” Beside his longer assignment as a subcontractor, Mika has also worked shorter stints for other companies in the Telecom industry, large and small. These tasks have included development of platform and firmware software and mesh networks. “I have learned to work with different customers and to communicate with different people and in different teams. My software development skills have been constantly improving.” “Probably the most interesting job I’ve had during my time at Etteplan’s customers was building a mesh network where small devices communicated amongst themselves without a central base station. For example a factory where the lighting fixtures communicate with each other and with other devices.” Working for Etteplan has been a good experience for Mika. “I’ve felt that the company really takes care of its own. The benefits are good and you get to have variation in your work. I get to have a say on what kind of projects I get involved in and influence my own work. There are also great training and development opportunities. And of course the community and support is always great.” In the future, Mika expects that the Telecom industry will grow and go into smaller scale networks. “Telecom is an interesting area, it is becoming more and more important. Whether it’s large base stations or smaller networks, nowadays nearly every device or widget that is developed has communication capabilities.” “I believe the industry will move in the direction of smaller networks and IoT-type solutions. The trend seems to be that devices are communicating with each other instead of central networks or base stations. This leads to some new interesting challenges and opportunities for telecommunication industry and software development,” concludes Mika.
