Santeri had been working in retail for two decades. He was responsible for category management and procurement in a very data-heavy e-commerce environment. However, his frustration with poor systems kept growing as well as his interest in own system development side projects.
"For years, I had been on the other side of the table as an end-user, seeing how mediocre ergonomics and poor usability complicated everyday tasks. I wanted to do my work more efficiently, which sparked a passion for fixing the systems," Santeri explains about his career change.
When his long career in retail began to feel like a closed chapter, a recommendation from an acquaintance about Academic Work’s Academy training program for career changers sealed the decision to apply.
According to Santeri, the 12-week Academy training was an intense experience that provided a brilliant kickstart to his new career, accelerating his career change by a couple of years.
Learning during the training was goal-oriented from the start and directly tied to working life. Santeri remains grateful to the instructors for the thought-out structure of the training, which started with high-level concepts and progressed logically from there.
His motivation for the accelerated learning was boosted by the fact that he knew he would be employed by the IT company Digia after graduation.
"Already during the first interviews, I clicked with Digia. It was as if we were already working for them during the training and orienting ourselves to the right way of working," Santeri explains.
Digia's culture and Santeri's own proactivity accelerated his growth
The transition to a new role after 12 weeks of full-time studies went smoothly. Digia’s strong cultural principles – courage, learning, sharing, and professional pride – served as a clear guide.
Client work started immediately, and this is where Santeri’s long prior career in the corporate world proved to be of great value. Alongside learning the technical aspects, the dynamics of an enterprise environment and fluent communication with clients were already second nature to him.
Santeri's growth has also been fueled by his eagerness to learn. For example, meticulous time tracking, which was new to him, turned into a personal application project, helping him both understand his own time management and learn hands-on software development.
"Learning requires proactivity. If you need better tools to do your job in the early stages of your IT career, I encourage you to build them yourself as a learning exercise," Santeri explains.
Outgrowing the junior boots
After about a year, Santeri stepped into the role of a Sensei, which he describes as being like a product owner at Digia – someone whose task is to be the ultimate facilitator, knowledge sharer, and a dedicated owner who takes the topic to heart.
"The best way to learn is to teach and share things with others. In Academy, we would study a new topic for about 30 minutes, after which we taught it to each other. This works brilliantly in the working world as well," Santeri states.
Today, Santeri confidently manages multiple technology areas and handles his clients independently. He has shaken off his junior boots, and his work reflects a strong sense of professional pride.
For career changers, Santeri has one clear piece of advice:
"Be yourself and have courage to show your background. It goes a long way, even if changing careers might feel like a culture shock."
Santeri's story is part of Academic Work's career story series Unlocking true potential. Through these growth stories, we want to highlight how enabling growth opportunities brings great value to both early career professionals and the hiring company.
Right now, a larger group of professionals than ever before is looking for that opportunity. Our goal at Academic Work is 5000 jobs over the next three years. The job market only moves by moving it, and we are actively working towards that.
