“Turku has connected me to so many parts of southern Finland”

Turku is a central location that has connected me to many different parts of southern Finland. I’ve gotten to know the Swedish-speaking culture of the archipelago and the busy city life of Helsinki, with Turku right in between.

Wärtsilä’s diverse Turku office has been a great platform for developing my career. At the same time, our manufacturing hub and main office in Vaasa, as well as our corporate head office in Helsinki, give me frequent opportunities to collaborate, expand my expertise and grow within the company. 

I really value being able to maintain the life I’ve built in Southwest Finland while having similar career growth opportunities to those I would have if I lived in Vaasa year-round.
 

In my experience, pursuing a higher degree was important for continuing the career I wanted in technology. When I arrived in Finland in 2016, I found that my four-year bachelor’s degree in engineering from the US did not open the doors I had hoped for in my field. As a result, I decided to return to university and pursue a master’s degree in the same field at Aalto University.

University was also a great way to network with Finnish companies, including my current employer, Wärtsilä. If you’re looking to work in a technical field in Finland, my advice is to consider what qualifications can best support the career path you want to pursue.

Finally, learning Finnish or Swedish can greatly benefit your career and social life. Your choice of learning one or the other, or even both, will depend on which region of the country you intend to work and live in. It may take time to reach conversational fluency, but the journey is worth the effort.
 

I met a Finn in 2012 while she was spending a year studying abroad in my hometown. We were in the same physics course, and it didn’t take long for us to realize that we had found a once-in-a-lifetime connection.

After she returned to Finland, I continued my education in the US for another three years, and we stayed together throughout that time. In 2016, I made the journey across the Atlantic to join her in Finland. During my first years here, I worked as a mechanic with her family while looking for opportunities to build a career in tech. Now, we’re happily married and enjoying the life we’ve built together.