Skills

My core technical competences are around the Microsoft Data Platform, both on-premises with SQL Server and in Azure. I have expert knowledge of building data solutions on these platforms using a variety of tools. Key focus areas of mine are data warehouses, SQL, and the business centric modelling of data on all three levels: conceptual, logical and physical. Worthy of mentioning is also my interest and knowledge in the metadata-based data warehouse and integration automation tools, which has been fuelled in part by having been utilizing a Data Vault as the core of a data warehouse since the early days of my career.

I am certified as a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) for Data Management and Analytics, Azure Data Engineer Associate, Certified Data Vault 2.0 Practitioner and a Certified Scrum Master.

Experience and industry knowledge

Finance sector is my main area of interest. I have been involved many in different kinds of ventures in the finance world; as a main architect and lead developer of an enterprise-wide data warehouse and reporting solution for an investment bank, conducting an architectural and best practice inspection and review of a bank wide data warehouse and integration system for a major Finnish loan provider, managing the project while also being a developer for a customer 360 reporting portal including star schema modelling and Power BI reports for a bank, planning of a large scale near real-time Azure data platform solution for banks and pre-sales presentations and proof of concepts in the banking sector with multiple different technologies.

Energy sector is maybe in the top three industries I have worked in, there I have for an example been an architect and developer of a Oracle PL/SQL based data warehouse solution that was integrated to be a part of a larger operative system product, which included handling huge amounts of sensor and measurement data. A fringe case which is not exactly energy sector, but still very similar in nature is the water maintenance business. For them I have built an Azure data platform and Qlik Sense reporting solution, utilizing a Data Vault as the core in Azure SQL Data Warehouse (Synapse now days) and real-time reporting with IoT Hub, Stream Analytics and SQL Databases.

Transportation and infrastructure sector is maybe the last of the top three industries I have experience from. The project that always first pops into my head is the one in which I wore three hats: project manager , architect and developer . In that project we built an enterprise-wide data warehouse solution for a railway maintenance corporation. It had multiple source systems, including accounting, HR and multiple operative systems, all modelled into a Data Vault, based on the customer’s conceptual business models. It was a fully on-premises solution utilizing SQL Server databases, integration services and Tabular models. Apart from that project I’ve also built and maintained emission and route reporting for a freight airline using SQL Server and reporting services and developed/maintained reporting solutions for a bus transportation company.

For other industries, I’ll just do a quick list of what first comes to my mind…

• Part of a team developing a productized HR analytics solution using the SQL Server stack.
• For a consulting company, building a company wide used, replicated and load balanced reporting solution focusing on accounting, forecasting and project reporting.
• Multiple technical pre-sales and proof of concept cases with the technology stack being mostly the Microsoft/Azure data platform stack.
• Long term occasional DW/BI consulting gig for a customer in the consulting and accounting business. Working mostly with accounting, HR and projects reporting using SQL Server tools. Complex reporting needs and data models with varying user access requirements based on the data shown and selected role.
• Expanding existing QlikView reporting solutions and solving advanced calculation needs for a company in the construction industry.
• Lahti Ski Games mobile application development and project management for the 2015 and 2016 games. First built during my studies at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and later updated for a new look and features. Based on Angular, PHP and MySQL.

Background

I come from a vocational background, having studied electrics, electronics and telecommunications, before going to get a Bachelor of Engineering degree in software engineering. This might be one of the reasons I don’t see myself ever fully being in a role that does not include some hands-on doing. Now don’t get me wrong, I do like to wave my hands around. But I don’t like to pack my bags and leave others alone with the responsibility to implement the things I have designed. I think being nothing but “an architect” eventually leads to losing perspective on the things that matter, so I put on the developer hat to prevent that.

If we don’t count the few odd jobs that I had during my studies, those you can learn more about on LinkedIn, my career started at CGI as a Software Designer. There I was lucky enough to get my first touch into the world of data. Up until that point a database and the data within had just been a necessary evil in the background, which was not the main point of what I was building. So, I was a keen software engineer who loved doing the full stack of development work. Then I was turned, as I like to call it, to the dark side. It happened by chance, almost unknowingly, and I have to say that I am happy that it did.

As I was getting to know the data world at CGI, I had the pleasure of doing so within a brilliant team. Most importantly during that time I was lucky that our team contained more senior mentors, who took the time to explain. Sometimes this meant explaining something over and over again, taking me to the whiteboard, basically just hammering whatever information I was struggling to comprehend into my head. And once I had learned, I was also given responsibility. Within the few years I spent there, I had already learned much about SQL Server, data warehousing, report building, data visualizations and the importance of following set practices. During that time, I also started to realize my love for working with people. It initially sparked by chance, as I was made responsible of taking care of a few customers after a colleague left the building.

Time went by and I got the opportunity to see what it is like working for a smaller company. Having written that, I now realize that my jobs have taken me from a large multinational company down by a factor until I was on my own. So, I joined a hundred strong Finnish company Evolvit, which later was bought by Profit Software. First, I had the role of IT Consultant and later promoted to be a data platform architect and customer experience manager. There I got to experience the kind of freedom and responsibility that I did not know I was looking for. From the moment I started I was also put into the mentor shoes, which I hadn’t felt the weight of before on a similar scale. The number of hats I got to wear increased, and sometimes I maybe acquired a few too many hats to wear at the same time. This led me to the fact that having less things to focus on, and more time to focus on them, provides the best results for both my own wellbeing and the customer. I also got my introduction to the finance sector there, which made me notice that even as a consultant, getting to work longer periods in the same team for the same customer really has its benefits. Among other things it gives you the much-needed time to do things correctly for once. Five years went by, and I really enjoyed the ride. It felt like I was in the correct place, doing the right stuff.

Then sometime during the spring of 2021 I was given a bit of a kick (kudos ) to dig up some good ol’ dreams of mine. After lengthy consideration I decided to go after my somewhat ambitious objectives, and I moved into the “owners club”, as I like to call it. I founded Duuti in the fall of 2021. It is said that if you wait for the correct time, the time might never come. This certainly felt like one of those occasions.

Right now Duuti is a one man company. This will hopefully change in the near future!

Feel free to get in touch, I am usually open for a quick chat either over the interwebs or face-to-face over a cup of coffee or even lunch!