Kaisa and Timo shared their stories about working at Vaisala as eLearning project manager and Scientist. Both of them originally joined Vaisala as Giant Leap interns and have continued their Vaisala path after the summer trainee program. Take a look at Kaisa’s and Timo’s paths below to get to know the career opportunities in the leading company for environmental and industrial measurements!

Vaisala employs over 1,400 professionals in 14 countries, and serves customers in more than 150 countries each year. Vaisala’s technologies provide information on weather and other environmental phenomena for meteorologists, road authorities, wind farms, and tightly controlled industrial environments, for example.

Kick start to a career as a Giant Leap intern

Timo: I have worked for Vaisala since June 2013; first as a Giant Leap intern, and currently as a scientist in sensor research of Controlled Environment business area. I studied physical chemistry as my major in the University of Jyväskylä, and I started looking for job opportunities when I was about to graduate. I found out that Vaisala offered a R&D project similar to what I had done in my Thesis projects, concerning the development of next generation optical gas sensors. During the summer 2013 I made background research, measurements and computer simulations to get a better understanding of suitable solutions for a new sensor. As a scientist my work includes both research work and advising my team, so the expert role is becoming more and more significant in my position.

Kaisa: I work at Vaisala as a project manager in HR team, and I am responsible of our internal global e-learning network environment and it’s development. I already got to know Vaisala as a Giant Leap summer intern in 2011, when I developed a new concept for sales personnel orientation, which combines e-learning with face-to-face training. During that summer I worked closely with human resources, sales operations and Vaisala’s airport segment. I learned a lot, for example, about Vaisala’s business and customers, and I was able to develop my skills in project management and deepen my knowledge in

various HR processes, particularly concerning competence development. I also got to know the wonderful people, and learned a lot about my strengths and development areas, so I can sincerely recommend Giant Leap program.

Timo: Giant Leap was a learning experience for me; besides working with my project and learning a great deal, I got to know like-minded people who are active, motivated and take responsibility. I also got to know Vaisala on a larger scale through other interns’ projects, and gained more in-depth understanding of the company as a whole.

Right attitude, taking responsibility and readiness for changes more important than prior studies and work experiences

Timo: In the big picture, general knowledge learned through my studies has supported me a lot in my work. Yet, what is more important, is that as a university student you are able to take responsibility and look for further information and absorb it independently. This means that you can rely on your own competence, and you don’t have to know everything beforehand. When you are given challenging tasks, you are motived to study more, and you can also tell about your own areas of interest, which is part of Vaisala’s work culture.

Kaisa: In my current project manager’s position, I maintain and develop e-learning environment meant for Vaisala’s own internal use, as well as for representatives and for customer training. Working with different people, understanding the business environment in which we are operating, and coordinating the co-operation as smoothly as possible, are all integral part of my job. In my job it is also very important that you are ready for changes and want to do things in a different way.

Timo: The business oriented mindset is something which has taught me to think about the customer’s needs; when I understand the big picture and the decisions made in the strategic level, I am able to think out-of-the-box and concentrate on the problem based on the situation. It’s about using your common sense, while in the university you have to work in line with strict measurement rules.

Kaisa: I hold a master’s degree in adult education, and in addition I have studied the Finnish language and work psychology. I feel that in particular pedagogical studies and my previous work experience in HR and e-learning have given me competence for planning different training concepts and web-based tools. One of the most important things in my job is, however, the right kind of attitude; the desire to get things done and take ownership of what you are doing. Here in Vaisala, already as a young professional you are given challenging work assignments, if you are only willing to take responsibility.

Learning new while working with daily routines

Timo: My work days consist of performing measurements, analyzing results and working closely with my own team and R&D. Daily work for me is at the same time learning which happens constantly, while research work is continuous experimenting. Besides studying, I have also learned a lot outside my own expertise area by following my colleagues. Here at Vaisala on-the-job-learning is really encouraged, which is supported by the facilities with open-space-offices, and the low hierarchy among the employees. With a curious and proactive attitude you are able to succeed and also develop your competence to the direction you prefer.

Kaisa: My work days are very different, but typically my day includes a variety of meetings relating to the progress of projects, co-operation and communication with partners and experts from the various units, such as product managers. In my work, I have to be able to combine a wide range of information from different sources, and understand the nature of the organization in which we operate, and that what kind of resources there are available. My way is to do things as simply as possible, in order them to be effective. I also always try to think of things in terms of usability and on customer’s point of view. People from various educational backgrounds are able to work in this kind of position, as long as you are eager to learn new things, enjoy independent and challenging work, and stand behind your work!

The application period for Giant Leap 2014 in Finland, UK and US has started. If you are interested, go to www.vaisala.com/giantleap for more details on project contents, requirements and instructions on how to apply, and follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/VaisalaGiantLeap to get the latest info on the next summer projects and to stay in the loop of the recruitment process!

This blog post discusses the African climate that we endured during our 54-participant Aalto in Africa trip to Southern Africa. Our journey started with a one-week stay in the Zambian wilderness at the Kafue National Park. From there we continued to Victoria Falls in Livingstone and furthermore via Johannesburg to our final destination, Cape Town. Vaisala was generous enough to give us a Hand-Held Humidity and Temperature Meter HM40, which was used to measure the climate during our stay at the Chunga Scout Camp at Kafue.

The weather was not the first thing in my mind when we travelled to Southern Africa. Upon our arrival, it turned out to be rather an important factor in our daily lives, though. During our stay in Zambia, the sun was shining hot and bright twelve hours a day – this led us to take various precautions when protecting ourselves from the sun.

As opposed to Finnish seasons, Zambia has only three of them; the rainy, the hot dry and the cool dry seasons. The coldest time of the year is during the cool dry season which usually begins in May and lasts until August. This mainly corresponds to winter and the highest daily temperatures stay in the low end of 20’s (Celsius). Upon arrival of the hot dry season, the temperatures begin to rapidly rise and, between September and October, the temperatures stay in the 30’s. From November to April, the Zambian landscape is colored by rains and thunderstorms which cause the flora to blossom and everything gets green again.

An elephant drinking invigorating water from the Kafue river. The dry season got all the animals to wander closer to the river.

Temperature and humidity measurements with Vaisala HM40 during a typical day at the Scout Camp.

Our visit to Zambia was dated at the end of the dry season. The Zambian savannah was extremely dry and at the same time, hot. The dry season is perhaps the best time to spot animals, since all of them have ascended to the Kafue river to drink. We spotted several elephant families near the river followed by impalas, lions, leopards and baboons. The river swarmed with hippos and crocodiles along with rich African bird flocks. Most of the African animals are nocturnal and stay in the shade for the most of the daytime. For example, the hippos ashore at night when they start their nightly dinner. Also leopards and lions prefer to capture their prey at night.

As did the animals feel more comfortable during the off-hours, so did we. The early few hours in the morning (from 6 to 8) felt comfortable, but after that the temperature started rising rapidly and soon reached its highest point which was around 35 degrees during our stay. This felt quite uncomfortable and usually led us to spend the hottest hours in the shade. Sun lotion and protective hats were commonly used under the burning sun. The most noticeable effect the dry air had was some participants’ occasional nose bleeds. The sun set unbelievably quickly followed by the rapidly cooling air.

Eager Peter measuring the climate in Cape Town.

Emil and Emilia investigating the temperature of the sunset by the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Town.

Vaisala gave us a Hand-Held Humidity and Temperature Meter HM40 for our everyday measurement needs. As you can see from the measurements made with HM40, the daily temperature was at its highest around noon, when the sun was at the zenith. As stated above, also the relative humidity of the air was at its lowest at that time. For reference, the recommended relative humidity in households is around 25–55 percent.

P.S. We absolutely had to build a sauna in the savannah because – hey, why not? We were really looking forward to this since the day had been full of action including dusty safaris and exhausting workshops. The building process included a bunch of wooden poles and lots of plastic wrap we had bought with us from Finland. The poles acted as frames for the makeshift plastic wrap walls. For the sauna stove (kiuas), we used a turbostove that we had brought with us.

 There’s no combination like sunny weather and gentle ocean breeze.

Two Zambian scouts measuring the air temperature and humidity with Vaisala’s HM40 device in front of our plastic wrap sauna.

Everything seemed promising when we finally got to heat up the sauna; the temperature was rising steadily along with the sunset. Unfortunately, on the first cast of water to the hot rocks, we noticed that the whole building leaked like a sieve. Vaisala’s HM40 was also used to measure the temperature of our beloved hut. The highest measurement was somewhere around 37 degrees Celsius. Luckily our African guests didn’t care about the heat and wanted to bathe with us anyway.

 There were also former Vaisala Giant Leapers participating. (From left) Veera, Peter and Maiju.

More info on our trip at aaltoinafrica.com

Greetings from former Vaisala Giant Leapers,

Peter, Veera and Maiju