There are over 150 steps to ascend to the 7th floor and reach the Sievo HQ’s office in Helsinki. Trust me, I’ve counted them. (Well okay, there are two elevators too.) The first day when I entered the office, I went “wow”, there were no sights of Flexim or any kind of time tracking system. Thought that either the management team really trusts the employees here or these Sievo people are truly honest (turns out it’s both). As I was making my way to the kitchen to meet other new-joiners, I got a chance to get acquainted with the firm’s VP and co-founder Sammeli. A warm and laid-back lad with that smiley face all over and loyal to our dress code: wearing a company hoodie. Apparently, at Sievo people tend to prefer hoodies to suits. Also, I noticed that there were no specific rooms or offices for management people, no ivory tower detected. They might just wander around the office like any other Sievonian in any which place, ready to fire up their laptop.
During the first two weeks, I guess we were supposed to absorb basically everything about Sievo, from all the practicalities to even the deepest level of our core product features. Must admit, don’t really remember every single detail anymore (I hope our People team doesn’t read this post). Though I believe those are still somewhere in the back of my mind.
There were six of us, Summer Academy new-joiners. Couple of us were allocated into Data Services team and rest were in Sales. The Data Services team were to take care of existing customers’ processes and related, whereas Sales team did screening and scouting of prospects. My colleague Niko already told about his summer experience. Landing a position in data management team was a perfect way to best understand Sievo’s business and what we really do. You will gain a comprehensive understanding of what kind of data do we handle here, what kind of operations and dependencies different customers have across industries, and what is the real value we deliver to customers. Soon after joining the team, we received responsibility of bunch of customers’ processes (which in fact, we’re still responsible for). Was really stunning to realize that if you wish, you’ll get a full ownership of something, was it about a project or couple of processes to be handled.
One of the coolest things during the summer was that we had rotations between different teams. Because of that everyone had an equal opportunity to get to know other teams’ tasks and work. During the rotations, we for example conducted a market analysis for Sales and Marketing team as well as the Sales team got hands-on SQL and data management assignments. On top of it all, during the summer we were accepted to join customer meetings, both at customer premises and office, and even business trips abroad. Those were really indications of trust and devotion from the team.
Already from the very first day at Sievo, you can feel truly welcomed to the community, seasoned with honest and open communication culture that encourages everyone to exceed themselves. At Sievo we can underline the phrase “work hard, play hard”. Among all the work-related things, of course at Sievo we had summer outings and party times, additionally every Thursday there’s a common coffee break at the office where people could celebrate for example their birthday, anniversary, or graduation, you name it. On Fridays, we have Friday beers, meaning that the office fridge will be filled with beer and other beverages. If you are so lucky and decide to extend your stay at Sievo after summer, you might get as lucky as us and go to a company trip abroad (of course flights and accommodation are on the house).At Sievo, people really care about you, they are eager to listen, share their time and undivided attention.
You can become a procurement superhero here. You are enabled to learn, to constantly absorb information, to quickly adapt new concepts and gain knowledge, or even to grow as a person and to develop all the characteristics you are. Consider learning at Sievo like a story. A story of which you’re the writer and get to write your own story (I really prefer using the word “story” rather than “career”). The time at Sievo is like a story with numerous vivid plot twists and forks in the road waiting to be unraveled. And don’t worry, if you’re more of a person needing a little steering, you’ll surely get it. For those more adventurous, I guarantee no compass needed here, you’ll find a way.
In the end, no matter whatever storyline you may choose along the way, you’re always at least twice as experienced as before ascending those 150-something steps you took on the first day. It’s up to you what you want to write at Sievo, I’m still writing mine…
PS. By the way, we happen to be looking for new Sievo Summer Academians, so apply today and write your own success story!