After 25 years, passion for the software industry is still there – Jan Tillander’s career story

Childhood passion turned into a career

Jan Tillander is a seasoned professional in the software industry with nearly 25 years of experience. His interest in the software industry began before graduating from Helsinki University of Technology as an automation engineer. However, his long career hasn’t diminished his enthusiasm for it—quite the opposite.

“Even after several years in the workforce, I still look forward to going to work in the morning. There are exciting things on our task list even now,” Jan says.

Jan is delighted that his hobby has become his job. His spark for the software industry ignited during childhood and later transformed into his profession.

“I’ve always enjoyed tinkering with computers, and being able to do that during work hours is fantastic. I hope my kids get into such a great career situation.”

Diverse work experience in various team setups

Working as a consultant and a software developer involves working independently and within different team structures. Throughout his career, Jan has had the opportunity to work on intriguing projects, including ones abroad. His work history includes years spent abroad developing WiMAX base station software in telecommunications.

“It was one of the biggest projects I’ve been a part of. There were over 200 software developers involved. Working in telecommunications in Düsseldorf was one of the toughest experiences in my career. The whole package made it tough: a new country, culture, and collaborative efforts.”

Over the years, Jan’s strengths have become social skills and communication, but the pandemic also posed challenges.

“I enjoy working face-to-face, so the sudden shift from collaborative work to working alone with headphones was quite a change. It’s nice to physically show things to team members when working in product development.”

However, technology has provided means for collaboration even while working remotely, enabling the team to solve problems together.

“It feels really good when brainstorming with the team and coming up with solutions together. It’s always surprising how strong the feeling is.”

The shift in work culture has affected Jan’s current team dynamics. In a global company, colleagues are scattered worldwide.

“We work with people in different time zones. It’s great that cooperation nowadays works through video connections.”

As a consultant in a Finnish international industrial equipment manufacturer

For the last eight years, Jan has been a consultant on projects for a Finnish international industrial equipment manufacturer. His time at Softability also involved six months in a spin-off company specializing in health technology, focusing on testing an MRI imaging device.

“In the health technology company, I was responsible for the entire software of the product, while working for the industrial equipment manufacturer has been different, involving more team collaboration.”

Currently, Jan works in a product development team.

“Working for this industrial equipment manufacturer has been diverse: coding, certain architectural responsibilities, and leading the team as a Scrum Master.”

As is customary, projects at the company have been lengthy. Jan has been involved in several projects during his years with this company. However, being a consultant for the same client doesn’t mean repetitive workdays or a lack of personal development opportunities.

“Within the team, we rotate tasks, such as who reviews and oversees. This brings variety to work and gives team members new experiences. If you don’t have experience leading a team, seeing that aspect is harder, and vice versa. This rotation of tasks brings a good perspective to the whole team.”

Diverse toolkit and mastery of regulations

With so many years of software development experience, Jan is familiar with various languages and technologies.

“Over the course of a long career, I’ve encountered all sorts of languages and environments. The strongest languages I use most frequently in everyday life are C, C++, C#, and Python.”

We work on significant projects in the medical and industrial fields. This means understanding different regulations in several projects, including the current assignment.

“When working with elevators, safety-related regulations must be considered. Although my team doesn’t work directly with the safety device, we have certain regulations related to safety measures.”