Whoseday is back and today we have a chance to spend it together with Design Lead Erkka Puusti!

Erkka is a solution designer, a facilitator, and a creative technologist, with an emphasis on the creative side. His focus is on user-centric design and development, and in Agile teamwork facilitation.

Where do you come from?

From the kitchen! A cup of coffee before starting the day’s work. Recently my travels have mainly focused inside the walls of my home and some random trips outside to the wilderness.

But if we talk more seriously and from a work perspective then I have been working with design, technology, and consulting more or less since 2006. During this journey, I have had the chance to work with many interesting challenges and projects. I am a designer, a facilitator, and a developer, but if I should combine all of that in one, then I would really much like to use the title “Creative Technologist”.

Although if you ask my kids that what I do, they will tell you “dad draws computer screens and plays with Legos at work”.

Why Zure as an employer?

I was in a situation where I started to think that maybe it’s time for some new challenges. Multiple of my ex-coworkers had moved to Zure and told me a lot of good things about the company. I ended up talking with the CEO, Sakari Nahi. Together we realized that my interest in design and developing design practices was a good fit for Zure’s needs. Also, organizational culture really matched… And here we are!

‍ You have started at Zure during Covid-19. Was it difficult to get to know your co-workers and actually start working?

Sure it is slightly more challenging to get to know people when everyone is mainly remote and working on their own projects. But after working many years in global projects with people all over the world, I have come accustomed to working remotely and getting to know people via electronic means.

Where do you get strength for your work week?

Routines are really important to me and help to balance my life. In general easy routines help ease the daily cognitive load and make mental room for other things. Especially when working from home, small routines help to separate work and free time for me.

On top of this naturally good friends, family and hobbies help to cope with almost any day-to-day challenges.

What is your totem animal? Why?

The Wolverine! It is a wise and cunning animal. Wolverine is ready to rise even against a bear to defend its own. Something about this northern, small animal just makes me smile.

Your new (or old) covid-19 hobby?

When I was younger, I liked to draw. But at some point, it just faded away for many years. But now especially during Korona times, I have started to draw more again. My colleague also got me excited about electrical drawing and the app Procreate. As an example, I took a poster for the old animate movie Akira and copied it with a slight Zure twist.

New job?

• Azure Developer / Architect
• Azure Consultant
• Azure Security Expert