Timo Vilppu has been working at Arado for over ten years. We interviewed him about what has kept him with us for so long, how Arado shows up in his work, and what it's like to work as part of a client's team.
Good people have kept me here. That's probably been the main thing. Of course, when it comes to work, that alone isn't enough, and the other important part has been that the work itself has been interesting. Within the limits of your own skills, you get to do what you want with a great group of people. I've especially appreciated that we're not forced to rotate between clients. You can stay with the same client for a long time if you want to, as long as the client is happy.
Within the limits of your own skills, you get to do what you want with a great group of people.
The work with my current client has changed a lot over the years, and that has kept it interesting. At first I did more hands-on development, and now my work has shifted more towards managing the big picture. We all have broad roles in the team, and I've also tried to make sure that everyone in the team gets to do a wide variety of things.
The definite benefit of staying with one client for a long time is that you get to know both the business and the people. Every company has its own particularities, and even companies in the same industry can work in very different ways. When you work together for a long time, the people become familiar too, and that makes everyday work a lot more fun.
The definite benefit of staying with one client for a long time is that you get to know both the business and the people.
In my T-shirts, at least! It's become a running joke at the client: just how many Arado T-shirts can one person own?
Other than that, Arado is fairly invisible in my day-to-day work, and that's on purpose. The way I see it, when I'm at the client, I'm part of their team rather than an Arado consultant. I consciously try to avoid being in a separate, visible consultant role.
When I'm at the client, I'm part of their team.
In general, I think it's good to have a community behind you for support when you need it. For example, I've sometimes asked on Slack what others think about different things, and learned something new that way. At our joint events you also get to meet people face to face. On top of that, I use Arado's internal study days to develop my skills, and those are compensated.
Overall, I like the idea that I can influence Arado as a company if I want to. I've occasionally taken part in recruitment interviews, and if I were unhappy about something, it's good to know I could have a say in it.
I like the idea that I can influence Arado as a company if I want to.
You have to enjoy working with people, at the very least. That's often the most important part of our work. Of course, you also need to be able to build things with the right technologies, but that's only step 2. First you need to figure out what you're actually building, and that takes a lot of dialogue with the client. Without it, you can end up building something completely useless, even if the technical implementation is spot on.
Talking things through is also a great way to filter your own ideas – after all, about 90% of them are usually pretty bad! By discussing with others, we can work out which ideas are worth pursuing, and then we have a better idea of what to do next, together.
First you need to figure out what you're actually building, and that takes a lot of dialogue with the client.
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