Martin Vana: A career shaped by initiative, equality, and support

- I tend to say that if you don’t ask for something, you won’t get it. There are plenty of opportunities at Tieto, and even though managers are very supportive and want you to grow, it helps to show initiative and take action.

Martin started his career at Tieto as a Operational Technical Team Lead early in 2022. After a couple of months, he was recommended for a project where a new client was to be onboarded.

- As a team we faced many challenges and hurdles but overcame them and to this day the client is very happy with us.

As a result of this successful onboarding of a new client, Martin was given the opportunity to rise through the ranks.

- Good work pays off, as I was given the role of Delivery Executive. I was pleasantly surprised, as I didn’t expect to get that opportunity at such a young age.

Equal opportunities and a flat culture that encourages growth

Martin attributes this opportunity to Tieto’s focus on creating equality.

- I’m proof that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. Equal opportunities extend beyond age, and there are many examples of a good balance between managers when it comes to gender.

Equality doesn’t just stop at the positions you can reach; it’s engrained in the culture.

- I believe it has to do with the Nordic heritage of the company. The structure is very flat, and anyone can talk to the senior management. That’s a refreshing alternative to more corporate and bureaucratic companies I have worked for previously.

Two positive traits of this culture is idea generation and collaboration.

- I think you’re more creative if you know that you can pitch your ideas directly to senior management rather than having it killed on its way up the corporate ladder. To my experience we are also very good at teamwork, something I attribute to the flat structure. There’s no destructive rivalry.

A varied role that blends business, technology, and customer work

Martin thrives in his role, much because it’s varied beyond what he thought was possible.

- It’s wonderful to work with both business issues, technical projects, people management and customer relationships. I get to use the whole diversity of my skills.

When asked what he enjoys the most, Martin highlights the customer interaction.

- I love finding a good dialogue with customers. The traditional view is that customer relationships are an interaction between two opposing parties negotiating. I approach it in a somewhat different way, where I strive to build a long-term relationship that is mutually beneficial. It’s a much more fruitful way of working, and much more pleasant.

Although the customer interaction is what engages him the most, Martin hasn’t lost interest in the technical sides of the job.

- I really enjoy the projects where we help customers in transformation projects. I like to pitch in my technical ideas as well sometimes however usually needlessly thanks to our world class technical teams. Lately I’m focusing on Cloud hybridization projects and so-called next gen deliveries.

Growth, freedom and supportive colleagues at Tieto

When asked why he would recommend Tieto to others, Martin is quick to mention the room to grow – something he’s has profited from himself.

- You can move from the service desk to become an incident manager and then service delivery manager, or perhaps start as a network intern and then progress to a network engineer and later a network architect. The opportunities are plenty.

Another positive side of working at Tieto is the freedom you get.

- If you do your job well, no one will micro-manage you. Nothing kills my motivation faster that someone always looking over my shoulder. Here you can do as much as you can as best as you can. You can have a real, personal impact, which I cherish highly.

His colleagues is another big plus.

- Colleagues within Tieto are amazing. The technical teams are experts within their fields, and we can truly rely on them together with the business support teams and everybody participating on the deliveries. I have yet to meet somebody who isn’t trying to help you as a first instinct.

Lastly, Martin mentions the work-life-balance.

- The work-life-balance is great, and it’s up to you where and when you work – within reason. I for one work mostly remotely, which is a huge plus seeing that I became a father a couple of months ago. Being able to see my child as much as possible is something I value, and at Tieto I can do just that.