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Head of software development Arho Huttunen

Arho Huttunen started as Fluent’s head of software development in July. Arho, who has worked in versatile tasks in the field, hopes to raise the job satisfaction of Fluent’s software developers to the top of the field in Joensuu.

Arho Huttunen, who started at Fluent in early July, knew what to expect when he joined Fluent’s work community: Arho, who acquired his previous work experience in the field as a team lead at Nordea and Abloy and as an ICT architect at Fastroi, had has time to get to know the operating methods and hierarchy of large companies in depth, so the move to a smaller ICT company would be a change in many ways.

“It certainly has its pros and cons – the company provides a framework to work within, but I pretty much have free hands to go do things. The job description is not as limited as in larger companies, so the opportunities for influence are wider. In a small group, you also manage to keep in close touch with the work you do on a daily basis, because the hierarchy is lower”, Arho Huttunen thinks.

In a small group, you manage to keep in close touch with the work you do on a daily basis, because the hierarchy is lower.

Arho’s title, head of software development, is completely new at Fluent.

“Fluent has two software development teams, and my job now is sort of to look after both and try to develop their ways of working. Fluent has not had technical leadership in this way before, and clearly there was a need for it now. In this position, I also act as a link between the developers and the product manager”, says Arho.

However, Arho emphasizes that his role is more of a coaching role than a managing role.

“In this job description, you must be able to understand what the problems are and use that to steer things on the right track – but without stipulating that this is how things should go now. I have already seen the industry so widely that I have noticed that the problems in different companies are often not unique, but rather universal.”

Arho Huttunen hopes to continue Fluent’s already started line of converging software development and sales and marketing and increasing the team spirit.

For example, in software development, it is not enough to be technically competent, it is also important to understand the industry better.

“I would like to build a bridge between different departments and strengthen the idea that this work is done together. For example, in software development, it is not enough to be technically competent, it is also important to understand the industry better.”

Arho also emphasizes the importance of employee satisfaction. He hopes that the developer experience will rise to a new level at Fluent – and the goal is nothing more or less than Joensuu’s top spot, at least at first.

“I would like the employees to really have fun, and for the feeling of urgency to disappear from work. When things work and things are done with quality, flawlessness kind of comes along with it and things start rolling naturally”, Arho concludes.