Wouldn’t it be interesting to be working on a project dealing with airplane landing gear one day, and be flying the next? For our Product Manager Teemu-Pekka Ahonen, working in robotics and continuously learning new things is something he values – but what else keeps him going?
Teemu-Pekka started at Fastems in 2006 as a summer trainee on the mechanical design team and has since been a fastemsian. “Uninterrupted life at Fastems”, as he describes. His summer was followed by writing a master’s thesis, and after graduating he continued working in robotics sales support. A few years later he moved to Product Manager’s position but continued working on general tasks in robotics. He didn’t have any exact plans of moving abroad, but if the opportunity came about, it was a card he wanted to see.
”In 2014 the chance to move to Issum occurred. It sounded nice and I decided to seize the opportunity. Simple as that.”
After moving to Issum, Teemu-Pekka has continued working in product management while taking part in making proposals every now and then.
”My everyday work is really interesting. There is some daily management, routines and a lot of ad hoc work, but I also get to work closely with our customers. Days are very versatile.”
Teemu-Pekka’s journey at Fastems has continued for some time now and one of the reasons for that is the attitude of fastemsians – “the way we do it”, as he describes.
”I’ve always worked with robots but there’s just not that many places where you get to work with them at this level. The versatility of this job also brings an extra dimension: I get to solve the customer’s problems and relive real pain points. It’s really rewarding to first listen to what the customer’s challenges are, and to then see how our decisions unravel to provide the key. Our solutions can have such a big meaning for our customers.”
General interest in technology and eagerness to learn diversely has been important for Teemu-Pekka. He describes how his position continuously gives him the chance to widen his know-how.
”The best thing about my job has always been getting to see how things are done in the world and how they are produced. We have an interesting and versatile customer segment and many of them represent the cutting-edge companies of their industry. I get to work in the heart of everything and gain behind-the-scenes insight on many things, like for example how airplanes are manufactured. You really learn to appreciate technology and you learn why some things are such critical components.”
”I have projects of all kinds. One day I’ll work on a project involving airplanes, and then I’ll spend another day with harvesters – You never know what you’ll learn, and that’s what keeps my work interesting. Maybe I’m just a traditional engineer who gets kicks from these things”, Teemu-Pekka laughs.
Read more from the Fastems People blog series