Meet some of us: Pekko, Research Scientist

Meet Some of US; Pekko Tuominen
Working at Vaisala

“Every day is an intellectual challenge”

I first heard about Vaisala when I was looking for a summer job back in 2014 and came across the Giant Leap program with a project about machine learning. At the time, I was studying mathematics in the University of Helsinki and even though the project description did not explicitly look for a mathematician, I decided to apply anyway and – against my expectations – got accepted. Thanks to this experience, my first message to you is: have the courage to do bold things and never underestimate yourself!

The Giant Leap experience was challenging and rewarding, and I enjoyed it greatly. After the summer, I went back to school to finish my studies and then returned to Vaisala in the summer of 2015 as a master’s thesis worker to study machine learning and machine vision. After finishing my thesis later that year, I was hired in my current role of Research Scientist in the sensing technologies team of our Weather R&D department.

In my position, I follow the scientific publications of my field and develop algorithms that Vaisala can use in weather monitoring applications. Sometimes I implement existing methods and at times, when no suitable solution is readily available, I must come up with a solution of my own. This means that every day is an intellectual challenge and that I constantly find myself working outside my comfort zone. These constant challenges ensure that I learn new things all the time and provide an excellent opportunity for me to grow professionally every day. And yes, at times these demands can feel like a burden, but at the end of the day, I would not have it any other way.

Vaisala is a great employer, hands down. The general atmosphere at Vaisala can be described inspiring, encouraging and fair. We produce state of the art instruments that make a real difference in the lives of people around the world. In addition, my colleagues are really smart and fun to work with. Therefore, my second message to you is: yes, you definitely should apply to work in Vaisala!

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