Interview with Jonathan Pere, the trainee of Elinar
Jonathan Pere came to accomplish his training at Elinar in a very unusual world situation. The corona pandemic had driven most people to work remotely, closed schools, and forced Jonathan to fly to Finland ahead of time from the United States, where he was in a student exchange. Nevertheless, Jonathan’s internship at Elinar started as planned in May 2020.
The fascinating field of technology
Jonathan, a computer science student at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK), received a notification about Elinar’s open internship in his email. A small IT company from Pori woke up Jonathan’s interest, as he was looking for not only coding experience but also a summer job. The internship at Elinar suitably met the needs of the third-year student. “I was surprised to find an interesting IT company from Pori. It’s great that not all companies in this industry are just in the metropolitan area of Finland”, Jonathan ponders.
The young man’s interest in technology has been visible from an early age. “I’ve enjoyed since childhood playing with computers, but also electronics and new technical innovations have always interested me. Once, for example, I built a drone myself”, Jonathan describes. “Coding, however, can be called my passion. It has been a pleasure to study and work with it”, he continues with a smile.
A coder needs language skills
At Elinar, Jonathan has got into the real work of coding. “In practice, my job has been code development on the front-end area”, he explains. According to Jonathan, working in a small company has its advantages. “At Elinar, we use general programming languages such as Java and JavaScript. For using them you can easily find support online – so I’ve learned a lot”, Jonathan tells. However, the process is slow. “It takes time to learn every language well, even though their principles are very similar. In the beginning, I would like to be able to master at least one programming language very well – to be fast and efficient with it.”
As an international company, Elinar’s official language is English. It’s typical in the IT sector, as customer companies or their key personnel do not always speak Finnish. However, Jonathan has got a wealth of experience using English as an everyday language, because he was an exchange student in the United States. “It was really helpful to study my field, data processing, in English. At the same time, my language skills got better in general, as I got more courage to speak in public”, Jonathan tells. “Exchange study had been my dream for several years.”
Internship at Elinar despite the corona
Although the coronavirus revolutionized everyday lives in the Spring of 2020, fortunately, it didn’t prevent Jonathan’s internship at Elinar. When the student arrived at the workplace, the number of people he met at the office was only much smaller than usual. “I received an introduction to the company’s operations from CEO Mikko Hörkkö as usual. Likewise, my supervisor, Taija Weckström was often able to be here”, Jonathan thanks. The place of the internship was Elinar’s office at the Expertise Center BEPOP in Pori, Finland. There were only a few people during the Spring – the rest worked remotely.
At Elinar, employees are still working partly remotely, but little by little Jonathan has met more and more colleagues face-to-face. “Yes, it’s easier to ask advice from a next room when needed, than wait for replies to messages through Teams”, Jonathan admits. However, the partial silence in the workplace, caused by corona and the holiday season, has also been a good thing for the optimistic coder. “After I got my work to roll, I have been able to focus on coding totally”, he tells happily.
Fast into working life
Jonathan has enjoyed his internship at Elinar. “I could see myself working here in the future part-time alongside my studies, if only I have enough time”, he ponders. Jonathan’s goal is a career in the IT field, and the student from Eurajoki, Finland, could imagine staying in the Satakunta area, too. “Fortunately, this sector has not suffered badly because of the corona – employment opportunities are still good”, he sees.
In his free time, Jonathan enjoys motorcycles. It’s a good counterbalance to working with computers. “I like to repair my own bikes, but, of course, riding is the best part of this hobby”, says the young man who enjoys motorcycling in his childhood scenery with his friends. Jonathan has a dream to make a trip to Norway someday, but he’s waiting for the right moment for that. For the time being, his focus is on a summer job and graduating from school.
“I can easily recommend Elinar as the place of an internship.”
At the end of summer, Jonathan’s internship at Elinar ends and he returns to school for the final year – either concretely or remotely. Jonathan describes his internship as an instructive, and he thinks the place is comfortable. “Elinar is a competent and compact company – good things come in a small package”, he laughs. “I can easily recommend Elinar to local students as the place of an internship”, Jonathan promises with a smile.
