Business IT alumnus Samu graduated from HAMK at the end of 2013. Nowadays he works for Capgemini in Krakow, Poland. Capgemini is a French company which is specialized in consulting and outsourcing.
Internationalization began with exchange studies
Before his studies, Samu wasn’t particularly interested in creating an international career. In 2012 he got into a DIMA course which took two weeks and was held in Krakow. During this course Samu met interesting people from all over the world and became interested in international opportunities. After this course he applied as an exchange student to IT-Management course in Groningen, which is a city in the Netherlands. After the exchange he went for a work placement exchange to Spain for half a year. When he returned to Finland, he decided he would seek for employment abroad after graduation.
Living in Poland has been quite straightforward
Samu ended up to his current work when Capgemini sought Finnish speaking Service Desk agents to work in Krakow. Samu was familiar with the city and he already knew some people there. Also, living in Finland didn’t seem so tempting after he had spent a year abroad. That is why he applied the job in Capgemini and finally got the vacancy.
Samu says he has enjoyed living in Poland. At first there were some problems with the daily life because especially the senior citizens in Poland don’t speak English that well. But in the past years Samu has noticed a positive turn in this matter and he says nowadays you get along with English almost everywhere in the country.
Nice working atmosphere and competitive salary
According to Samu, in Poland salaries in the IT sector are high and because living is much cheaper than in Finland, you get along with the salary very well and you also have money for savings and travelling. And because Poland has a central location, it’s fast and inexpensive to travel to the nearest countries. Samu has also enjoyed working at Capgemini and he says the co-workers are very friendly towards the foreign employees and the work environment is more relaxed than in Finland.
Studies at HAMK formed a steady background for the international career
Samu considers that studying in HAMK was definitely useful for his international career. His background with IT studies made it possible to learn new tasks quickly and he already had a good know-how about new programs and techniques which they use at work daily. Samu highlights especially HAMK’s competent teachers and guidance that they gave during the studies. Samu also thinks HAMK’s students have a great chance to apply for an exchange because of the flexibility of studying.
For students who are interested in international career Samu would definitely recommend the option to go for an exchange. He also encourages to apply jobs abroad. International career is valued by employers and it’s easy to return to Finland if the life abroad isn’t what you expected.
