About me

Hello there, my name is Arttu. I was born and raised in Finland but by chance ended up in Spain, where I'm currently located in Barcelona. Majority of my non-Finnish colleagues call me R2, so they don't have to write, or even worse, pronounce my name with double consonant. The rest just call me Arthur straight away.

My current role at work is Order to Cash Subject Matter Expert and I spend 90% of my working hours with Robotic Process Automation (RPA). I am product owner of a RPA project and part of an admin team that manages the systems, credentials and documentation related to RPA. Additionally, I carry out process improvement projects with internal and external stakeholders. I am developing automated flows with MS Power Automate.

I started to gain an interest in informatics while getting introduced into RPA. After a few basic online programming courses I decided to apply to a bachelor's degree program in ICT to deepen my knowledge and to learn new skills. Moreover, I hold a master's degree in Public Management and wrote my thesis on Project Management. Slowly but sure.. well slowly I'm also improving my Spanish skills by going out and talking with people.

In the future I wish to work in a position in which my hands-on experience, theoretical knowledge and technical skills can bring added value to the team. On a personal level my goal is to gain more knowledge in programming in order to be able to carry out front and back-end development. Recently I have gained a strong interest in Cyber Security which I consider a possible career path in the future, in addition to Full-Stack Development, that I find really fascinating. Yet, my strongest competence at the moment is RPA.

Profile picture

Knowledge

Apps & Languages

Robotic Process Automation

I started my RPA journey with ProcessRobot from Softomotive (later acquired by Microsoft). Currently I'm using Microsoft Power Automate to develop flows in order to automate business processes. I've planned and carried out relatively complicated automations that include data extraction and data input from/into multiple applications, along with error handling, lists, loops, web automation, PDF extraction and SQL queries. In total I have 3 years of experience with RPA.

While planning the automations I also had to consider associated business controls and risks for the processes. I've completed level 1 foundation training for UiPath in their academy but since I'm not using UiPath on a daily basis at work I have decided to keep the focus on Power Automate. Nevertheless, I am sure that I can achieve good level on any RPA software relatively quick since the logic is all the same.

Programming

This website has been created with HTML5 and CSS (including some simple scripts with JS). I'm still at a starting phase with learning JavaScript but improving my skills is the next high priority target that I have. Moreover, I am able to write simple programs with Python as demonstrated in this example project which was a voluntary course assignment at the Uni.

I can execute basic commands in Ubuntu (e.g. user, group, and file permissions) and I am familiar with using Git Bash and Markdown. Recently I have learned how to plan database structures and how to use SQL queries. Currently I am doing a course related to datanetworks.

Project Management

I wrote my thesis on Project Management as I feel that the so called "planning based" view of project management is highly problematic in a rapidly changing environment. At my current workplace we're implementing an agile approach in RPA development. Additionally, presentations and trainings are something that I do on a regular basis for the whole Centre.

Nowadays I am using Azure DevOps as a backlog management tool to store received inputs and ideas and to assign new projects to the team. As it is highly similar to GitHub/GitLab I am using it also to manage sprints in my own projects.

Applications

I am using SAP applications as a part of my daily routine at work. As a natural continuum I've also executed a lot of automation with SAP. Moreover, I'm frequently using Microsoft applications in my daily work and I'm using Excel in an advanced manner. Below is a summary of apps that I've been using professionally or with studies:

Languages

At present my main focus is to improve my Spanish skills. As a side effect I've lost my grip with Swedish a bit but I'm confident that I can pick it up again in case it is required. English is my main working language, but I have excellent Finnish written skills. With Slovene I could probably order a beer but that's pretty much it. In the future I wish to learn Catalan as well.

Work experience

Education

2018 | Xerox | Barcelona, Spain

I started out as a Query Specialist in Barcelona Shared Service Centre in March 2018. I quickly adapted into new work environment and took over customer administration tasks for Finnish market. My main target was to solve customer queries related to contractual issues.

After a year working with queries I was transferred into Billing team where I was assigned the role of Billing Specialist for Finnish market. I took over back-up tasks for other Nordic countries as I presented attention to detail and ability to learn new tasks in a fast pace. In 2019 I took my first steps in RPA as I was invited to join the team.

In February 2020 I got promoted to Subject Matter Expert after an internal application process. Initially my main tasks were to coach specialists in Query team and to participate in development projects in the Centre. As I rapidly increased my knowledge with RPA I shifted my focus towards automation and became part of an admin team. Currently I am responsible for managing the backlog for the RPA project as well as conducting quality assurance and sampling for the Query team.

2016 | Finnish Immigration Service | Helsinki, Finland

I did a traineeship at the Nationality Unit. My tasks mostly included data entry, reporting and customer service tasks. I served internal and external customers via telephone and e-mail in Finnish, Swedish and English.

I also planned and carried out a project related to service by publication. Another project that I participated in consisted of retrieving information about citizenship laws in other countries in order to keep the law database up do date.

2014 & 2015 | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland | Helsinki, Finland

I spent two summers working as a summer employee at the Unit for Consular Assistance. I got good feedback after the first summer in 2014 and was asked to return the following summer.

I took care of general office administration and administrative tasks (finance, travel management, meeting preparations) and gave guidance to customers on travel safety and consular matters in Finnish, Swedish and English via telephone and e-mail. I also requested official certificates, documents, and address information from foreign authorities.

2013 | Embassy of Finland | Stockholm, Sweden

I worked five months as a trainee in the embassy's consulate. It was an exciting experience since it was the first time that I lived and worked outside of Finland.

I handled passport applications and made independent decisions whether all conditions were met to obtain a passport. I also served customers at the counter and via telephone and e-mail in Finnish, Swedish and English and assisted with event arrangements.

2021 | JAMK University of Applied Sciences | Jyväskylä, Finland

I'm enrolled in bachelor's degree program in Information and Communications Technology. As I'm working full time I've decided to take my time with the courses and not to burn myself out.

During the first academic year I wish to complete most of the fundamental courses. So far all the courses that I've completed have been really useful and I've been able to apply the knowledge directly to my works tasks (as an example I've managed to get an approval to use Azure DevOps for project management in our Centre and it has turned out to be really useful for my colleagues as well).

2018 - 2020 | University of Vaasa | Vaasa, Finland

I hold a master's degree in Public Management from the School of Management. I wrote my thesis "How to expect the unexpected? Boundaries of rational planning in projects" with an object to gain insights on how the ideal of rational behavior appears in project planning and what implications it has on evaluation of project success.

My supervisors gave me a permission to conduct the empirical part of the thesis in the workplace and thus I carried out the interviews at the office. My minors included Social and Health Management and Swedish language. I had an interest for Swedish due to my traineeship in Stockholm in the past.

2014 - 2018 | University of Vaasa | Vaasa, Finland

I hold a bachelor's degree in Public Management from the School of Management. I did my minors in International Studies and Public Law.

In spring 2017 I spent a semester as an exchange student in Ljubljana, Slovenia as a part of the International Studies. On the side of travelling around the region I completed European Union courses in two faculties and also took part in an intensive course of Slovene before the semester.

2011 - 2014 | Oulu University of Applied Sciences | Oulu, Finland

I was enrolled in Judicial and Administrative BBA program. I completed 157 ECTS credits and did a traineeship in Stockholm as a part of the studies.

During the time I was mostly working as a cashier (approx. 30hrs a week) and looking for a Uni degree that I would be motivated to study in. Thus, later on I switched to Public Management studies but all the acquired BBA knowledge has been really useful in the long run.

Interests

Photos

In my free time I like to exercise by going to the gym or going running by the beach. Every once in a while I also like to play badminton or go snowboarding. Playing guitar is something that I really enjoy, and didn't we all want to be rock stars when we were teenagers? I'm not that picky with music styles but since I'm from Finland it's my duty to like heavy metal and I'm sincerely fulfilling that duty.

I like to read and some of the most recent books that I've read are:

I also like to listen podcasts and some of my current favorites are:

It's a bit of a cliché but I like travelling (I don't have that mentioned in my Instagram bio though). Trying out different beers and visiting small breweries is also something that I enjoy, although I'm not a huge fan of IPA's, APA's or any other beverages disguised as a beer.

Contact methods

Contact details

The easiest way to contact me is by email or via LinkedIn. I haven't shared my telephone number due to security concerns (and due to not wanting to receive any bot spam calls) — even though it is relatively easy to just "Google it out". I am checking my email on a daily basis so feel free to drop a message any time!

I am also on some social media platforms but I prefer to keep my private accounts private.

Arttu E. 2022