Introducing #AtoZfellows: Mika

Who are you

I’m Mika Luostarinen ("milu"), and I’ve been in the software industry my entire life. I started coding on 8-bit microcomputers a long time ago and have witnessed the industry's evolution almost from its early years. Over my long career, I’ve gathered many stories, experiences, and perhaps even a bit of wisdom about what works and what doesn’t.
What do you do at AtoZ, and how long have you been an #AtoZFellow? Broadly speaking, I do whatever moves the company forward, whether it's acquiring customers, marketing, developing internal culture, brainstorming, or anything that positively impacts the company, its customers, or its employees. As I write this, I’ve only been with the company for two weeks, so I still have a lot to learn.

How did you end up at AtoZ?

I ended up at AtoZ purely by chance. After completing a long-term software development project and securing customers for the product at my previous job, I took a long-planned break to focus on travel, sailing, restoring an old sailboat, and engaging in hobbies and associations. After this extended vacation, I had plans to return to working life at some point, and by sheer coincidence, I ran into one of our #AtoZFellows in front of the frozen food section at the Kirkkonummi Prisma. After a couple of lunch meetings (over Chinese food), the idea of joining a company with a slightly different culture started to take shape. Perhaps it was precisely AtoZ’s unique company culture that piqued my curiosity, along with the idea that my expertise might be useful here.

What’s the best part of your job?

I’ve always enjoyed work that involves improving things, products, or services. A well-crafted product or service concept solves customer problems and moves the world forward. Sometimes even a small improvement or innovation can bring significant benefits. I love brainstorming and developing things, and AtoZ has a company culture where individuals are given quite a bit of responsibility in their work. This suits me well since I’ve always been a self-directed "world improver."
Share a technical fun fact related to your field or something you’re excited about right now. Many moons ago, when hiring new developers for a large company, I used to ask them a tricky question: "Is it possible to swap the values of two variables without using a temporary variable?" The vast majority confidently answered, "No." But one guy from Oulu quietly and shyly responded, "Well, actually, it is possible, but it depends on the data type." I asked him how he would do it with integers. He smoothly explained how to perform an XOR swap and even suggested another method I hadn’t even thought of. I hired him immediately—but I also hired a few who had given the wrong answer. Nowadays, the XOR swap is fairly well known, so it has lost some of its trick question appeal.

If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?

Hmm, I tend to think deeply about things to truly grok them before making decisions or moves. I also take a long-term approach to everything I do. I always try to first look at things from a high-level perspective to understand the big picture before diving into the details.
What skill would you like to learn next? It would be really cool to learn to read, write, and speak a language called Universanto. This is a language designed for both humans and machines, making it especially easy to process with various NLP interpreters. The problem is that so far, only one word ("desvipetum") exists, and the rest of the vocabulary is missing—along with quite a few other essentials. So, it might take a while before I master this universal language. Universanto is not related to Esperanto, although both are synthetic languages. The language and its development have not yet been publicly announced.

What song best describes your life right now?

This is a tough one... maybe "Accede" by Carbon Based Lifeforms (from the album Derelicts).
If you could spend a day with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why? Perhaps the historical figure Moses. I would suggest adding two amendments to his "Ten Commandments": one stating, "Do not enslave or exploit," and another saying, "Seek truth and understanding." With these additions, the commandments would total 12—a number considered sacred in ancient Babylon.

What’s the best thing about AtoZ?

The goal of making the world a better place. Creating solutions and driving progress. Promoting innovation. The culture of experimentation and risk-taking. A great team.
Share a surprising fact about yourself that others might not know or guess. I am a Universalist. Not to be confused with the various other "universalists" out there—I represent and founded a completely new scientific-technological-humanist ideology. We are our own distinct group.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time? These days, mostly sailing, restoring an old boat, spending time in nature, reading, writing, traveling, and cycling. I also read extensively in the fields of science, technology, philosophy, geopolitics, and history.

If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?

Perhaps... a dolphin? Dolphins are quite intelligent, friendly, humorous, and playful, and they thrive in water. They’ve also been known to save sailors lost at sea. Water provides them with everything they need. I see some similarities there.
Finally, share your funniest work memory from AtoZ. Two weeks is a short time to gather many work memories, especially since I’ve spent most of it feeling a bit like an orphan in a remote office… but some of the random jokes thrown into the #random channel have made me chuckle alone. Hopefully, at some point, I’ll also start hearing the voices and laughter of others.