29 years in Finland: from Mexico City to Nokia
A career in Finnish IT, from ICL and the Nokia–Fujitsu joint venture to cyber security architecture.
In September 1997 I arrived in Finland from Mexico City. I knew the cold would be a challenge; I didn't know yet that I would build my whole career and my place in a community here. This is a short look back.
Before Finland
My first IT job was at the Mexican Ministry of Education (SEP), in the Youth Development and Welfare department. In 1996–1997 we built networks and ran projects to bring internet access to schools and youth communities. Looking back, it taught me something I still believe: technology is only worth something when it reaches people.
In Mexico I had also studied theatre and the arts, worked in Spanish dubbing and appeared in television productions. Standing on a stage turned out to be good practice for presenting architecture to a room full of engineers.
ICL, Weer@ and the Nokia years
In Tampere I joined ICL, in the Weer@ unit. That team became part of Nice Business Solutions, a joint venture between Nokia and Fujitsu. For more than a decade I worked as a Technical Architect on projects for Nokia, and later Nokia Siemens Networks and Itella: ENAP support, the Nokia Search Platform with Autonomy IDOL, manufacturing and data warehouse systems built with C, Tuxedo and Oracle, .NET and Java web applications, and SOA integrations with an enterprise service bus and Peppol e-invoicing.
From 2008 to 2013 I was also ICT & Security Manager of our Tampere office. That role pulled me more and more towards security, and I never looked back.
Fujitsu and security architecture
In 2013 my work moved to Fujitsu Finland. Among other things I worked on health IT services for the City of Tampere, and over the years my focus became identity and access management, authentication and secure architecture. Today I work as a Lead Security Architect, and I am excited about AI-assisted development and about preparing systems for post-quantum cryptography.
Along the way I have been honoured with the Fujitsu STARS Gold Award, a Fujitsu Excellence Award (Silver) and an ICL Invia Excellence Award (Bronze) in 2001.
Nokia, my home town
Finland gave me a career, but Nokia gave me a community. I have been active in local politics with the Nokia Greens and a candidate in every municipal election since 2008. I served for ten years on the board of the city's rental housing company Nokian Vuokrakodit, and as chairman of Asunto Oy Nokian Myllymatti. Today I serve the city as a trusted official for property transactions.
What I work for in politics, accessibility, inclusion and services close to people, comes from the same idea I learned at SEP: services are only worth something when they reach everyone.
Three languages, one home
I live my life in Spanish, English and Finnish, often all three in the same day. After 29 years, Finland is home, Nokia is my town, and Mexico is always in my heart.
Kiitos, Suomi. Gracias, México.