Second generation at Vatupassi

You hone your professional skills by learning in practice. Vatupassi’s equipment installer Mika Tirkkonen knows that very well. The industry and its requirements are constantly changing, and the only way to be able to serve the customers from one day to the next is to listen, make an effort and learn.

A normal work day for Mika, a calm man with a sturdy build, includes visiting different construction sites.

– This morning I was installing some heating. It’s been an unusual day, with only that one gig, Mika ponders on a slow day in the run up to Christmas.

As it is the case with a number of other Vatupassi staff members, the job runs in the family for Mika too. He got to know the company ways and the different branches when his father worked at Vatupassi.

– It was easy to jump right in. Since I had been tagging along with my dad as a kid, I already knew many of the people here. First, I had a summer job at Vatupassi, and after doing my military service, it felt really natural to continue working here. The reception was great even when I was really young, and it has been easy to adapt to working life at Vatupassi.

Mika has experience of working in several different cities. He has been working at Vatupassi in the Helsinki region, Lappeenranta, Jyväskylä and Joensuu. Even if the cities have changed, the Vatupassi spirit has stayed the same.

– Of course, there are differences as well between the cities, depending on the person who is running things, but the work as such is the same everywhere. And the teams have been great everywhere too. The mornings that I would have been bummed about going to work are extremely few and far between.

Working as an installer requires that you keep developing your skills and learning new things. Mika has learned this the hard way.

– Sure, there are some different training options, but it’s the real-life situations and the more experienced workmates that you really, truly learn this job from. The best way to learn is when you have a chance to work in a team with seasoned veterans. That’s where the knowledge comes from. Even if you yourself are in a situation that has you all baffled, somebody around you always has a solution. The longer-serving employees have got the know-how worth paying attention to.

Mika encourages people to enter the field of tool and equipment rental regardless of their background, education or training. You learn by doing – and in a good team, help is always at hand. 

– A hard-working guy will do well in this field. I’ve been doing this for ten years now and it’s been great. You never know, this might even be the job I retire from. It’s not a far-fetched idea at all.

Published 12.2.2020.