Anssi Asunmaa

Who is Anssi? 

I am a 33-year-old software developer living in Helsinki. I started my career in the field about ten years ago while I was still studying software development in the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia (today called Metropolia). Just like most students in this field, I struggled to get the degree finished in time because I was already working full time before graduating.

I have always been interested in everything related to computers from the time we got the legendary Commodore 64. Besides computers, I’m interested in music, books and all kinds of sports. I think all my hobbies are about learning new things. Last year I hopped back on my hockey skates after 15 years. This year I’m trying to learn to play the guitar. 🙂 I feel very fortunate to be able to provide my livelihood doing things I am really interested in.

What hardware do you use? And what software?

In my current project, my main development tools include IntelliJ IDEA for Java backend development and Visual Studio Code for frontend JavaScript and Python etc. If the project relies heavily on Java I have experienced JRebel to be very helpful to speed things up. I’m really impressed by Microsoft’s work on the Code and the number and the quality of plugins it has. In my mind, it has become the standard of IDE-like text editors. And it was released only two years ago! The operating system I use depends on the project. I try to go with a Linux distribution but it’s not always possible. For my home projects, I use Ubuntu on my laptop, and my desktop PC still runs Windows for games.

Tech-wise, is there something you’re really looking forward to?

I feel that the hardware world has stalled for many years and there’s nothing that I’m really waiting for. I bought my gaming rig in 2014 and it’s still relevant. I remember the old days when your expensive new hardware could barely run games for a year or two. It was always so exciting to read about things to come from magazines. The only fresh thing in the hardware world for me is the VR. I’m looking forward to what it has to offer when the shortcomings, like low resolution, wires etc. will be removed.

What is your favourite programming language and why?

I don’t really have strong favourites because usually, every language has something good and bad in it. It depends on what you do with them. JavaScript is getting better and better after a very rocky start. Douglas Crockford has very good points in his book ”JavaScript: The Good Parts” that you should try to separate the good parts of the technology and try to use them. I think this applies to almost everything. There’s no reason for you to use every functionality in a technology just because it’s there. The most important thing for me is that the code actually works.

My background is more from the imperative style of programming but I have been trying to learn more about the functional way. There are a lot of interesting languages like Clojure and Scala but I haven’t really been able to use them in real projects yet. Hopefully, I’m able to do that in the future.

How did you hear about Talented and how did your process go? In the beginning, you got to tell us about your preferences for jobs and companies, so has your new job matched with your expectations? 

I heard about Talented from Harri at a job interview at Reaktor (Harri was consulting Reaktor at that time). After that, I met Janne, Teemu and Jasmin at the Talented office. Only positive thoughts about everyone! You were very active to get me into discussions with different interesting companies and I think I got a pretty realistic view of my current employer HiQ.  The project I am working on is very hush-hush so I didn’t know much of it beforehand, but everything has gone very smoothly.

How did we do?

You did great! My Finnish genes are not very good at marketing themselves and I feel very awkward trying to impress other people, yet it was very easy to communicate with you and the people you set me up with. I think the reason why was that they already knew something about me and were familiar with the stereotype. I want to give a special shout-out to Jasmin!

How would you describe Talented to your friends or anyone who is looking for new challenges?

The first thing that comes to my mind is that you were very friendly and it was a rather easy ”process” to go through. You were always suggesting different things even if I wasn’t that active to your direction. I can happily say that my initial thoughts about the talent agency business were wrong. Cheers!