JYUnity

After graduation Jari Suni was told in the local employment office that philosopher or social scientist is not a profession. Yet listen to Jari talk about his career and one can only disagree with that notion. In his career Jari has successfully combined a philosophical approach with practical skills. He never has gone back to the employment office.

Let’s return to the beginning of the 21st century for a moment. A philosophy class at Palokka Upper Secondary School is discussing the essence of music: Where is it? What is it? How many versions of a song there can be? These questions arouse great interest in the mind of a young man keen on music.

It was an admission exam book, however, that drew Suni into philosophy for good. Because he had no profession or vocation in mind after upper secondary school, he decided to apply for philosophy studies at the University of Jyväskylä. After diligent reading for the exam, Jari was admitted and started studies at the Department of Philosophy.

During his studies, he had no clear career path in sight either. Yet he graduated with a master’s degree relatively quickly, and he is now working as a project manager in Woolman, a firm that helps companies in developing online business and related technological problems.

Before being hired by Woolman in autumn 2017, he developed digital services for newspapers. In fact, websites and online business as well as the enhancement of customer experience in digital channels belong to Jari’s field of expertise.

The field of information technology is highly complex, so systems thinking is very useful. The analytical skills learned in philosophy studies and the ability to quickly distinguish what’s relevant from what’s not provide an obvious benefit. One can see the whole instead of just the details.

Philosophy’s intrinsically critical approach helps one view things from different perspectives, an ability which is essential in development work and new innovations. People should be able to reflect on their own work and to act systematically, since these are what development projects require.

Before diving into the digital world, Jari Suni also worked as a journalist. After graduating he didn’t even look for jobs in his own field but wanted to gain experience from elsewhere.
“Working at a newspaper gave me the chance to fulfil my desire to discover the truth about matters, something which all philosophers share,” Jari reminisces.

As a journalist he also got access to places where society is built and see up close the role of values in these decisions. Journalism is, in its own way, about making the world a better place and promoting justice.

“It’s the same thing in my current job at Woolman. We are serving a good cause when we can help entrepreneurs. I get a really great feeling when I hear that my work benefits them,” Jari explains.

Woolman is a relatively young firm, which made it appealing for Jari as a working environment. He finds it interesting to see how a new kind of enterprise culture is created. His philosophy studies provided him with good skills for learning new things quickly. The ability to read and understand difficult texts is a particularly valuable asset:

If you have made it through Hegel, you can cope with anything!