Petteri believes automation is the key to intelligent healthcare of the future. Joining Tietoevry enabled him to put his AI and data knowledge in concrete and become a hands-on technology innovator!
After just 6 months as a Senior Data Scientist at Tietoevry, it's easy to feel being a part of the team because of the diversity of the work I have been exposed to. Using Big Data, AI, API design and in-house data analytics tools, we are constantly challenging ourselves to build a more intelligent healthcare and wellbeing unit using cutting edge technology.
My work drives me, but I’m not an all work and no play kind of man. When I’m not at work, I have my hands pretty full with my interests and my family! I am a father of 3 kids, a saxophone player, and a cat lover. I can also spend hours glued to PC games, especially Dota 2. You can also call me an avid reader and fan of theology, which I enjoy in many forms - books, podcasts and debates. During the short Finnish summer I spend long and late evenings at rivers, fishing.
Information technology and AI caught my attention during my time as a Bachelor’s student in Turku University of Applied Sciences, in the field of mechanical and production engineering.
Hence, I decided to move to Tampere University of Technology for my Masters in software development and data analytics. I began my career in 2017 as a PhD researcher. I worked on various applied AI such as remote sensing, satellite and drone data, computer vision and time series forecasting. I also delivered numerous workshops with the idea of further pushing the understanding of the countless possibilities of AI and published four articles during this time.
However, during the time I was finalising my dissertation, I realised that I was looking for more than just building research models. I wanted to work hands on and be a part of the change and growth in the healthcare industry. So, I got in touch with Joona Pylkäs, the Head of Data and AI in Tietoevry’s healthcare unit, who was hiring AI professionals at the time.
The main reason I wanted to be a part of the healthcare technology industry is that I think there is a massive amount of technological advancement needed to help make the healthcare industry more accessible and make it easier for doctors and patients to take better care of their health.
I believe automation is key to intelligent healthcare of the future. It is the key to enable healthcare professionals who are already burdened with an overload of health data. Automation will help to streamline the data related manual processes. It will also help healthcare professionals make the best use of the vast amount of information and patient history available to them, which will give them more time to care for patients. For patients, this means your personal health data is readily available. This can be accomplished with advanced technology and collaboration between cross-functional experts from software and data science professionals to hardware engineers and UX designers etc.
Pushing the boundaries around the digitalisation of healthcare and wellbeing is at the heart of everything my team and I do everyday. Currently, we are working with data pipelines in a big data environment, building in-house data analytics tools and creating proof of concepts for healthcare customers.
We are also building a segmentation tool for people with possible diabetes, as well as an optical computer recognition system to digitize paper forms. In short, our purpose is to digitise all possible patient health information for both patient and doctor, so that they are accessible today, and to help find possible diseases and diagnoses faster in the future.
It’s difficult to choose the best parts about my everyday work at Tietoevry. But one thing is sure: I do hands-on work and gain real time experience everyday, exactly how I had envisioned it before starting at Tietoevry.
Having the opportunity to work in an technologically mature environment with cloud based microservices is definitely a major factor. The other part for me is my team - our Intelligent wellbeing unit of ten talented health tech professionals. We are a group of cross-functional people, who get to work on infrastructure to software development, product design, end user design, and API interfaces.
I also love to work in our small group of 3 data professionals, where our daily morning meetings are personally very important for me. From sharing work related to personal anecdotes, this call helps keep the spirit of the team alive.
Perhaps the most important factor is that my work is creating a direct impact on society and plays an integral part in the solutions Tietoevry is providing to technologize the healthcare industry in the Nordics. I get to learn and implement new tools and technologies, face new challenges and come up with innovative cutting edge solutions together that have an impact on many peoples’ everyday life.
Do you want to join me and many more talented experts? Take a look at our open positions and apply now!
During his time at Tietoevry, Petteri has been part of building in-house data analysis tools, natural language processing proof-of-concept infrastructure setup, MLOps process development and building large volume data pipelines. He currently works as a Senior Data Scientist. On his time off work, he spends time with his family, playing games, reading books and enjoying Finnish nature.