Just think of this fact: Forrester Research predicts that today’s youngest workers will hold 12 to 15 jobs in their lifetime. How then to choose a study path, when you are 18 years old and hardly have any work experience? It seems we all need to become lifelong learners. I have accepted this fact and found for myself that two questions always help me: first, Where am I now? and most importantly, Where do I want to be next?

Modern jobs are demanding, and require a large toolkit of skills that cannot come from only sitting in a classroom. Moreover, formal education to the job – at some point of life – may not be enough, if people also want to do the work they find inspiring and meaningful, but is going beyond their current qualification. In addition, different jobs and life experiences may reshape one’s interest areas.

As a result, the need to learn new things comes about more often than ever before. Based on my own experience, to manage with this fast pace and change, I’d encourage young students to take a shorter study path after high school, and then acquire work experience according to one’s own interest areas.

To illustrate my point, I will share my own experience. I started by completing my Bachelor’s degree in 2005 at Metropolia AMK (Stadia at that time) in Automotive Engineering. After four years of studying, as I realized already during my studies, I wanted to do research work and I aimed at VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland). That was the best option in the field and my own best choice. Persistency – and a bit of luck – helped me to get a job at VTT as an R&D engineer, as I always dreamt.

Next, after a couple of years of practical, highly educational work at VTT, I asked myself ‘Where do I want to be next?’. Honestly, I wanted to go abroad for new challenges and moved to the Netherlands, to work as a Testing engineer at TNO (the Dutch counterpart of VTT). During my time at TNO, I was lucky to work with major international engine and vehicle manufacturers. These years gave me practical knowledge about the business side of the automotive industry. Then, after experiencing the business side, the question loomed again; Where do I want to be next?

I returned to Finland and back to VTT, as I now felt clearly that my interest area shifted from pure research to a more commercially oriented research work. As soon as I outlined my desire where I want to be next, I got a call from a headhunter offering an opportunity at Neste Oil as an Engine researcher. The role was precisely in my dream area, in-between the R&D and business units, which was a perfect match with my new ’where to go to’. Meanwhile I kept doing various short courses in communication, marketing, sustainability, and innovation to strengthen my Bachelor’s technical background with business expertise.

Finally, after some four years, I felt a clear ‘next to go to’ in sales. But now it was a far too big stretch from my technical roles towards commercial work. Yet, the company trusted me and gave me the opportunity at Neste’s wholesale business unit as a Technical Account Manager. Pretty soon, I realized an acute need for in-depth knowledge in sales, marketing and business administration. This time, my next ‘where to go to’ was to get a Master’s degree from business studies.

My basic requirement was to find a short, compact study module of an MBA type catered for the demanding technical environment. I found the best match at Metropolia, in Industrial Management Master’s studies. The curriculum was very close to an MBA course, with the topics I wanted to learn. Also, the classes and course tasks were organized in such a way that I could keep my new full-time work and even perform many of the given research assignments at my company.

After a compact (and very tight!) year of super-interesting Master’s studies, I graduated from Metropolia, Industrial Management Master’s degree program as a Master of Engineering in 2015, much better equipped for my new role. It took me about two years to digest all the new knowledge and develop new skills, before my next ‘Where to go to?’ started maturing. This time, it felt as a clear call for business development. My job offered so many new challenges that a combination of technical knowledge with the expertise in sales – and knowledge of industrial services – really fired off well for me.

A global shift to services, that makes the core of Industrial Management Master’s degree program at Metropolia, approach our team on a very practical level. We have faced a challenging task to introduce services into a very traditional industry. Luckily, after my Master’s studies, especially courses in Service business, I felt more confident in my work on many occasions. Even now, I keep complementing these skills through various short courses in Service design, which I found very useful.

Now, I am also lucky to see how my team members decided to follow a similar study path and made into two extremely talented and intelligent students. They also keep asking the same questions: Where am I now? and Where do I want to be next? in order to decide which courses to take to match their interest areas, and it will probably help them in their future careers as well.

I share this approach hoping that someone may find it useful for making one’s own choices. The world is changing in an ever-faster pace, and to keep up with this pace requires honesty and timely grasping lifelong learning opportunities.

Tuukka Hartikka
Commercial development manager
Neste corp.

Master’s Thesis as Part of Master’s Programme

In order to graduate from a Master’s Degree programme a final thesis project has to be completed. In University of Applied Sciences, a Master’s Thesis should be research-based practical development project that offers applicable solutions to the industry´s needs. Hence, the Master’s thesis projects are ordinarily completed in the context of companies and organizations.

With 10 years of running Master’s level programs, Metropolia students have benefited a multitude of organizations and companies. Still, it is always a joy to see a successful Master’s thesis getting its implementation at the home company of the student. One such example is the project by Joska Taipale, whose Master’s thesis in fire protection training took 1,5 years to find its way to the customers.

Joska Taipale’s Thesis: An example of Real-Life Project

I graduated in May 2016 and did my Master’s project on a real-life business issue at work. My project focused on developing training as a service for my company, Marioff. The company manufactures and delivers excellent firefighting equipment to ships, especially cruise ships, where safety is an ultimate priority. I used my opportunity as a Master’s student and developed a full service concept as my Master’s thesis. It took 1,5 years to turn my thesis into the actual service ‘productized’ for training the ship crews in the use of the firefighting equipment. I was in charge of the first pilot delivery in 2017 based on my Master’s thesis. My company supported me and allowed to publish the results.

Seafarers have always recognized the value of such training services, but its urgency and need for implementation was fully recognized after an accidental fire on one of the ships, which incurred multi-million dollar losses and could have been prevented easily. At the time of the fire, if only the crew had known how to act, the damages would have been much smaller, or that fire would not have happened at all. After that, the safety authorities, as well as the ship operators, recognized the benefits of the new practical, well-organized, hands-on training service.

At that time, my Master’s thesis was completed and the new service was ready for use. The core idea was to focus only on relevant trainings for each target group. The training module was super short, approximately 2-hour sessions for the bridge officers conducted right on the bridge, and for the engine officers inside the engine control room, etc. And, yes, the Galley (kitchen people) made the biggest group. In that environment, it is not a question if the deep fat fryers will catch fire, but rather when it will happen. The training was supported by easy visual materials similar to airplane safety cards – you get the idea immediately when you see it.

We launched the new service in Miami, in December 2017, and trained 300 people in 5 days during a cruise in the Caribbean. We received extremely positive feedback. Everything worked well – the schedule, the content and the outcomes. In addition, the high level of engagement of the ship crews marked the new service as special success. Now, this training is steadily becoming a certified requirement for every ship. In this sense, I am happy with the results and due to the fact that my thesis project found implementation.

Master’s Thesis – An Open Access Material

Thesis projects in Universities of Applied Sciences make a good example of contribution to both the industry and the well-being of society. Importantly, all UAS final thesis – both Master’s and Bachelor’s – are open to the public in a common online database. High quality thesis projects, such as Joska’s, also benefit the next generations of students who can learn and build on the existing foundation, and create even more excellent projects. Being in open access and offering practical solutions to industry needs, developed by industry professionals with experience and passion, such projects contribute to open innovation and create knowledge for the future.

Joska Taipale,

Master of Engineering (2016) in Industrial Management, Metropolia,

Zinaida Grabovskaia,

Master’s process instructor