The road to being an IT support engineer is not necessarily a straight one. Patrik Broman started his career as a boat builder, continued as a dental technician and has now, through information technology studies, ended up in Vitec ALMA’s support team.
Broman, who started at Vitec ALMA’s Kokkola office in May 2023, was looking for a summer job in the spring. He didn’t get one, but after a job interview ended up as a full-time IT support engineer in ALMA’s customer support team instead.
“Vitec ALMA has been active in Kokkola for a long time, so it was the natural place to look for a job. The first four months have been very interesting and educational. Each workday is different, which is nice, since I like variety,” says Broman.
“In the autumn I intend to continue my IT studies at Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius alongside my work. Vitec ALMA has good opportunities for remote working and distance learning, so it’s possible to combine work and studies.”
A degree in boatbuilding led Broman to four years on the water. But it turned out not to be his field in the long term. When his wife found a place to study in Umeå, Broman followed her to Sweden to train as a dental technician. By that time, digitalisation and 3D modelling had already made a big impact on dental technology. During the Covid period Broman returned from Sweden to Kokkola. His interest in digitization brought him to study information technology.
“We receive support requests on almost any subject. Some are internal, some external. Our support team solves questions and tasks together, which has made it easy to get started. I haven’t had to think things over all alone.”
ALMA is a flexible and versatile system, so there has been a lot to learn. The introduction has been thorough, and I learn more every day.
Construction work and piano playing
Born in Kokkola, Broman has decided to stay in his home region, at least for a while. Together with his wife he has built a single-family house in the city, so a hammer fits into Broman’s hand particularly well. In addition to construction work he mentions playing the piano as a hobby.
“After living in Sweden, my wife and I kept thinking that one day we might move back to Sweden. But this time maybe somewhere further south than Umeå. Vitec ALMA is a great place to work remotely, so I could certainly continue developing ALMA from there as well.”