CAREER
ALUMNI INTERVIEW ...Teemu Metsola and Alina Sidbrant about their personal ESTIEM stories. keep a clean and organized inbox, up to the bigger Your name:
topics such as the importance of networking,
Teemu Metsola
intercultural awareness, leadership experience and project management. ESTIEM also played a
Magazine Team
Your Local Group:
big role in me securing my first job opportunities
Lappeenranta
at the very beginning of my career. It also opened my eyes to the many career paths and possibilities
Year of graduation:
out there in the world.
2018 On a more deeper, personal level, ESTIEM helped Your current job:
me clarify what my personal values are and what I
Team Lead & Consultant
aspire to do in the future, strengthen some of my personal weaknesses, and ultimately played a big
Maria Serodio Local Group Porto
Your current living place:
part in shaping me to be the person I am today.
Helsinki capital area Tell us your most memorable ESTIEM story. Tell us about your career until now:
There are so many good ones to choose from, such as learning in my first Council Meeting that
I started my professional career at a large Finnish
those water bottles at the Serbian international
manufacturing company called Wärtsilä, working
night table are not actually filled with water, or
for a bit under half a year in digital marketing
going to a bus stop to catch Wi-Fi from a FlixBus to
operations. I then joined my current employer Biit
download the event’s survival guide so you know
as a junior consultant, where I started out working
where your accommodation is.
in various IT implementation and digitalization projects roughly four years ago. I actually
If I had to pick just one, it would have to be my
only graduated two years ago, as finishing my
first ESTIEM event, Europe3D Portugal, hosted
master’s thesis took a bit longer than anticipated.
by Local Groups Porto and Coimbra. The event
Nowadays I split my work time 50/50 between
was an eye-opener, full of great memories, new
being a consultant/project manager and leading a
friendships, and one long walk across Porto to get
team of consultants.
to our port wine tasting activity – we had somehow messed up the balance on our metrocards the
What are your plans for the future?
night before. Thanks to the many active ESTIEMers present at the event, I was also strongly urged to
I do not have any fixed plans for the future. There
join the upcoming Council Meeting in Warsaw.
are so many interesting opportunities out there,
I knew nothing about central ESTIEM at the time
and with the world changing at an ever-increasing
and I did not manage to join that Council Meeting,
speed, any plans for the future would surely
but curiosity ultimately led me to get active in my
change over time. I am keeping an open mind and
local group and join the one after that, in Belgrade.
am excited to see what the future brings along.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Which impact did ESTIEM have on your career? ESTIEM taught me many practical skills, from the small things such as time management or how to
38 ESTIEM Magazine | 59th issue - Innovation in a Crisis: Adapting and Advancing
