Start your coding career already during studies – University of Helsinki trains sought-after software specialists

When a young coder is given a reasonable amount of responsibility for a product and a client, leeway for experimentation, and support from mentors, the results can be something that you look back on years later. This is what Tuomo Torppa and Saara Tenhunen believe. They worked at Toska, the University of Helsinki’s software development academy, during their studies. The two years they spent as software developers at the University was a multifaceted experience appreciated by employers.

Toska is an internal startup at the University of Helsinki where students develop and maintain University software, such as Oodikone for degree programme operations, Norppa for course feedback and the University’s own ChatGPT interface. Oodikone and Norppa are nowadays also in use at Tampere University and the University of Jyväskylä.

For Tenhunen and Torppa, Toska was their first coding job. At Toska, Tuomo Torppa maintained and further developed Oodikone and other systems. These days, he works as a senior consultant at a consulting business in the IT sector. Only in hindsight did he realise how much responsibility he was given at Toska. 

“Toska allowed me to do things at an early stage that junior coders at companies don’t get to do. Among other things, I worked on Oodikone’s version releases. I also had the chance to tinker in the production environment and design databases from the start. In my second year, I led a project and assumed the main responsibility for communicating with product owners, or clients.”

In her years at Toska, Saara Tenhunen oversaw a system that integrated completed studies recorded on various platforms into a broader information system. Now, she works as a full stack coder at SOK.

“My current job too involves a lot of integration between systems. It’s valuable for me to have gained relevant experience already during my studies. At Toska, I also learned how to turn client expectations and ideas into functional features. You rarely get to do these things at the beginning of your career,” Tenhunen says.

A popular place offering valuable experience

The software development academy Toska got its start in 2017 when University Lecturer Matti Luukkainen came up with the idea of hiring students of computer science to develop an information system for academic administration. 

Today, on average six students start at Toska each academic year, which is only a small fraction of all students of the discipline. Those admitted to the academy must have not only good technical skills, but also adeptness in groupwork. 

“Another goal is for Toska to not be a club for similar people,” Luukkainen says.

While computer science students often find employment already during studies, those working at Toska are required to progress in their studies. Tenhunen calls it positive peer pressure.

 “At Toska, you feel a certain appreciation for completing your degree. Studies came first and work schedules were flexible, even though we were working. Matti trusted us and said that we need only to make sure the work gets done.” 

According to Torppa, subsequent recruiters have been impressed by the wide range of things he had the opportunity to do while studying. At Toska, Torppa also became more confident in giving presentations, as he got to introduce Oodikone to large audiences at Think Corner.

“It’s great that I gained all these experiences before working at a larger company.”

Learning from seasoned fellow students

Toska is founded on Matti Luukkainen’s teaching philosophy, which he calls the apprenticeship model. In the model, students work under the supervision of more experienced students. At the same time, they gain practical experience in software development.

“Toska is the culmination of the apprenticeship model. It’s also a safe environment that turns eager newcomers fairly quickly into veterans who themselves mentor others,” Luukkainen says, 

Torppa and Tenhunen also talk about a sense of security.

“You won’t generate million-euro losses at the University even if a system is down for a while. Still, the systems we maintained were in actual production use, which means that they were used by real people. You learn to understand what happens when things work and don’t work,” Torppa says.

“When we were supposed to start system integration, we wondered with my colleague how we would ever get through it. But thanks to internal support at Toska, we eventually made the integrations work,” says Tenhunen.

Once Toska, always Toska

The technical solutions and trends associated with software development change fast. At Toska, the solutions and working methods are always the same as what software developers are using in the private sector.

“In my first job after Toska, programming was done with the same React and Node tools. Even now, I use the lessons learned at Toska daily. In other words, it has given me an edge in the labour market,” Tenhunen says.

Other things that help keep up with business practices are Matti Luukkainen’s personal experience as an application developer and close connections with Toska alums. 

“Our alums visit us to give lectures, and we make excursions to their workplaces. Toska alums form a strong network for our current students, opening avenues to jobs for many of them,” Luukkainen says. 

Today, Tuomo Torppa and Saara Tenhunen are part of the roughly 50-strong group of Toska alums. 

“We have an exceptionally close alum community, and we stay in touch using Slack. We also organise Christmas parties, get-togethers and summer cottage trips. The Toska group has become a professional network where I have found close friends. For me, Toska was an extremely positive and valuable experience,” Torppa says.

“Once Toska, always Toska,” says Luukkainen.