Tech Lead Varvana wants to encourage software developers to work in the financial sector, where software developers can actually make people’s everyday life easier. “We are largely a software company, and we have a great deal of potential in offering even better digital services to our customers. Here at OP, people get to work with tomorrow’s technology.”

Varvana Myllärniemi’s career path towards Tech Lead at OP is somewhat unusual. Before working in the financial sector, Varvana was a D.Sc. in Information Technology. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on software architecture and worked as a teacher and researcher in the Aalto University Department of Computer Science. “After longing for new career challenges, I started working as a consultant and was eventually promoted to Tech Lead at OP,” she states.

As Tech Lead, Varvana oversees the overall solution architecture and technology choices in the residential lending tribe. “I am responsible for making decisions concerning the technical solutions used for implementing and managing home loans,” she describes. Varvana has always been interested in software architecture and solving problems related to it, so technical managerial work with solution architecture was a natural fit for her. The work also includes an important societal role, as home loans are not only a significant part of OP’s activities, but also vital for Finnish and European economies. “Our tribe basically owns the systems that manage most of the home loans in Finland. I know my work is important when it involves being responsible for whether our customers get the home loans they need”, says Varvana with a smile.

Work focusing on improving the future

According to Varvana, a strong culture of learning and continuous development is one of the cornerstones of working at OP. “OP genuinely encourages employees to improve. I myself have studied in the OP Software Academy, for example. In addition to various technology-related themes, I am also interested in how agile development is implemented from an organisational viewpoint”, she says.

One thing that Varvana considers particularly important in her work is how her decisions can impact the future and change it for the better. “These decisions have long-term effects, as the life cycles of loans and systems can be up to thirty years long. By making good decisions, we enable the reliable functionality of our systems and develop them both now and in the future,” says Varvana. Another banking-related matter that Varvana is interested in is the types of external factors that affect the operations of banks, as well as how they do so. “Granting home loans is strictly regulated even at the EU level, but our work is also governed by business goals. Striking a balance between these is a big part of our work,” she describes.

Business and software development are closely linked

Varvana is delighted by the diversity of her tribe. “We are a rather good mix of experts in terms of skills, background, and gender. I also think it is very refreshing that longtime bank employees and software development experts work together in the same organisation,” she states. Thanks to an agile way of working, business and software development are quite close to one another and this can be seen in the everyday life of the tribe. “We try to work together and to communicate. And we don’t work in separate silos, but in the same teams, units, and tribes. And that’s how it should be in my opinion. It allows us to get the best possible results,” says Varvana.

At OP, technologies are always closely linked to people and organisations. “In other words, simply developing new solutions is not enough. It is equally important to enable organisations to work as efficiently as possible. It has perhaps been my greatest learning experience,” describes Varvana. A crucial part of working as the Tech Lead is to support and spar with others. “In my role, it is important to help arrange circumstances in such a way that our experts can make good decisions and develop programmes successfully. When these are accomplished, I know I have performed my job well,” states Varvana.

The continuous digital development of banking makes the field interesting from a developer’s viewpoint. “Our customers mostly use our services digitally, which means that software is really in the heart of our operations,” says Varvana. This is why she wants to encourage technical experts to go and boldly work in the financial sector, where people can develop software to genuinely improve people’s everyday life. “We are largely a software company, and we have a great deal of potential to offer even better digital services to our customers. Here at OP, people get to work with future technology and learn more about what it can be used for,” summarises Varvana.