Computer programmer Matthew Fitzsimons
Matthew Fitzsimons was to become a banker, but he drifted into the hotel business. In Finland he retrained, studied, financed his studies by teaching dance, and qualified as a computer specialist. Now Fitzsimons works as a programmer, uses international programming language, and speaks English.
Matthew Fitzsimons, 28, works in Helsinki at Accenture, a company which specialises in technology and management consulting services.
“Before Accenture I worked for a year in a small IT company. There they only used Finnish as the company language. I felt like an outsider because I was the only foreigner working there.”
In his present job Fitzsimons can work using his native language, develop his professional skills and move forward in his career. Today he is a computer programmer but in a couple of years’ time he might become a consultant.
Matthew Fitzsimons comes from a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Before moving to Finland he worked for four years in the hotel trade. He was responsible for meal arrangements and conferences in a hotel in the centre of Dublin and also worked in two other hotels.
“In the hotels in Ireland my working days were too long. The years would have passed quickly and one day I would have realised I was already middle-aged.”
When he had left high school he got a job in a bank and thought he would end up as a banker. But that was not to be.
First of all he was affected by the allure of hotel work and the chance to travel, and then a Finnish woman.
Fitzsimons moved to Finland with his girlfriend. The couple lived first in Turku, and then in Saarijärvi in central Finland, but as he could not find employment in a hotel he decided to look for a course in the information technology sector.
He studied, mainly in English, at the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki. Since he was four Fitzsimons had practised Irish dancing, so it felt only natural to work too as a dance teacher.
“It was through dance that I made friends in Finland. I am also trying to use dance to create an active community for Irish and British people living in Finland.”
Fitzsimons has lived in Finland now for five years and feels at home here, although he is not completely used to all the Finnish customs. He had read about the Finnish sauna, but his first sauna experience was a bit of a shock.
At home they speak Finnish. His girlfriend’s upcountry accent is easier to understand than the slang they use in the capital.
“A lot of Irish and British assume that people speak English everywhere. They do speak English in Finland, but all the same the Finns are shy about using it.
Politeness does not seem to be as important to the Finns as it is to the Irish. The Finns are often reserved and withdrawn. It takes time to get to know them.
Matthew Fitzsimons thinks he will stay in Finland, perhaps move to the countryside, or at least somewhere smaller than Helsinki. He dreams of being able to train further abroad, perhaps in Chicago. His present employer might offer him an opportunity to do that in fact.
Text and photograph: Anu Likonen, Jukka Vuolle and Nanni Akkola
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy