Ann Nieminen hired as Team Manager last autumn is a boomerang employee
With about 200 different job descriptions, job rotation is not a rare phenomenon in the TVO Group. Ann Nieminen is also well aware of this. She now works as the Manager of the Plant Information Team, but has previously acquainted herself with a number of other positions as well.
Summer job in 2013. That brought Ms. Nieminen to Olkiluoto for the first time. Her engineering studies at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences were almost concluded – in fact, she received her Degree Certificate whilst still in her summer job.
Ann Nieminen selected telecommunications technology as her master subject based on her own interests.
- My enthusiasm for information technology stemmed from how much time I spent at the computer as a young girl.
Her first summer job at TVO was in documentation management. In practice, the job consisted of storing into database the correspondence between TVO and the plant supplier during the project. She found the experience so good that she stayed on even after the summer. Already back then, the nice co-workers made a positive impact.
Rotating job content
Ann Nieminen’s job content changed for the first time in the autumn after the summer job period when the Plant Information Team posted an internal vacancy for a competent employee to transfer the final documentation bundles into the plant database. Shen continued in that job until 2018, not counting one maternity leave during the years. Her next career rerouting took place when she was appointed in another internally filled position of Systems Specialist in the Data Systems Services Team in Data Administration. In that position, her duties included both the maintenance and the development of the Group’s support systems.
A detour that took just over a year
Ann Nieminen might well have been the recipient of a five-year service award last year. But that did not happen due to her short digression with another employer. An interesting job offer in the field of project management was something Nieminen could not resist.
- It was a leap into a whole new world, one of data systems in the health care and social welfare section.
The subject area was highly topical with the building of the new Wellbeing Services Counties, which was reflected in the large amount of work.
- It was an enjoyable challenge with really large-scale and interesting projects.
Too extrovert to only work from home
However, she got homesick for the world of uranium. So when TVO published a job advert for a managerial position in the Plant Information Team, Ann decided to apply for the job in Olkiluoto, the place she knew so well.
- I said also in my interview that should I get the job, it would really feel like coming back home, Ann tells.
One of the most significant reasons for her return was the familiar work community and a burning desire for a managerial position. Given that her previous job consisted almost exclusively of working from home.
- During the year, I went to the office six times, and otherwise only worked from home. Although I originally accepted the offered position partly because I thought that working from home would be great, experience showed that I am too much of a social creature to only work remotely.
Having started as the Manager of the Plant Information Team in August last year, Ann Nieminen’s current position is quite a fresh one.
- This has required a fair amount of studying and learning about new things. I may have thought I knew a lot about the Group’s policies and practices, but the managerial part of the job, in particular, has brought with it a lot of new aspects and viewpoints.
The Nuclear Professional Leader (NPL) training designed for all managerial employees in the TVO Group is something she commends.
- I have tried to complete the training as quickly as possible while also carrying out my other duties, and I recognise the concrete benefits that this leader training has given me, she says.
A thirty-strong team
Ann Nieminen’s Team consists of some thirty persons, if all the representatives of the sub-supplier are included. The majority of the team members are specialists in plant information, or in flow diagrams and final documentation. We are a real top-notch gang.
- The work carried out by the Team is critical to the uninterrupted operation of the plant. We are responsible for maintaining and developing the content of databases. Using the special data analytics platform, we are able to collate and sort information from different databases and make it available to the entire Group.
Second degree very much not in engineering
Ann Nieminen’s working life has been so hectic after her return, that she has had to put her free time activities, which for her particularly refer to music, to the back burner. Although, maybe calling it a free time activity is not appropriate. In addition to her degree in engineering, Ms. Nieminen has also completed a vocational qualification in music. For the qualification, she majored in classical singing, focusing on opera.
Music has practically always been part of Ann Nieminen’s life.
- I started with the piano, then moved on to a choir and finally at the age of 16 started studies in solo singing at the Palmgren Conservatory. Later, I then continued to the vocational sector, she explains. Her voice type is soprano.
Ann Nieminen’s home team comprises her husband, a first-grader son, and a dog. Her husband Saku Nieminen also works in Olkiluoto in the employment of one of TVO’s sub-suppliers.
Text: Ville Kulmala
Photos: Tapani Karjanlahti and Aarno Vepsäläinen