Year in Review 2024
Time for another Year in Review!
As we bid farewell to 2024, here’s what has been going on at Kisko for the last 12 months. We also encourage you to make your own list! It’s a great way to reflect on the previous year! 😊
The changing market in 2024 encouraged us to further boost our sales and marketing efforts and push our boundaries. 2024 was the year when our team’s resilience shone through. We celebrated project milestones, learned valuable lessons, and embraced the joy of growth — both as a company and as individuals.
This year, we’ve made strides in outbound strategies, deepened our expertise in public procurement tendering, and even secured significant wins. Above all, we’re immensely grateful for our incredible team, whose dedication continues to drive us forward!
Here are some reflections from our team on the year that’s passed:
Ida Mänty: The year 2024 has been both busy and educational at Kisko. Like many industries, the software development sector has faced a quieter year, which has forced us to think more deeply than usual. It’s been a time to consider opportunities we might not focus on in a more typical year.
Throughout the year, we’ve gained valuable insights into outbound strategies, which have helped us narrow our focus for 2025. We’ve also secured our first wins in tendering processes, confirming that many clients truly appreciate the Kisko way of working. That said, we also lost one of our long-term clients this year—a learning experience in itself! All in all, 2024 has been a year of growth and development for us.
I’ve had the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of public procurement tendering processes. Through these, we’ve been able to work on projects that contribute to the "greater good," such as Kaikukanta. The purpose of this project is to make culture accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial situation, including those who might otherwise not have the means. Advancing such initiatives brings a bigger meaning to my work as well.
One of the highlights of the year has also been winning the Aalto Space tendering, which we’ve been developing for the past seven years. Thanks to this win, we’ll continue as the partner for the space reservation app into the next decade!
Personally, it’s also been important for me to support and mentor various early-stage companies in my role. I’m especially grateful that I get to work in software development, a field I’m passionate about, and with the innovations it often brings across various industries. I’m also thankful for my close colleagues, as I have the privilege of working with such intelligent teammates. A special thanks goes to Antti, Vesa, and Siiri.
I had hoped for 2024 to be a calm and energizing year, but it turned out to be quite the opposite, with some periods feeling downright chaotic 😅. At times, the "joy of learning" was put to the test in my personal life, but looking back, I can say that it was a year of growth—not only for Kisko but also for myself.
Kimmo Salonen: The year has been very enjoyable and educational. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve started working on a new, very nice project. On a personal note, I finally found a new home, after exploring the housing market for a while.
Teemu Palokangas: Again a year full of work and learning bunch of new things as well. Also trying to keep up with AI development. In addition to normal work, it's been interesting to prioritize server side rendering and trying to simplify things. Also got to work on visualizing data, which is quite rewarding. Interest in data was actually the trigger I switch careers to software development in the first place so nice to tip toes in metrics, analytics and visualization side of things. On a personal note, I have been just trying to stay more relaxed and focused on tasks at hand. The environment is in constant flux and being able to keep distractions away is more relevant than ever.
Establishing good exercise routines (jogging) has been good this year. Post-covid time hit hard though. Staying flu-free for many years has probably resulted in weakened immune system which made a mild cold into apocalyptic three-month cough. My cats are still afraid of me, and probably neighbours, too. Sorry.
Antti Salonen: "I took a three-month summer vacation and parental leave and have been focusing on sales this fall. It has been a year of learning a lot of new skills. I’ve been having a lot of discussions with new people wanting to build services and also been heavily testing AI for content. I’ve learned a bit about the possibilities as well as the limitations of AI systems. I’m thankful for the Kisko team, a lot of great and proactive moments with customers, and spending time with my son."
Eetu Mattila: "Changed a project so it has been working on how to understand the new client, finding my place in the new project, and finding the new goals and motivations. I’ve been on a personal Docker learning journey and maybe next year I will be able to share some of it.
On a personal note, this year I've learned to be more balanced. I'm thankful for the people around me as no one can do it all themselves
"I have enough. I've done enough. I am enough." -Jim Carrey
Last year I cycled from Helsinki to Oulu. This year I cycled from Oulu to Nuorgam. I have now seen everything Finland has to offer.
Tien Nguyen: "For me, 2024 has been productive and... interesting (?) I would say. There was some stress as well, but I think it’s the good kind of stress (or the kind of stress I need to get something done). My whole year has been busy mostly with Domo (AYY and LOAS). Many new features were delivered, such as the new deposit collection system for AYY and utilities invoicing based on residents' real consumption. I also worked on accessibility improvements for OP Metsä website, which pushed me to read the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and use screen readers to test websites for the first time which was a really interesting learning experience.
Looking back, I'm very thankful to my teammates, who have been not only helping me but also teaching me how to be better at what we do. Despite the difficulties we as a company are navigating through, I feel motivated to look around and see everyone thinking for the company and trying their best to help the situation. I'm grateful to feel there is so much more for me to learn.
I went to see Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour this summer with my friends in Zurich. The concert was AMAZING, and my ankle was swollen due to standing and tiptoeing for too long.After the concert, we visited Italy, which was my first time there. The sceneries, historic landmarks and the food was 10/10."
Niko Rasku: "Busy year with lots of unexpected work due to outdated libraries and sudden need to integrate to new services in response. Lots of learning around DevOps and getting more familiarity with the AWS ecosystem.
This year the greatest learnings have been the AWS ecosystem and Japanese, hiragana, and katakana—barely enough for my Japan trip in September.
This year I have been especially thankful for my friends and family. Lots of trips around the world too. I’m grateful for my new hobbies such as tennis and regular board game evenings. Japan trip finally happened this year and it was awesome! I visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto & Nikko, but 2 weeks is not nearly enough to see everything you wanted!
Miika Kilponen: I had plenty of new challenges in a new project. Overall, an intense fall after traveling during spring. Workwise, I’ve come to appreciate a 'maximalist' approach to front-end development. I’ll continue to find the optimal balance between manually building things by myself vs. using libraries. This year I’m thankful for surviving Nepal and India trip. Glad that winter is finally here!
Antti Akonniemi: This year has been a hectic one workwise! A lot of new (and big) features for WODconnect, such as membership pausing and tons of new marketing ideas/concepts for Kisko. I’ve also been playing around with AI and AI development tools. I think AI will make big changes next year, and it’ll certainly take development to a whole new level. The importance of meta-skills has become clear to me this year, especially as AI will do a lot of things for us in the future.
I’ve been thankful for people in general and especially people at Kisko. This year I’ve had big changes on a personal front, but all in a good direction!
Anna Salonen: This autumn was not the lightest after returning to work from family leave. Juggling sleep deprivation, continuous diseases from daycare and work has been straining at times, but feeling safe and having such amount of flexibility at Kisko has helped to navigate this new, more demanding era.
The most meaningful thing as Kisko's Happiness Officer has been to connect again with people this autumn. Everyone who has brought yourself and good energy to the office - thank you.
Sense of purpose becomes especially in the moments when I have been able to empathetically encounter someone in a way that eases whatever burden they are carrying at that time, if even for a little while. I am always grateful for the connections made, the trust given, openness and ability to show vulnerability.
The highlight of the year for sure was Kisko's Winter Day and its clay workshop at Cihu Studios that was such a hit. People were so excited and happy to also receive their creations home.
This year reminded me: "This too shall pass". The only guarantee in life is that nothing is permanent. Secondly, "We do not hear things as how they are, but as how we are". The complexity of communication and human encounters and interpretations.
I'm beyond thankful for my beautiful, loving and accepting family that I once thought I'd never have. And especially the little 2 year old boy who's curiosity and excitement for things and life as well as signing makes my heart melt each day.
The whole Kisko team sends a huge thanks to our clients, partners and everyone else involved, and wishes you all a Happy New Year! 🎉
