From October 2019 to February 2020 (4 months) I was an intern at the newly built and technically advanced Helsinki Central Library, Oodi. The purpose, from my perspective, was to give my Finnish language skills a boost as well as get some experience and contacts within the Finnish working life.

Oodi – Helsinki Central Library Oodi – Helsinki Central Library, Image by Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA

We moved from Denmark to Helsinki in December 2018 as my girlfriend got a position at Helsinki University. Since then, I have been working only sporadically, mainly as a freelance programmer / Unity technician on projects for the small Danish company Kong Orange. But now I am looking for job opportunities here in Finland – to get a more stable working rhythm (and income) and also for me to settle more down socially. And to this end, my internship at Oodi was a great first step.

My tasks included helping out finishing the setup of the sound recording studio, handling various AV tech at events (including getting to know the nice Soundcraft Vi 2000 digital mixer), programming and setting up different projections on the walls of the library and quite a lot more.

It was a good experience for me to be at Oodi with good colleagues and a nice atmosphere in general. I think that I improved my Finnish language skills somewhat and I gained insight into some technical areas that I didn’t know about before.