– Studying alongside several years of work experience was far more rewarding than my earlier studies, says Sade Nieminen, Development Team Manager at K-Tilipalvelu.
Sade graduated in 2021 from the Degree Programme in Leading Business Transformation (Finnish Liiketoiminnan uudistaminen ja johtaminen), a programme she still highly recommends today.
– There wasn’t a single course where I hadn’t encountered the phenomenon being discussed in working life in one way or another. My own experiences added a great deal of perspective and depth to the studies. At the same time, the studies encouraged me to examine my own work, work community, organisation, and work environment from an entirely new perspective. From a learning standpoint, that was a turning point for me. I’ve always learned best through practical experience, but this made me truly understand how fruitful it is to combine work and study.
ICT studies sparked interest
– Pursuing an MBA in a university of applied sciences felt like a natural next step for me. Back when I first started studying business administration, I didn’t really know what I was getting into — let alone what I wanted to do professionally. The studies opened several interesting paths that eventually led me into financial management.
Before applying, Sade explored different degree programmes, and Haaga-Helia’s Leading Business Transformation programme seemed to offer exactly the right mix of subjects. Around the same time, she had also been introduced through work to the first robotics solutions used in financial processes, which made the programme’s ICT studies especially appealing.
It is no surprise that her most memorable study experience is connected to the ICT courses.
– I took several courses in subjects where I had practically no prior knowledge. For example, when I first looked at the content of a course on enterprise architecture, the very first thing I had to do was google what enterprise architecture actually meant. Back in 2019, ChatGPT would have been incredibly helpful — Google couldn’t explain things to me like I was three years old, which was honestly the level I needed at the time. Still, with persistence, I eventually earned an excellent grade from that course as well!
Realistic expectations about studying
– The studies were very much what I expected. One reason I applied was because the programme was marketed as being easy to complete alongside work and included plenty of remote learning opportunities. I especially appreciated the clearly structured courses designed for independent study, with broad and challenging assignments. They required combining information from multiple sources and reflecting it against real working-life experiences. That naturally connected work and studies and brought new motivation to learning.
Sade feels she gained a great deal of practical knowledge for working life through her studies.
– Earlier I mentioned how studying broadens your thinking, teaches you to combine information from different sources, and evaluate things critically. My studies also equipped me with professional skills such as information retrieval and independent analysis. In my opinion, that’s one of the key skills that truly sets people apart, even if not everyone knows how to put it into words.
– Haaga-Helia’s studies gave me a lot of concrete skills, for example in facilitation. They also gave me confidence that some of my own intuitive ideas actually have solid scientific research behind them, Sade adds.
Welcome to summer jobs at K-Tilipalvelu
Today, Sade works as a Development Team Manager at K-Tilipalvelu, part of the K Group. K-Tilipalvelu serves more than 800 independent K-retailer entrepreneurs by providing accounting and financial management services.
– I joined K-Tilipalvelu in 2013 as an accounting trainee. At the time, I was also working at a K-market, and a retailer encouraged me to pursue a career in financial administration at K-Tilipalvelu. My original plan was to spend at most two years learning accounting and then move on. Yet here I am, 13 years later, still at K-Tilipalvelu. I’ve had the opportunity to follow an incredibly interesting growth path through the world of accounting and business development.
Sade notes that Haaga-Helia students have made up the majority of their summer employees in recent years.
– We offer opportunities to get hands-on experience with financial administration routines in our centralised services team, which provides sales and purchase ledger services for retailers. More demanding roles are available in our accounting units, where we support retailers comprehensively in accounting, financial statements, and taxation.
Finally, Sade encourages everyone to consider further studies — and especially to think carefully about how to complete them.
– Studying alongside work requires discipline and planning. But when done well, it allows you to get the maximum benefit from your studies and succeed with excellent results. My personal tip is to set your own deadlines slightly earlier than the official course deadlines. That way you have some flexibility when life inevitably throws surprises your way.
