Affordable life and international door openers – the honeymoon phase in the Land of the Curious
Once Juan had graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Colombia, his feet were itching. A wish to study in Europe and recommendations from friends had put the Nordic country and its high standard of education on Juan’s radar, and he ended up on a scholarship in the Land of the Curious.
He remembers his time at LUT University fondly: “It was like being an adult without being an adult yet”. Life in Lappeenranta is surprisingly affordable with average costs of living ranging between 500-700 euros monthly.
Student housing and numerous discounts allow students to fully focus on their studies. Juan fondly recalls: “I still remember – 1.75 euros was the price for lunch at the time I studied.” To this day, with its current rate of 2.55 euros and all-you-can-eat philosophy, the LUT buffet remains the main food source in the Land of the Curious.
Juan’s integration into Finland was supercharged by his passion for music. Joining three bands allowed him to meet people and make Finnish friends. It’s a valuable tip for other international students: “The opportunity to meet people through a hobby was invaluable. That’s one heck of a tip to all international students who come to Finland: pursue what you’re good at outside of studies—it opens doors."
Education meets industry – a love story made in Finland
It was during his studies that Juan first learned about Rovio, a prime example of born global companies. Rovio Entertainment Corporation is a global mobile-first games company that creates, develops, and publishes mobile games, which have been downloaded over 5 billion times.
LUT’s DNA is closely intertwined with the respective industries, and most programmes offer company excursions. A visit to KONE, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, opened the Colombian student’s eyes to the career potential up north: “The opportunity to see a real-world, international company that caters to the entire world impressed me. Seeing big, successful companies from Finland that have made it onto the global arena inspired me.”
In Juan’s opinion, the commitment to high educational standards is what paved the way for Finnish companies to the international stage : “Finland deserves its reputation as a massive player in the gaming industry. Finland has spent decades working on education that’s the base for the tech industry as we know it."
Cold emails, video CVs and sisu – breaking into the Finnish job market
Breaking into the job market after graduation, however, was the first big challenge Juan faced in Finland: “Having a degree does not necessarily mean you’re going to trump everyone – it really depends on how you build your CV and sell yourself. LUT gives you the tools, but it’s up to you what you make of it.”
On top of the academic education and professional skills, LUT offers its students and alumni professional support in the form of the career services to start building their career and learn application skills.
For Juan, landing a job required effort, creativity and a good dose of the Finnish concept sisu (a mixture of resilience, grit and dedication). Juan travelled three hours by train to Helsinki with the cheapest ticket at 6:00 in the morning, attended his 20-minute interview and travelled back to Lappeenranta with the last train.
Using his public speaking skills to his advantage, he crafted video CVs at a time they were not the established part of the application tool kit they are today.
With cold emails and only “English” as a search term for job search engines, he cast a wide net to ultimately catch a big fish.
Milestones and brand evolution – happy end to a global success story
After almost a year, he managed to land his dream job, a social media traineeship at Rovio. The rest is history: just like social media, Juan’s career evolved from community and social media marketing, management and product marketing, shaping the global brand and home to Angry Birds.
Juan’s journey from Colombia to LUT University and beyond exemplifies the global success stories nurtured by Finland’s education system.
For Juan, the next step in Finland is buying a house. Since he already secured a scholarship and owns a car, the house might as well be red.
With a potato field.
