My Journey from Intern to UX Designer
Career Story - Fiia Hartikainen
Hello, my name is Fiia, and I completed my AMK internship at Entteri. My internship started in June 2024 and ended in November 2024, which made my internship 6 months long – including my 4-week summer break. I have a background in dentistry as I have been a dental nurse in my “past life” and used AssisDent during my workdays, so the landing was quite smooth.
My internship started with the very basic things as usual when you start a new job - downloading all the important softwares and systems onto my computer. Later on, I started to actually improve user experiences including some user interface and every week I had a meeting with a couple coworkers. During these meetings I gained new perspective and got guidance on how to continue designing good quality user experiences and interfaces. This particular task was my main task during my internship period. My way of thinking and knowledge of UI/UX designing has improved – however I believe this to be a never-ending learning journey. Also, as a different weekly task, I got to be a part of representing our company and product in Hammaslääkäripäivät (Dental Healthcare Fair) in November. That was overall a really nice event to experience from the other side, as I have always been there just to wander around and buy some toothpaste.
Every Wednesday we have a morning meeting with everybody in the company with some breakfast served, which is a great way to encourage the employees to come to the office. Breaks are highly valued amongst the work society and people tend to use them for playing ping pong, cardboard games or just chatting in general with others. There are also fun and entertainment events happening almost every month excluding summer months when everyone is enjoying their well-deserved holidays. Working hours are very flexible at Entteri which shows that the employees are valued and trusted to handle their own timetables.
I will continue growing as an employee, a coworker, a professional, and will value this phase of my life as I had the chance to transition from an intern to a full-time employee and continue where I left off. The support from my supervisor and everyone in the company has been and continues to be impeccable. From now on I’m aiming to keep learning the design secrets of UX and how to implement them to create more intuitive and user-friendly experiences.
Text: Fiia Hartikainen
Image: Shruti Dharwadkar