Engi­neer Chris­t­ian Padil­la’s Jour­ney: “Oulu Changed My Life”

Meet Chris­t­ian, an Ecuado­ri­an soft­ware engi­neer, as he shares his expe­ri­ence of liv­ing, study­ing, and work­ing in Oulu, Fin­land.

Chris­t­ian Padil­la, orig­i­nal­ly from Ecuador, is 31 years old and has lived in Oulu for almost five years since July 2020.
He ini­tial­ly came to Oulu to study and decid­ed to stay after com­plet­ing his stud­ies. At the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, he majored in wire­less com­mu­ni­ca­tions.

– Oulu is renowned for this field, mak­ing it one of the best places to study telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, Chris­t­ian says.

Chris­t­ian has worked at Nokia for two and a half years. He secured this posi­tion while work­ing as a research assis­tant at the uni­ver­si­ty. Study­ing in Oulu pro­vides stu­dents with strong con­nec­tions to pro­fes­sion­als in this field, includ­ing teach­ers and com­pa­ny rep­re­sen­ta­tives, Chris­t­ian men­tions.

“The Best Price-Ben­e­fit Ratio”

Oulu is a fam­i­ly-ori­ent­ed city, Chris­t­ian feels. Peo­ple here tend to focus more on build­ing fam­i­lies, he thinks.

Pub­lic trans­port and cus­tomer ser­vice are excel­lent, and the peo­ple are very kind.

– Oulu offers a great, if not the best, price-ben­e­fit ratio. One can find a bet­ter place to live for less mon­ey. The city’s small size is an advan­tage, pro­vid­ing mobil­i­ty and sav­ing time. Every­thing is close by, from the library to gyms and restau­rants, Chris­t­ian reveals.

This con­ve­nience allows peo­ple to do more and save mon­ey, mak­ing for a very com­fort­able lifestyle, he notes.

For those mov­ing to Oulu, espe­cial­ly inter­na­tion­al stu­dents, Chris­t­ian rec­om­mends enrolling in a soft­ware engi­neer­ing pro­gram. Oulu is a hub for hard­ware, soft­ware, and elec­tron­ics, offer­ing great job oppor­tu­ni­ties.

He also sug­gests get­ting a bike for easy com­mut­ing.

The First Snow

Chris­t­ian ini­tial­ly want­ed to move to Europe and con­sid­ered job and aca­d­e­m­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties in Swe­den and Fin­land. He chose Fin­land, specif­i­cal­ly Oulu, because of the aca­d­e­m­ic pro­gram.

– Hon­est­ly, I did­n’t know much about Fin­land before­hand – just blonde peo­ple and snow, Chris­t­ian laughs.

– A brochure from the embassy showed snow in almost every pic­ture. I also read about the world’s best edu­ca­tion sys­tem and a stress-free lifestyle.

When he arrived in Oulu, it was a beau­ti­ful sum­mer and sur­pris­ing­ly hot.

The first time Chris­t­ian touched snow was in Fin­land at the age of 27. It was amaz­ing, and the win­ter scenery was breath­tak­ing – every­thing was so white and clean.

– My home­town of Quito is cold year-round, but well, not as cold as Fin­land.

He does­n’t mind high tem­per­a­tures but strug­gles with the dark­ness of the Finnish win­ter. Novem­ber and Decem­ber are tough, while Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary are bet­ter.

He has recent­ly tak­en up ski­ing and often goes to Rusko­tun­turi, a ski­ing cen­ter near Oulu’s city cen­ter.

“Cof­fee Is a Big Thing”

In the sum­mer, Chris­t­ian enjoys vis­it­ing Tor­in­ran­ta (the mar­ket­place) for food and relax­ing with friends. He also likes going to beach­es and water parks.

Chris­t­ian has sev­er­al favorite places in Oulu, includ­ing Rita­har­ju and Top­pi­lansal­mi. He enjoys spend­ing time there in the sum­mer as well.

Cur­rent­ly, he lives in the city cen­ter to reduce com­mut­ing times and focus on per­son­al projects and self-devel­op­ment.
Oulu has an amaz­ing cycle­way net­work, mak­ing bik­ing a relax­ing activ­i­ty, he notes.

– Back home in Ecuador, bik­ing was­n’t a com­mut­ing activ­i­ty but some­thing fun to do in parks where you rent bikes, Chris­t­ian adds.

He owns a bike in Oulu but avoids cycling in win­ter after a minor acci­dent. He twist­ed his ankle due to slip­pery con­di­tions, so now he bikes only in the sum­mer.

Chris­t­ian thinks Finnish peo­ple are very shy. It’s not a big deal; one just needs to be more social and patient. He has built a net­work most­ly through his study pro­gram, which attracts many inter­na­tion­al stu­dents. Now, he has col­leagues at work who are very help­ful and friend­ly.

Their office is very qui­et, allow­ing them to focus on their work. Dur­ing the work­day, they have two cof­fee breaks.

Cof­fee is a big thing in Fin­land, he men­tions. Chris­t­ian is not a cof­fee per­son, but he enjoys spend­ing time with his col­leagues, whom he now con­sid­ers friends. Cof­fee breaks help them relax and recharge before con­tin­u­ing their work.

His job is flex­i­ble and hybrid, allow­ing him to work from cof­fee shops, which boosts his pro­duc­tiv­i­ty.

“Libraries Are Amaz­ing”

Chris­t­ian loves read­ing. He also enjoys learn­ing new things and often takes online cours­es. Run­ning, gam­ing, and going to the movies with friends are some of his oth­er hob­bies.

Accord­ing to Chris­t­ian, Finnish libraries are amaz­ing, offer­ing free resources and a place to work or relax. He has a library card and often bor­rows books.

Libraries in Fin­land are not just qui­et spaces; they have group work areas and sec­tions where peo­ple can enjoy movies and music, he adds.

Chris­t­ian has stud­ied Finnish and plans to con­tin­ue because he aims to obtain cit­i­zen­ship some­day. Finnish is a dif­fi­cult lan­guage, but even his lim­it­ed knowl­edge has been use­ful. Not every­thing is in Eng­lish, so know­ing some Finnish helps, he states.

Before mov­ing, he didn’t even know Oulu exist­ed, but now he appre­ci­ates the stress-free life, job oppor­tu­ni­ties, and city ser­vices.

– Mov­ing to Oulu has changed my life, Chris­t­ian high­lights.

– Nokia has been very good to me, and it’s incred­i­ble to know that my work con­nects mil­lions of peo­ple.

Text: Annakaisa Vääränie­mi