Johanna Tuomivirta is a civil engineer who joined Citec straight from school some 15 years ago. She started at Citec as a steel designer and then moved to piping and layout. With hard work and the right attitude Johanna advanced in her career from designer to a managerial position during her 12 years at Citec. At some point Johanna felt that she needed to widen her horizons professionally so she decided to leave Citec. She tried new things in different companies and had interesting and challenging opportunities, latest one being as project engineer at the City of Vaasa. In the end of February Johanna returned to Citec’s Piping & Layout team as Manager.
Welcome back to Citec, Johanna! Tell us why you decided to return at this point of your career, please.
Thank you! I am happy to be back. When I left I wanted to see what was out there professionally, because I only had experience from Citec. I believe it was very beneficial to have some reference points. Even though in my last job I enjoyed carrying out different types of renovation projects for schools and day-care centres and learned a lot, I felt that I wanted to continue using my long experience in layout and piping. I also missed managerial work with a team and interacting in an international environment, so that’s why I decided to come back to Citec. 
How has your first month been, have many things changed?
I have had a wonderfully warm welcome. The atmosphere is so positive. I have worked the whole time from the office and I have really appreciated being able to interact with my team of ten skilled engineers face to face. It has made my return easier.
I think there is an overall positive drive with everything we do.
You can really see that we have a will to develop new services and ways of working, to evolve.
What is important for you in a work community and does Citec stand out from others?
For me a positive atmosphere is important. I want everyone to be able to enjoy coming to work and as a manager I do my best in contributing to people having fun at work. We have that at Citec. But having fun doesn’t exclude being professional and productive. It means being able to be yourself and having a well-functioning team. The job itself is demanding and can be stressful from time to time, but the spirit in the team must be light. The best things that make Citec different, in my opinion, are the modern leadership culture and a flat organisation. We respect each other.
It’s great to have you onboard Johanna!
Interested to read more career stories? You can meet other Citecians here.
