The Freelance Journey of an IT Professional: Insights from Akseli Leino

After graduation, Akseli started his career at a financial group, focusing on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and developing a chatbot using machine learning models. His role as a data scientist was fulfilling, but he yearned for more involvement in software development and data engineering. This desire led him to a transportation company, where he helped build a data platform—a project that particularly piqued his interest. However, life at a startup, which later headhunted him, wasn’t compatible with his plans for family life.

The idea of freelancing started to form, driven by the potential for higher earnings and the flexibility it offered. Despite initial doubts about his skills, the success of a friend in freelancing and the abundance of projects at Finitec helped ease his uncertainty. Akseli felt that Finitec was an agency that genuinely prioritized his needs and acted swiftly to address them. After meeting with various freelance agencies, Akseli confirmed that there was a strong demand for his unique skills in Finland.

His first freelance gig was with the financial group, but in a different team than before, marking the first step towards his freelance career.

Akseli keeps his skills sharp primarily through practical work. Occasionally, he explores research papers for new ideas relevant to his work challenges. He also follows platforms like Hackernews for inspiration and finds meeting vendors enriching for gaining new perspectives. He believes in self-driven development, whether as a freelancer, in-house staff, or consultant, always aiming to avoid becoming stagnant in his projects.

One of Akseli’s notable projects was the development of a secure, company-specific service chat for the financial group following the advent of ChatGPT. This service, used daily by hundreds, was developed using internal company data and has received significant attention from the executive team.

Akseli sees flexibility as a freelancer’s primary advantage. When forming cross-functional teams, clients gain access to deeper expertise and high-performing individuals by leveraging freelancers. He believes freelancers often possess higher-than-average skills due to their strong incentive to succeed in projects. According to Akseli, most freelancers value long-term projects and are willing to commit deeply to their clients.

Moreover, freelancers inherently understand business aspects better, which helps them align their technical work with the commercial success of their clients.

Akseli advises aspiring freelancers to create a compelling and sales-oriented CV. They should identify what skills are in demand by examining job postings or consulting with freelance agencies and emphasize these in their CVs.

Being proactive is crucial—Akseli found that agencies like Finitec were quick to move his application forward. Waiting too long means missing out on opportunities. Everyone is just a regular person at the end of the day, and rejections should be seen as feedback rather than setbacks.

Are you interested in a career in freelancing? Finitec is the leading tech talent agency in Finland. Join our roster: https://www.finitec.fi/en/freelancer#join-roster