5 Reasons To Quit Your Job In a Startup And Join A Corporation

 We often write about startups aiming to revolutionise particular industries and make it easier for us, consumers to enjoy better quality products and services. Yet large companies are also releasing new products, driving innovation in their field.

Despite the growing amount of fintech startups in the region, large banks stay up to speed and offer a wide range of payment solutions to their customers. On March 1 Nordea launched  Siirto – person to person mobile payment that allows you to send money on mobile faster and easier. Many other banks will also join the Siirto payment ecosystem during the spring.

The app is available for Android and iOS users.

I met Nordea’s Siirto team consisting of professionals in IT, business and design, to ask them about what it is like to build new products at Nordea. Here’re some takeaways:

You can focus on doing the things you like

If you ever worked in a startup, you probably know what multitasking is. In a fast paced entrepreneurial life, you use to juggle between tasks from different disciplines. The corporate environment is not like that. Here, people have a privilege to focus on the task they are really good at, to constantly grow and improve their skills. “It’s like working in a startup but we don’t need to worry about fundraising and other bureaucracy. Since it’s a big company we have a lot of resources. For example, there is a dedicated person in the company that takes care of all that boring stuff, so we can focus on what we really enjoy doing,” comments Lauri Hahne, main architect behind Siirto app. He started to work for Nordea as a consultant and then switched to be a full-time employee.

You have freedom to choose a project to work on

Today Lauri leads mobile and emerging payment solutions’ architecture, yet Siirto is not the only project he is focusing on. Nordea has a variety of mobile payment solutions in Nordic context, and thus a number of projects for its employees to choose from. “We want to make sure each employee has the freedom to impact what to work on, to find the task he or she is really good at.”

There is very little hierarchy

The idea of Siirto came from our business department after they did their researches and realised customer’s need for such product. Then the product is sent to a technical team and gets built, while the marketing department takes care of how to deliver it in the market. Each department operates as a small company which are connected under one big name. “In our department there is no hierarchy. We appreciate agile way of working, and really getting things done,” says Teppo Jansson, Head of Mobile and Emerging Payment Solutions.

What you do is important

Nordea has a large customer database. That means that many people will use all its consumer products, so they have to be good. How to achieve great results in a corporate environment? “Corporate doesn’t mean slow. We learnt that the best results always come when everyone knows and understands the idea behind each step. It is important for us to maintain good communication between different departments. In the end, what we are working on is really important and will be used by many people – Nordea customers,” says Teppo “That realisation motivates a lot, and pushes us to deliver a great product.”

There is an internal team culture and a “can do” attitude

Each department has its own culture, and it also goes beyond each team. “If we notice something that works best for us, we spread it to other teams and see how they find it in their work. In our department we really work like a startup – push it to the minimum viable product all the time, and then rapidly improving it with new features. While working on Siirto I interacted a lot with our business department to be able to deliver features matching their needs,” comments Lauri. “At Nordea we have a lot of talented people, those who really strive to provide good service for our customers.”

Based on what I have heard (and also to my own surprise), working at the bank can be meaningful, hands-on and fun. So if you are after professional growth and the statements mentioned above resonate with what you are looking for at work, Nordea might be a place to consider when applying for a job. You can check the latest openings here. If you want to join the great team behind

If you want to join the great team behind Siirto and other mobile payment solutions, contact Teppo Jansson, [email protected]. We are currently looking for Java architects, iOS and Android developers.

Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post for Nordea.