Meet the Practitioners Behind Breakout Labs: Timo

A couple of years ago, I spotted something unusual in the Data Freelancers Slack community.

Another Finn! 🇫🇮

It was Timo Särkkä, he had introed himself in the #introductions channel. Meeting another Finnish data freelancer was rare for me, so I immediately rushed to introduce myself 😄

We got talking, had a virtual coffee and hit it off.

Timo was working as a data engineer and was curious about freelancing. I was building my “dbt with Simo” courses back then and could use some help. So, we started working together.

Fast forward a bit. “dbt with Simo” had evolved into something bigger and Marvin and I were starting Breakout Labs. We were in Stockholm talking about our first hire (we wanted to get our first consultant onboard). Guess who came to mind first? 😄

The timing couldn’t have been better. Timo was finishing up a client engagement and considering his next move.

When I asked Timo what made him join us, he said he loved the idea of building something from scratch but not having to do it alone. And then he added:

“I mean, who doesn’t love a good underdog story of starting a company from nothing?”

Hell yeah, let’s go underdogs! 🚀

Anyway, it’s now been over a year and what a year it’s been!

Timo has been working on some really cool analytics engineering projects, tackling all kinds of technical challenges and learning a ton along the way.

When I asked him to reflect on his first year, he said:

“Back then, I feel like my mindset was still all about the tools. Slowly, I’m starting to see the patterns and problems that any ELT pipeline or an architecture will have, no matter what the tool stack.”

I think this is one of the defining steps in becoming a senior engineer. You stop thinking primarily about tools and start recognizing the underlying patterns and problems.

And with AI increasingly taking care of implementation, I think this kind of thinking is becoming more valuable than ever.

But Timo’s learning to look beyond the engineering problems too, to really understand the business problems behind the data.

As he put it: “After all, the point is to solve business problems, not build data solutions for their own sake.”

Timo credits some of that growth to working closely with Marvin Geerken, particularly learning to keep the bigger picture in mind.

And of course, I also wanted to hear Marvin’s perspective. So I asked him what he appreciates most about working with Timo. His response made me smile:

“The type of guy you’re looking forward to having a meeting with.” :)

Because beyond all the technical skills, Timo brings so much to our team simply by being who he is. Sociable, curious, easy to work with and always great company.

Looking back, it’s pretty cool that a random encounter in a Slack community (shout out to Dimitri Visnadi who runs the community, keep it up!) led us here.

I’m happy our paths crossed, Timo. And even happier that you’re building Breakout Labs with us! ❤️