Flair for research and graphics turned into a career

15.08.2011

“You’d be surprised how much research goes into making that funny little fish swim about in that funny-looking water,” says Olli Etuaho jokingly. Olli is a game developer, currently pursuing a Master’s degree in technology. He is also a former participant in the Academy of Finland’s Viksu science competition, placing seventh in 2003. Already back then, he was touching on the subject of information technology, a subject that would all but immerse him in a few years’ time, albeit after a few twists and turns.

At upper secondary school, Olli was in the mathematics programme at Päivölä Adult Education Institute in Valkeakoski, 35 kilometres south of Tampere. For his entry to the Viksu competition, he decided to compare different lossy image compression techniques. “I was very into information technology. And I’m quite a visual person anyway – drawing has long been a favourite hobby of mine. I think that’s where I got the topic for my entry,” Olli remembers. He took his matriculation examination in 2004 and, thanks to his success in the Viksu competition, was guaranteed automatic entry to university. “I chose between the two biggest technology institutions in the country, Helsinki University of Technology (today Aalto University) and Tampere University of Technology. I ended up going to Tampere, mainly because I liked Tampere more as a city,” says Olli.

Natural sciences gave way to IT

Olli started his studies in the science and engineering degree programme. “However, in my second and third year I began to think about transferring to another programme. And after my third year, I finally changed over to information technology.”

It was evidently a wise decision; he has now nearly completed his studies, save for his Master’s thesis.

“Initially, I perhaps had a slightly misconstrued impression of physics and mathematics. They weren’t as interesting as I had expected. Many subjects change quite drastically when moving from upper secondary school to university, and it’s hard to know what you’re favourite subjects will be later on,” Olli muses.

On the other hand, the university brings a host of new subjects and options that are not available at lower levels. “For example, at Tampere they offer a dedicated programme for signal processing – images, speech, video, everything. That’s pretty close to the topic of my Viksu entry, but at that time I didn’t even know there was such a thing. Knowing more about the research in the field could have been very useful in writing and improving the competition entry, as it was a bit experimental,” Olli says.

This week, I have been mostly 3D-ing in-game graphics

In keeping with the topic of his Viksu competition entry, what mainly interests Olli is the visual bits of information technology, such as 3D graphics. In fact, for two years, he worked for a Tampere-based game development company called 10tons Ltd. His title was Game Developer, but it might as well have been jack-of-all-trades, as versatility was very much in demand in such a small company. He also did design work. “It was a rewarding job, in that you got to be wildly creative,” he says.

As for his future plans, he hopes to be able to combine practical work and “top-notch scientific research” in a field that interests him. Olli says the graphics field has developed at a furious pace over the last 20 years. “It’s all about creating the fastest possible graphics and making them look as realistic as possible. Rendering realistic images of three-dimensional elements such as smoke or water is by no means an easy feat.”

Back to Päivölä in a new role

The past year, Olli has been back at Päivölä Adult Education Institute, this time completing his non-military service. “Now seemed as good a time as any to do my service – I have completed most of my studies,” he says.

“Doing my non-military service at Päivölä has been very rewarding. I’ve had a chance to do all sorts of things and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been an assistant teacher and run short IT courses. In addition, I’ve worked on the Institute’s computer systems, doing everything from installing network cables to developing web-based software. I guess very few people get to do so many varied tasks during their service. Of course, I’ve put in long hours and felt the stress, but I’ve also managed to be on holiday for a few days. I’m sure I’ll be back at Päivölä again as a visiting teacher.”

Next up: new job and Master’s thesis

In September, Olli will start his new job at computer graphics developer Nvidia in Helsinki. So he will move from Tampere to Helsinki. He has already found a suitable flat in the city centre.

“At the start of my studies, I was somehow wary of Helsinki as a city, so much so that it influenced where I wanted to study. Now, however, I’m beginning to feel at home in Helsinki, too. A large part of the thanks goes to Kjell Westö’s books, which have really made me understand Helsinki better.”

As for his new job, Olli is eagerly waiting to learn and create new things, and to participate in international projects. “Exactly what I’ll be doing is confidential – I myself will only know in August what I’ll be doing during the autumn. However, my job title is System Software Engineer, Web and Graphics Technologies, so I’ll be closely involved in programming and Nvidia’s graphics technologies. The topic of my thesis is still unclear, but it’ll be clearer after I’ve found my feet at the company. I hope to be able to do research on some Nvidia-related topic, so that I can effectively combine my day job and my thesis work.”

Olli does not feel nervous about his Master’s thesis, since he has had quite positive experiences of his previous research efforts. “The Viksu competition entry was my first real foray into doing research. It provided an excellent foundation for my Bachelor’s thesis, which I was more confident to write. Thanks to these experiences, later research-related assignments were a breeze,” Olli says with a smile.

Small step for mankind, giant leap for computer game buffs

There is plenty in the world of science that interests Olli. “I’d like to see more investment in science and research. There’s no way it won’t pay off,” he says. “I’m also intrigued by progress in general. I firmly believe that the next centuries or even decades will in many ways be of crucial importance to life as we know it. It’ll be very exciting to play a part in building the future; to discover things that no-one else has thought of before. Even the smallest of things can influence the lives of so many,” Olli deliberates, and adds with a laugh, “If not for everyone, at least for gamers!”

For Olli’s personal web pages, go to www.oletus.fi.

Text: Katri Koskela and Terhi Loukiainen
Photos: Olli Etuaho