Pekka Nikander – Systems Software Developer and Software Architect

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“I´ve written some half a million lines of source code!” This sounds unimaginably, but our freelancer of the week is already an “old hand” in the IT-business. Pekka Nikander is a true generalist, working as a freelance Systems Software Developer and Software Architect. In his home country Finland he is some kind of unique! “I know only a few other people who have anywhere similar experience and competence to me, and even then each of us are unique, with our own unique strengths and weaknesses….”. But how did he get there? An interview with Pekka Nikander…1) First off, can you tell us bit about yourself?
I´m a systems software developer and software architect, in my late 40s, living in Helsinki, Finland. I´ve been programming since 1980, my high school days, when I first had a change to work on a computer. I´ve been working on most aspects of system software from hardware programming (Verilog) to compilers (GCC, LLVM) and even user interfaces, even though most of my major user-close experiences are from mid 1990s or earlier, and therefore somewhat outdated. Altogether I´ve written some half a million lines of source code, mostly in C but also in a dozen or so other programming languages. Some of my open source contributions, including ones to the Tcl/Tk programming environment and to the Unix kernel, are likely to be still in production use in millions of computers worldwide. The longest part of my career I´ve spend on security-related communication protocols; for example, I worked on the Host Identity Protocol (HIP) for seven years while at Ericsson Research. I was a member of the IETF for over a decade, also serving at the IAB (Internet Architecture Board) for one year. I´ve now been part-time freelancing since May 2014, but I´ve also been doing occasional freelance jobs throughout my career. Besides freelancing, I´m the Chief Software Architect at Senseg, a Research Fellow at Aalto University, and an active member of the Ell-i open source co-operative.

2) If you would search for your profile on Google, which are the three keywords you would type in the search bar?
This is an impossible question for me, since I´m mostly a generalist. I´m not extremely good at almost anything; I used to be pretty good in security protocols, but I´ve lost my touch during the last few years. Instead, my main strength is that I can master the whole system, from hardware to the user interface, with the exceptions of databases, expert systems, and big data, which I haven´t been doing. I´m able to design basic electronic schematics and even PCB layouts, can program FPGAs, have written a tiny operating system of my own and now leading to develop another open source RTOS at the Ell-i co-op, used to know the Unix kernel very well (from mid 1980s until early 1990s) and more recently gained the hands-on ability to write Linux device drivers. I´ve extensively tweaked with the internals of both GCC (the GNU Compiler Collection) and LLVM (the main contender to GCC), and participated in the specification and/or implemented over a dozen of communication protocols, including ARP, CoAP, EAP, EAPOL, IP, IPSEC, HIP, SSH, TCP, TN3270, and UDP. I have formally proven a few small programs correct and found bugs in others using formal analysis, written a few software frameworks in C, Java, and C++, and implemented half a dozen of commercially used applications, among other things. I was one of the first XP (Extreme Programming) practitioners in Finland, but never bothered to learn Scrum. Besides electronics and software development, I also have some experience in socio-economic analysis, game theory, and system dynamics modelling.

3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer?
I like to do diverse interesting projects. Now that I´m devoting half of my time to open source, it makes sense also to do freelancing with open source software and hardware.

4) What kind of services have your clients asked you to provide?
While I haven´t had a single paying client since I formally started this month, over the past 15 years I´ve been helping various companies to re-architect their software frameworks, written communication protocol implementations, performed hands-on penetration testing, and even helped the clients to define software-related IPR and defence system patents in the court, among other things. In 1988-1998, while at Nixu, the first company I founded, I worked most of my time as a technical consultant and contract programmer. Nowadays I´m mostly interested in open source hardware and software, e.g. open source embedded systems, focusing on fixed Internet of Things at the Ell-i open source co-operative. However, as a freelancer I´m interested in almost anything technically challenging, and willing to learn new things as needed.

5) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess?
I´m still trying to figure out how to build my network. At the Ell-i open source co-operative, we have about a dozen of people with various skills ranging from technical to management and legal. Many of us are also available for contract jobs, either as individuals or as an ad hoc group.

6) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services?
I´m not “actively” looking for clients. If clients find me, that is excellent, but if they don´t, that´s fine, too. So, I´m mostly doing passive marketing. I´ve had my own website since 1995 or so, but it is currently slightly broken. The Ell-i co-op has its own, professionally managed web site, but we are not really promoting the freelancing side of our operations there.

7) What about freelancermap.com? Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with our IT-network?
No comments as of yet; I´ve just started to use freelancemap.com.

8) How do you set yourself apart from your competitors?
I think I´m pretty unique as a generalist. At least here in Finland I know only a few other people who have anywhere similar experience and competence to me, and even then each of us are unique, with our own unique strengths and weaknesses.

9) What are the top three books, blogs or magazines you read to stay up to date in the IT-market?
I´m reading books all the time, right now “Grounding and Shielding” by Ralph Morrison, one of the classics in electronics design, originally written in the 1960s, and “Structural holes” by Ronald S. Burt, a study in social dynamics of competition. Neither of them is exceptionally good, so I don´t recommend them unless you are interested in just those topics. I recently finished rereading David Graeber´s “Debt: The First 5000 Years,” which I wholeheartedly commend, and I´m planning to start Piketty´s “Capital in the 21st century” soon. In general, I don´t think it is possible to read books or magazines to stay up to date; I read them to extend my knowledge to new areas. The only magazine I read semi-regulary is Scientific American, but even that has been dull at times; I´ve considered switching over to Nature and Science, but haven´t done that since they would require quite a lot of time to follow properly. What comes to blogs, the IT market is so wide that it is not possible to stay bleeding edge with them, either. If you want to go bleeding edge somewhere, you have to become part of the community and start going to the conferences, preferably writing articles yourself.

10) Freestyle! Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?
Learning new things and being able to combine it with existing knowledge is probably the most satisfying thing I know in life. For example, I have recently learned how to build Switching Mode Power Supplies (SMPS), i.e. electronic circuits that are used to convert mains or other electricity into a format that can be used directly to power things like high power LED lamps, electric motors, solenoids, etc. Before this, I had not done any electronics since my student days in the 80s. Hence, after a break of 25 years, learning how to draw schematics, simulate analog circuits, prototype them with breadboards, design PCB layouts, etc, has been great fun. I´m really looking forward to be able to apply that knowledge with future designs in Ell-i, creating intelligent electrical devices that communicate with each other and the Internet.

Where to find Pekka Nikander?

The interview was conducted by Doreen Schollmeier – freelancermap.com team.

Pic: © Pekka Nikander

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Doreen Schollmeier

Doreen Schollmeier is dealing with the international freelancing and outsourcing market for more than 5 years and knows both sides of the coin. After working as a project manager for an India based company until 2012, supporting the company to find clients worldwide, she nowadays helps freelancers to find jobs and clients.

By Doreen Schollmeier

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