Hellurei! I'm Mikko.

I've been in testing since 2007. That's long enough to have opinions, short enough to still be learning from people newer to this than me.

Right now, I'm Expert QA Lead and Chapter Lead at OP Financial Group — Finland's largest financial services group, serving over six million customers. Big systems. High stakes. The kind of environment where quality isn't optional.

But the work I'm proudest of isn't about testing high-traffic banking systems. It's about what happens to people.

What I actually do

At OP, I run the QA track of our Software Academy. That means designing learning paths, building courses, coaching internal trainers, and figuring out how to take someone from "just started testing" to "confidently leading a QA team." We've trained hundreds of people over the years.

I'm also a Chapter Lead, which means I'm responsible for a community of QA professionals across multiple product teams. Making sure they're connected. Making sure they're growing. Making sure the good ideas from one team reach the other teams.

When I speak at conferences, my talks tend to be about exactly this — how to build QA communities that actually work. Not the theory. The practice. What I've learned from doing it wrong, then gradually less wrong.

The stuff you might want to verify

• 18+ years in software testing
• Expert QA Lead & Chapter Lead at OP Financial Group
• QA Tower Owner at OP Software Academy
• Nominated "Vuoden Testaaja" (Tester of the Year) 2022 by Sytyke ry
• Speaker at Swiss Testing Day, TestCon Europe, Finnish Testing Meetup Group
• Currently completing Executive MBA at Hanken School of Economics
• Languages: Finnish (native), English (fluent), some conversational Swedish

Why I'm starting Paloheimo QA Mentorworks

Building QA communities that outlast any single person — including you.

The ideas I've developed at OP — about communities, academies, quality culture — they shouldn't be locked inside one organization. Other companies face the same challenges. Many don't know where to start.

I want to help.

Not by parachuting in with a playbook, but by working alongside you to figure out what works for your specific organization. What I've learned is adaptable, not prescriptive.

Outside work

I'm based in the Helsinki area. I believe strongly in the Finnish approach to work: be honest, be practical, don't overcomplicate, say what you mean.

If any of this resonates, let's have a conversation. No pitch, no agenda — just two people talking about quality.