akisaarinen.fi
Personal homepage of Aki Saarinen

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there's anything you'd like to ask from me or if there's something you want to let me know (except if you're a spambot, then please leave me alone you evil little bastard!).

• E-mail: firstname@akisaarinen.fi
• Phone: +358 40 568 0098
• IRC: huamn @ IRCNet, Quakenet and occasionally FreeNode

Since February 2009 I've been working as a software developer at Reaktor, a Finnish software company specializing in expert IT services and effective software solutions.


Before Reaktor I worked as a software engineer at Image Soft Oy, a software company based in Helsinki, specializing in advanced industrial measurement and data acquisition systems, remote maintenance products and demanding signal processing software. I worked for Image Soft from 2004 to 2009, doing software development with mostly C++ for both Windows and Linux.

You can also take a look at my LinkedIn profile.

I graduated from Helsinki University of Technology, department of Computer Science and Engineering. My major subject was Computer and Information Science and minor Telecommunications Software.

I wrote my master's thesis at Reaktor about concurrency control in Group Editors in the context of a Product Backlog management tool. It was approved with the grade 5 (excellent).

» Concurrency Control in Group Editors: Case Study in a Product Backlog Tool (PDF)

Here are some non-commercial projects I've participated in:

• NetOgler, a distributed data gathering platform. Developed with C++ using the Qt framework as a summer project with Teijo Laine.
• Centripetality, Winner of Assembly Summer 2007 Game Development Competition (See video)
• PoolFXP, A Java-based pool-game developed during a course in Object Oriented programming,

Business on the beach (midsummer 2006)	Hardcore surfing (midsummer 2007)	Flying! (midsummer 2008)
A tough game of pétanque with style (midsummer 2009)

Yeah, I like midsummers! It seems to be getting wilder each year...

General:

• My Delicious links (at times, there might be something interesting)
• My LinkedIn profile
• My Facebook page - Ha, there is none!

Some friends of mine:

• Teijo Laine - Homepage
• Henri Tuomola - Homepage
• Oiva Eskola - Personal blog (in Finnish)
• Olli Huotari - Homepage
• Juho Vähä-Herttua - Homepage
• Pyry Lahti - Homepage
• Tero Laitinen - Homepage

I know you all want to know this, so here it goes, a reply from Randall Munroe about xkcd #302 being a reference to a Friends episode.

From: Randall Munroe <press@xkcd.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: Is xkcd #302 (Names) referencing to the TV show Friends?
To: Aki Saarinen <XXX@akisaarinen.fi>

On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 4:44 AM, Aki Saarinen <XXX@akisaarinen.fi> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was left wondering whether xkcd http://xkcd.com/302/ (Names), is
> referencing the popular TV show Friends by using the name Rachel in the
> altar (as you might know, Ross failed at the altar by saying Rachel instead
> of Emily in the Friends season 4 episode 24).
>
> I'm a fan of the Friends, so I can't help but think that this is yet another
> ingenious reference in the xkcd series. But it might just be a coincidence,
> too... I can't rest until I know the truth, so if you have the time to
> answer this, I'd be really pleased!  :) 
>
> Sincerely,
> Aki Saarinen

You can rest -- sadly, it's not a reference.  I am pretty unfamiliar
with Friends.  I think I've seen about one episode, total.  It's a big
gap in my pop-culture knowledge.  It's just based on my own
embarrassing experience (suitably exaggerated)  :) 

Best,

Randall

I was of course a little bit disappointed that it was not referencing Friends but really big thanks to Randall for replying! Finally, I can rest.