Yeah, I guess you’re right. I should have checked first. I do recall hearing something outrageous about Nokia and Finnish universities, like that they were hiring 90% of their computer engineering graduates.
BTW, what brought it to a screeching halt? It seemed that at one time Nokia was going to take over the world.
Then again, at one time it seemed that Blackberry/RIM was going to take over the world.
That much is true, we were hiring a boatload of Finns. I guess when the company makes up 40% of the value of the local stock exchange, they end up hiring the majority of tech people.
What brought it to a screeching halt has been a matter of much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and numerous post-mortems in the Finnish press. From my perspective, having worked in their strategy office, it was a case of a company not being able to change its DNA, coupled with some good old-fashioned arrogance. When phones were hardware, they were the best, with a superb supply chain, and then they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, change to become a good software company when smartphones became the most wanted product.
I can share some stories from inside the boardroom, but it wouldn’t be prudent to do so in public, and don’t want to hijack the thread any further.