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Navigating the Visma jungle

I still remember my first day in Visma as it was yesterday: The early morning flight from Copenhagen to Oslo, the journey from the airport directly to Skøyen, and the elevator ride to the 9th floor at Visma’s headquarters. When I entered the meeting room, I was met by the curious faces of my future Management Trainee colleagues.

People sitting by the water

But what happened after this first day? And what have happened over the past 11 months? Here, I present for you my reflections (some will call it confessions) on my year as a Management Trainee in Visma.

Starting a new job every other month

Imagine starting a new job every other month. I guess that everyone can relate to starting a new job, but how many gets to experience it five times over a one-year period?!

Because the Management Trainee program consists of five rotations during one year, it literally means that you start a new job every second month with all it entails: Starting in a new business unit, in a new department with new colleagues, and with a brand new project and responsibilities.

What I have experienced through these many “first days at work” is that you get surprisingly comfortable with entering new environments and meeting new people. Rapidly, you figure out how to best navigate in the new environment, and how you should approach the project in question. What’s more is that you truly “learn to learn” at a fast pace, as you merely have two months to familiarize with the project and to actually deliver on its goals.

Finding your way in the Visma jungle

Honestly, observing from the outside, Visma might appear as a dense jungle that sprouts and grows bigger every single day; with a continuous flow of acquisitions (25 in 2016), and hundreds of different products, Visma surely is a complex establishment.

As a Management Trainee, you get the opportunity to jump from tree to tree, exploring this fascinating jungle. Working with projects in various business units and within different business disciplines, you gain insight and experiences with projects and responsibilities that you never would have thought of.

Gradually, as I moved from tree to tree, I began to figure out what I really liked to work with and ultimately, I found the right track for me in the Visma jungle.

A comprehensive Visma network

The curious faces I was met by on my first day in Visma have been solid ingredients in my experiences as Management Trainee the past 11 months. In the group, we are four different nationalities, which almost sounds like the beginning of a bad joke; “A Swede, a Norwegian, a Dane and a Finn went to a bar…”

However, it is certainly not a bad joke. All 12 of us have been working on five various projects each during the year. That sums up to 60 (!) unique projects in business units and departments all over Visma. We have continuously discussed our experiences and learnings from our projects. We have shared the challenges we have met on our way, but also the successes when we really nailed it.

Now, we have all landed exciting positions in various parts of Visma, but all the knowledge and learnings, we will carry with us. Most importantly, despite the fact that we will soon be spread throughout the entire Visma organization, we will continue to have our strong network, and continue to share knowledge and our learnings with each other.

This was some of my reflections on the past year as Management Trainee in Visma. Looking back, the past year has taught me A LOT, and has definitely given me invaluable experiences and insights. Now, I cannot wait to continue on my path In Visma.

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