Get to know Kalle Sirkesalo, Eficode’s CTO of Managed Services

The DevOps stage at DevTalks 2025 has another top voice joining. Kalle Sirkesalo has prepared a great keynote about DevOps toolchains, and he’s as ready as ever to shake the ground on June 5th. He has a lot of experience in the tech world and is a long time Eficodean, so in this interview you get to learn more about his perspective on the industry, and even learn some fun facts.

1. Can you introduce yourself in a few words? 

Hello, I am Kalle Sirkesalo and I work as the CTO of Managed Services in Eficode. I have been here for ~11 years when I started we were 50 people and now we are over 700. During summers I sail in the baltic sea. 

2. What is the favorite part of your job? 

I love to work with customers on their tooling strategies and how do we implement them together. Especially seeing the impact of the work is very rewarding. 

3. How has the industry changed in the last 5 years?  

At the sametime it hasn't and it has massively. We have seen a lot of new tools and technologies but the core of the work is still the same. We are still trying to solve the same problems but now we have more options to choose from, and AI has sped up the capability of the top engineers to solve the problems. The biggest change however is that now we are under a massive transformation as an industry, that makes it almost impossible to get a starting job. This is due to AI removing the junior tasks, by making seniors capable of comanding AI to do the work for them. This is a massive change in the industry and I am not sure how it will play out long term, but has short term effectivity improvements.  

4. How do you see AI/ML (or another relevant topic) shaping your area of expertise in the next few years? 

I see it as a massive opportunity. It will change everything we do. It's like when internet or iPhone came out. Basically all our interfaces are going to change, you might no longer see the webpages we used to build as we can reinvent them completely. We can automate many of the things we never had time, with simple prompts, but at the sametime we are going to create massive amounts of technical debt, which will create lot of work for the already experienced engineers. Our largest challenge will be how to train juniors in the age of AI.  

5. If you could invent any piece of technology that doesn't currently exist, what would it be and why? 

Working fusion power, it would solve our energy problems and we could have unlimited clean energy, which would then again solve many of the problems we have in the world such as climate change and enable us to invent new technologies, like interstellar travel or growing food in places where it wasn't possible before.  

6. What has been your favorite event of the last year so far and why? 

I think I liked Future of Software event in London the most, I ended up meeting lot of customers that I have been talking on and off again a lot. It was great hearing them and the after talks about AI dystopia were very intersesting.  

7. What’s your favorite productivity hack or daily habit that helps you stay focused? 

Remove all the notifications from your phone and computer. I have no notifications on my phone, and I check my email only 2-3 times a day. This way I can focus on the work that matters and not get distracted by the noise. 

8. If you could time-travel to any point in history with a piece of modern technology, where would you go and what would you bring? 

Most of the technologies build on top of each other, which makes it so that taking modern technology to historical past as standalone would not enhance world that much.  

Assuming I could somehow replicate solar panels, I would take them to the 1800s and show them how to build them. This would enable us to have clean energy much earlier, which would have changed the world. 

However taking modern physics to the past would be a bit more interesting, as we could then build the technologies that we have today much earlier, for example to 1600's 

9. If you could switch careers with anyone for a day, who would it be and why? 

Hard question, basically becoming a certain top politician in certain country would allow major peace changes. I wouldn't be able to probably do a lot in a day so learning wise I think getting a view on how a top CEO like Satya Nadella works would be interesting. I would like to see how they think and what are their daily tasks. 

10. What is your message for our Romania IT community? 

It might be tough out there right now, but there is more opportunity than ever to disrupt the market. Don't be afraid to take risks and try new things. The world is changing fast, and those who are willing to adapt and innovate will thrive. Keep learning and growing, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. The community is here to support you.  

Now that you know a little about Kalle, join DevTalks Romania on June 4^th-5^th and connect with him on the DevOps Stage.