A year ago, I wrote a Year In Review post for one of the craziest 365 days of my life, both personally (got married), and professionally (started at NetBooster, and toured the world talking about Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager). Now it’s time for another recap, and the chance to announce a big change in the Simoverse.

Simo and Mari at Google

No, I will not be joining Google (made you think so!).

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Goodbye NetBooster

I will be leaving NetBooster, where I have been the Head of Analytics for the Nordic countries over the past months. I held a number of positions before, e.g. SEO Manager, Production Director, and Web Analytics Supergeek (I made up the last title), but I was always gravitating towards data and analytics, so the last appointment was a very satisfying one.

Leaving is going to bittersweet, as the future looks very interesting and challenging (more on that below), but at the same time I consider NetBooster to be my alma mater, and it’s not easy for me to say goodbye to the company that really made me feel like I’ve found my place in the world.

NetBooster is an amazing company, with a very clear vision of where they want to be. They have a lot of crazily talented individuals and experts doing their best to push towards this vision. For a listed company, I always thought that the pace at NetBooster was extraordinary without sacrificing strategy or quality of work.

I also got to work with some of the most intelligent people I know: Kristoffer Ewald, Mark Edmondson, Christian Pluzek, Thomas Hubert, Daniel Carlbom, Krister Collin, Antti Raami, just to name a few. Their professionalism alone made it an amazing adventure for me, and I felt dwarfed by their incredible work ethic.

I know things are in good hands, as Fanny Le Béguec, a veteran in the analytics circuit, has taken over the responsibilities for driving Nordic analytics strategy. I couldn’t be happier that she’s in the ropes, and I’m sure she’ll make everyone forget who I ever was in no time.

As for where I’m going?

Hello Reaktor

I’m going to be joining probably the coolest company in Finland. Reaktor is a full-service technology house, and they employ some of the best developers, designers, and innovators in Finland.

I will be joining them as a Senior Data Advocate, bringing with me my own expertise on web analytics implementation, data collection, and data integration. I am also looking forward to setting up a proper digital analytics culture in Finland, since Reaktor has a very strong track record of community building.

For me, this is an amazing opportunity to accumulate new skills in data science, big data, and front-end development.

I will continue my Google nerdom, and I hope to “Googlify” Reaktor as well, even though they have a non-commitment to any single platform, which I very much respect.

I will also continue the outreach I’ve been doing thus far, keeping up with my blogging, being very active as a Google Developer Expert, and keeping close ties to Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager development. I’ll continue touring the conference circuit as well, just under a different banner this time.

All in all, a very exciting change for me. Hopefully, it will be a big change for the digital analytics community in Finland as well, if and when we start paving the way for no-strings-attached knowledge transfer that’s already blooming elsewhere in Europe.

Blog stats

Well, my traffic has continued to grow:

Traffic growth over 365 days

There was a dip around Christmas and the winter holidays, and in February-March I foolishly added a broken Event which I let inflate my sessions for way too long (4-5 weeks). Regardless, I’m still amazed how a niche blog can get so much attention, and I’m forever grateful to anyone interested enough to read these articles.

My top 10 articles over the past 365 days, measured by Unique Page Views (in parentheses) are:

  1. Macro Guide For Google Tag Manager - 11 Feb 2014 (45594)

  2. Advanced Form Tracking In Google Tag Manager - 7 Apr 2014 (36961)

  3. Macro Magic For Google Tag Manager - 21 Mar 2014 (21881)

  4. Some Awesome Google Tag Manager Resources - 26 Feb 2014 (16230)

  5. Auto-Event Tracking In Google Tag Manager - 2 Oct 2013 (15216)

  6. eCommerce Tips For Google Tag Manager - 6 Oct 2014 (14133)

  7. Google Tag Manager: Track Social Interactions - 7 Nov 2013 (11781)

  8. Google Tag Manager: Playing By The Rules - 3 Mar 2014 (11184)

  9. Universal Analytics: Weather As A Custom Dimension - 19 Sep 2013 (10316)

  10. Why Don’t My GTM Listeners Work? - 14 Feb 2014 (9541)

Lots of older articles in that list, but I’ve written a lot of nice stuff in 2015 as well, so let’s hope the top 10 looks different in a year or so.

Overall, I’ve written 138606 words over the 100 articles.

Since starting the blog, I’ve had the pleasure of receiving visits from 151901 users, across 335925 sessions, spanning 572925 pageviews. Amazing stuff!

Blog stats

I’ve received a crazy 1665 comments altogether on my posts, which completely astounds me. The community is just so strong and active!

I’ve written a couple of tools, and I’ve started a #GTMtips post series, which already has 20 (hopefully) useful tips for anyone interested in using GTM. Please use the hashtag in social media if you have cool stuff you want to share with others!

Onwards and upwards

The next 365 days will surely be amazing as well, as I’m just starting to find my groove. I have the most amazing wife with me, and we bought a lovely house in Finland last summer.

Marketing Festival

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you ever see me speaking in a conference or hanging out in an event, come say hi. Always happy to make new friends!