About

Hello. My name is Kristo.

I have dedicated over a decade to the world of data. I have worked with small-scale startups, large enterprises, government institutions, and everything between. With experience in consulting, research, and teaching, I am most happy when I can craft efficient data architectures, mentor fellow data-enthusiasts, and raise awareness about the power of data-driven decisions.

My professional journey started with a Bachelor degree from Aarhus University, Denmark, in Marketing and Management Communication. Next, I worked for four years at a media agency in Estonia, after which I started pursuing my Master’s degree in Business IT at Taltech. Concurrently, I worked at Swedbank’s data warehouse, implanting a love towards SQL, data, data warehousing, and data engineering in my brain that is yet to fade. I joined Helmes, one of the largest Estonian IT consulting companies, first as a software analyst, analyzing business requirements and working on technical implementations affecting users across Baltics and Scandinavia. I returned to data engineering at Helmes and continued working with various data projects. After a few years, I felt a need to challenge myself further, and started my PhD at University of Tartu. I received my PhD in late 2024 with my thesis converging on business process mining and streaming data.

I am currently continuing at the University of Tartu as Lecturer in Data Engineering. I enjoy teaching, supervising students, giving talks, and consulting. Since mid-2024 we have hosted an Estonian-language data-related podcast with Lauri Koobas called Laomees ja Torumees. From beginning of 2025 I am also a co-founder of data consultancy company Curione.

Things I enjoy outside of data: my family, sudokus, DIY projects, orienteering, reading (non-fiction & science fiction).