 In 1921 he left on a study tour of Italy (as well as visiting the other Nordic countries, Germany, France and north Africa), a common practice at that time for architects in the Nordic countries who were turning away from National Romanticism.After qualifying Välikangas worked in Yuzovka in Russia (present-day Donetsk in the Ukraine), but had to leave in a hurry with the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution.On his return, he worked for the Brändö Villastad company as well as in the architect's office of Gösta Juslén and, from 1918 to 1920, in the office of Frosterus and Gripenberg.