Davit Nugroho, On Balancing Work/Study and Programming for Marketing
Davit Nugroho, a Software Engineer at Mekari, was actually planning to work at another company. However, he got referred and accepted to work at Sleekr instead. Now, he’s in his third year of working at Mekari. Even though his career didn’t quite go according to his plan, he never regrets his choice to work in Mekari.
Being a software engineer in the Marketing division
Davit works at Mekari as a Software Engineer in the Marketing Division. He is responsible to support the marketing team by creating landing pages to promote Mekari’s products and ensuring customers can easily access the product information. Even though he has years of experience as a Front-end engineer, he is still new in the marketing world. “I was positioned in the marketing division just 2 months ago, so I still don’t know much about marketing. There are a lot of things to learn about it. Thankfully, I’m surrounded by supportive people. They are always open to sharing their knowledge and helping me to learn more about marketing. It really helps me in adapting to the new division,” Davit said.
Balancing work and study at the same time
Davit lives in Surabaya, East Java. After graduating from high school, he started his first job in Jakarta. After 3 years, he decided to go back to his hometown to continue studying in higher education. However, he still needed to work in order to be able to pay the tuition. He then looked for a job that would allow him to work and study at the same time. He initially applied to work at a design agency as a Front-end Engineer. However, the agency’s owner later referred him to work at an early-stage startup, Sleekr (now an entity of Mekari). “I didn’t know about startups before, much less about Sleekr. Because I needed to work to pay my tuition, I accepted the offer. I’m so glad of my choice back then,” Davit said.
Of course, it was not easy for him to balance both work and study at the same time. Good time management was something he needed to possess. That way, he could finish his work, study at the university, and still make time to rest or spend time with his loved ones. Davit shared his experience in managing time effectively when he was still studying in university, “My class usually started around 4 in the evening. To fit in with my study, I started working 2 hours earlier. I always make sure that I finish every job of that day. That way, I could completely focus on studying for the rest of the day. In the evening, I spared 2 hours before sleeping to do my homework or continue working on unfinished jobs. This schedule helped me to really focus on working and studying on weekdays, and allowed mellowing me to just rest or spend time with friends during the weekend.”
3 things that represent Mekari: Flexibility, Great Appreciation to Employees, and Many Room to Grow
For Davit, one of the reasons why he loves working in Mekari is because of its flexible culture. “The flexibility allows me to set my own working time, which was necessary to fit in with my schedule at university,” Davit explained.
He also said that Mekari always shows their appreciation to their employees. “Most companies usually focus on customers only, but rarely show their appreciation to the employees. While in Mekari, clients are their top priority but they never forget to appreciate each employee for their hard work and achievements. They care a lot about employee’s happiness and well-being. In my opinion, it is one of the reasons why employees will be loyal to the company and work harder to improve themselves and contribute more to the company’s growth.”
In addition, Davit also mentioned that Mekari always gives room for employees to grow. “Mekari is open if employees want to explore their potential in different roles or suggest new ideas. If employees want to learn new skills through training or workshop, the company is always ready to support them.”
Those 3 things are the reasons why Mekari is such a great workplace for Davit. “I’m happy to work in Mekari. Mekari has many potentials to grow even more. I’m excited to be a part of its journey and witness their success in the future,” Davit said.
