Workhuman’s Erhan Keskin discusses how he has adapted to his new home over the last five years and the most surprising thing about Irish people.
Erhan Keskin is a senior application engineer at Workhuman. He moved to Ireland from Istanbul in Turkey five years ago, having been raised in Samsun, a city located in the Black Sea geographical region of the country.
“It is a very green city by the sea. I grew up on a beautiful beach and parks,” he told SiliconRepublic.com.
Having arrived in Ireland in 2018, Keskin said he decided to move because Ireland had quickly become “a centre of attraction for professionals from all over the world” due its economy, citizens and a thriving cultural scene.
“I started thinking about moving when I got a job offer from Ireland. I thought this would be a great decision both for the reasons I mentioned and because Ireland is the heart of the global tech sector,” he said.
‘I will always be grateful to Ireland for giving me the opportunity to develop’
– ERHAN KESKIN
“There is an excellent community for tech professionals and you can be a part of the community and constantly improve yourself and get more pleasure from what you do.”
In his current role as part of Workhuman’s global business support group team, Keskin focuses on leading and developing high quality solutions for the business and its stakeholders.
“I am part of the ideation and solution design, often leading complex and high value work programmes. As a senior application engineer, I mentor and provide application expertise to the broader team.”
How would you describe your working environment?
I want to say that it is quite different from the working environment in my previous jobs. Workhuman is a great place to work because you are surrounded by empathetic, understanding, passionate people who always help each other.
Both the company and the employees encourage us to bring our whole selves to work. The teammates always know, emphasise and truly understand that you are human. The workplace goes beyond just being a work environment for you.
Working with friendly people who put all their effort into doing their job very well makes us productive and at the end of the day, there is an environment where everyone is happy.
What do you like most about your job?
I highly value the opportunity to work on solutions that address challenging business problems that reach thousands of customers while respecting the human-first working method.
I enjoy collaborating with my team and having informative discussions on how to solve customer problems, use data, and measure our impact. While discussing solutions, I enjoy our brainstorming practices on how we can position technology in our solution proposals.
In addition, I value our sensitive work in providing robust, scalable, future-proofing solutions.
Was it difficult to adjust to living and working in Ireland?
Irish people have been very welcoming. As I got to know Irish people, I saw their Turkish-like aspects and felt at home.
The Irish hospitality, sharing and helpfulness made the process go very smoothly.
In Ireland, companies care about work-life balance, which helped me to take some time for myself and explore Dublin and other cities, culture and history.
What surprised you about moving to Ireland?
It felt amazing that people were so understanding, patient and respectful.
Irish people do their daily sports activities regardless of the weather conditions. They meet and organise on social media and then go jogging in the parks.
In addition, they care about the time they spend socialising with their friends and do not postpone it according to the weather conditions. I took this as an example of behaviour for myself.
Although it often rains in Ireland, Irish people’s emphasis on cycling is admirable.
How does your working life help to make you feel at home here?
My colleagues made me feel like I was one of them and immediately accepted me into the team with a very warm welcome. It made me feel valued and good.
After joining Workhuman, everyone respected that I was new and they approached me, being aware of the difficulties I might experience in adapting to the company and the team. However, I had an equal right to speak from day one.
Everyone working in the company, starting with our CEO Eric Mosley, behaves by emphasising that every employee is human and making it feel real. This allows me to be myself in the company and I feel at home.
What do you like most about your adopted home?
I am very impressed with the people, their wonderful outlook on life and the value they placed on their families. I will always be grateful to Ireland and the Irish people for giving me the opportunity to develop both professionally and personally.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
