What's your story? Tell us a little bit about yourself and your career journey, to date.
I initially started to work at a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) center as a contingent worker who provided policy and Workday related guidance via phone, live chat, and email. At that time, I did not plan to follow a career in the private sector, but it was a valuable experience, nonetheless. Direct contact with thousands of employees from around the world has shaped my work ethic to be focused on customer service. It also allowed me to respect stricter rules and procedures. The second job shifted the attention to a more technical Workday tier 1 and then tier 2 support where the Human Resources Business Partner (HRBPs) were the main customers. The contact with the Korean work culture in a company with 300,000 employees allowed me to better understand different mentalities and inspired me to come up with new ideas. Now, I am lucky enough to work for GoDaddy, where my growth is continuously encouraged and supported.
What's the most challenging yet rewarding thing that you've worked on at GoDaddy?
There isn’t a particular case or project that was particularly challenging. Rather, I would say that the method of work and how you constantly approach a problem (regardless of what it is) has been the most challenging and rewarding for me. This required discovering innovative solutions through Workday Community, various other channels, colleague knowledge sharing, and extensive testing. The greatest challenge and reward lie in finding the optimal technical solution through relentless trial and error, persisting until every possible option has been explored.
What makes the GoDaddy Human Resources Information System (HRIS) Team unique from others that you've worked on?
First, it’s a multinational team that has never met in person and is working in opposite time zones. This does not stop us from completing all of our projects and cooperating as if we were right next to each other. This means elevating technology to help our productivity instead of becoming dependent on it and pushing the boundaries of working remotely. Second, the willingness to support each other and have the full encouragement of our manager to explore new paths of development represented was unprecedented for me. We have career path options, not just a singular job. Third, the work-life balance promoted within the company and the team increased our productivity while staying healthy. For example, physiotherapy eliminated my lower back pain which allowed me to better focus at work.
What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a career in HRIS analysis?
Do you enjoy playing with data and making correlations/causal links between different variables and seeing how they connect? Do you want the puzzles that you create to make a difference and matter in the real world instead of focusing strictly on abstract ideas? If the answer is yes to these questions, then my advice would be to never stop learning and growing in this direction. This kind of work allows you to connect both worlds by recreating complex HR processes, policies, and laws into a technical virtual system that works as an interactive database. Based on how you make the system work, you receive feedback from the company stakeholders but also from the employees. As technology evolves, there will always be opportunities to improve, even if the changes seem incremental. Over time, small changes transform into a technological revolution before you even realize that you are living in it.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
My passion is doing research and writing papers related to my PHD specialization in international relations -“Powers and Perceptions in the Asia-Pacific Region”. The main approach is to apply the realist constructivist theory (how power relations interact with social constructs) to foreign affairs analysis. I thoroughly enjoy studying history, continental philosophy, political science, political anthropology, macroeconomics, sociology, and literature. To unwind, I enjoy exploring urban areas on long walks with my wife. I capture photos, while we engage in meaningful conversations, and savor coffee and boba tea. Playing with my two Shiba Inus, a primitive breed that fascinates me, brings me immense joy. Additionally, I have smaller side hobbies such as playing video games (Total War Series, Europa Universalis, Witcher, and Cyberpunk 2077, being my all-time favorites). My musical interests are diverse, spanning from K-pop to progressive death metal, and I enjoy music theory, attending concerts, and practicing various sports whenever I get the chance, including tennis, football, handball, kendo, kenjutsu, HEMA, and calisthenics.
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