Just in time to celebrate International Women’s Day, we sat down with Angel from our Partner Services team and Ja from our Technology team and asked them to tell us about their Agoda journey, and how the work that they do pushes them to “go beyond the traditional”.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and how it led you to Agoda?
Ja: I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and worked as a government officer for six years. I felt like it was time for a change so I started to look for jobs that would really challenge me, and Agoda seemed like the perfect fit.
Angel: I studied hospitality at university in Bali, and work in the hotel industry after graduation. I’ve always loved traveling, so getting to work at Agoda really enabled me to do more of that.
What can you tell us about your role here?
Ja: I’m a Senior Software Engineer for a small team that supports the whole booking workflow process, so we all work really hard to make sure everything is running smoothly. There’s a lot of responsibility in this role knowing that we have to work on a system that supports millions of users.
Angel: I joined Agoda seven years ago as an Assistant Market Manager, moved up to become a Market Manager, and now I’m a Supply Innovations Manager for the Partner Services team in Bangkok. I have the opportunity to work with lots of different people – from product owners to translators – so it’s always a fun experience.
What exciting projects have you been working on?
Angel: Agoda has started supporting non-traditional accommodation options and my team has been involved in developing new processes to help bring all of our partners, traditional and non-traditional, on board.
Ja: In the past, we’ve mostly handled hotel accommodation options and have built a sophisticated booking work flow to manage that. As we’re supporting non-traditional accommodation bookings, it’s been really exciting to help adapt our systems so that customers receive a seamless booking experience no matter where they want to stay.
What do you think about the culture at Agoda?
Angel: I think people here really collaborate with each other – it’s rare that one team takes sole ownership of a project. On all the projects I’ve worked on, they wouldn’t have happened without a lot of collaboration with teams outside of my own. I also love that working at Agoda gives me the opportunity to collaborate with people from so many different nationalities.
Ja: I really enjoy the international environment here. Everyone tries to understand and communicate with each other, despite all of us speaking different languages. I’ve found that people here have very clear goals as well, and they work really hard to achieve them. On a personal level, working at Agoda has taught me to review my work even more carefully, and also to set higher standards for myself.
What’s your favorite thing about working at Agoda?
Ja: As a software developer, my favorite thing is that we’re such a data-driven company. I love that we invest in technology like AI and Big Data; technology that other people in the IT industry would love to work with. I also feel like the data we work with is valuable and can really make a difference to the company’s growth. It feels great to get to contribute to that, and I really feel like the work I’m doing serves a purpose for the company as a whole.
Angel: I love traveling, so it’s great to get a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming trends in this industry. And it’s just a really cool place to work in!
Watch: Agoda for International Women’s Day 2017
We asked Agodan’s to share their favorite travel recommendations and tips for female travelers to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2017.
