From Sweden to Bangkok: Alexander’s Life at Agoda
- Alexander Fandén
- Principal Product Designer, Product
- Lived in Bangkok since 2011
I moved to Bangkok long before joining Agoda when I was 20. I left my design job in snowy Sweden to pursue a three-month contract in Bangkok, for a Swedish company. They offered me a role within the product team, where I wore many hats—being the only designer, managing a team, and handling projects and timelines.
When I was ready to transition back into a full-time design role, I applied to Agoda. I wanted to focus solely on design, and Agoda was expanding its design team, making it a perfect fit. I was eager to work with other designers and learn from them. Honestly, relocating to Bangkok and joining Agoda were two of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.
The Design Team at Agoda: Building Seamless User Experiences
At Agoda, my team designs the User Interface (UI) that all product teams are using to build our app and website. My job is to lead the design efforts, ensuring we deliver a high-quality product and delightful UI building blocks to the teams. I work daily with my peers in the Tech and Product teams to plan our priorities and roadmaps.
Being more in a leadership role, I help develop frameworks and processes for our team, build out our knowledge base so we can upskill the design team in using the design system, and more.
At Agoda, we’re encouraged to take ownership. If you spot an opportunity or challenge, you’re empowered to run experiments and learn from data.
One seemingly small but impactful project I worked on was increasing the font size across the board. It was quite a controversial change at the time. Some designs were breaking and had to be redesigned to accommodate the larger text. However, one common complaint in our app store reviews was around the legibility of text on our products, and after this change, we saw the number of complaints drastically reduce. Now, more people of different abilities are able to use our products more seamlessly, which I feel very proud of.
Why Agoda is an Exciting Workplace
Agoda offers the opportunity to work with incredibly smart and professional people. The data-driven culture challenges you to form and test assumptions, continuously learning and improving. I love that people from all over the world* bring diverse working styles and perspectives to the table.
Working at Agoda has also opened doors for me, such as being invited to speak at conferences—something I couldn’t have imagined before joining.
*90 nationalities, and counting!
Growing at Agoda: Opportunities to Lead and Explore
I really think Agoda offers good opportunities to those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get good work done. Aside from promotions, I have also seen teammates move into management and back into individual contributor roles—it shows that it’s allowed to try something new and, if you don’t like it, move back to what you love.
Within our design organization, we do rotations once in a while, giving people opportunities to explore new areas and work with new people. I am currently in my third team, so I have seen how Agoda product works on both enterprise and consumer-facing teams, which has been a great experience.
I have so much to thank Agoda for. I joined as a mid-level designer and was given a lot of trust to drive the design of our new hotel-facing app. I was able to build up my portfolio fast and grow into a more senior role. There have always been opportunities to drive initiatives for those who are interested. Since joining Agoda, I’ve had three promotions, been able to attend multiple conferences, and grown my presence in the design systems community.
My Life in Bangkok: Convenient, Adventurous, and Endless Possibilities
The convenience of living in Bangkok is unmatched. It is easy and cheap to get around town, and it is even more convenient to have anything delivered to your doorstep at any time.
Ironically, living in Bangkok where it doesn’t snow… my favorite hobby is skiing. With Agoda’s remote work program, I was able to stay in Japan for three weeks, skiing in the mornings and working in the afternoons! I also recently passed 200 scuba dives. In Bangkok, I like to escape the heat at some cozy cafe, bring my iPad, read up on industry trends, and learn more about my work.
Building Community in Bangkok: Friendships That Last a Lifetime
I come from a small town in Sweden where people tend to be a bit more closed-off, so I always found it easy to make friends and do things with coworkers outside of work. It really helped me feel safe and part of a community when I moved to Bangkok. It’s such a big city, so there are tons of meetups and events to join. It’s hard not to find anything to do here!
Within the company, Agoda has many social groups you can join to build connections and friendships – badminton, football, basketball, and more. There are LGBT community groups and more. We are a huge company with many expats (50% of the total workforce in Thailand), so you’ll find many others in the same situation, happy to hang out and get to know the city together.
Many people I’ve met throughout my 7 years at Agoda have become close friends. In fact, I met 2 of my closest friends at Agoda on Day 1 at an onboarding session! I often travel with coworkers or work remotely together. Last Christmas, a fellow designer and I spent a few weeks working from Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, and soon, we will be going on a ski trip to Japan together!
Cost of Living in Bangkok: Affordable and Convenient
Cost of living is much more affordable in Bangkok. Local food is cheap (less than 30 SEK!), and you can have any cuisine in the world delivered to your doorstep (via local delivery apps) for cheap as well. Traveling domestically and in the region is also very affordable!
While public transport is great in Sweden, it’s also some of the most expensive in the world! Compare that with a train ride in Bangkok, which would cost less than 10 SEK per trip to the office from my home.
As for accommodation, coming from Sweden where the housing market is insane, housing is fairly affordable here. In Bangkok, you can live right in the city center with swimming pools and gyms – this is unheard of in Sweden. It is hard to imagine that you can just pick and choose any area and building you want, which amenities you want to have and etc. My advice is to try it out, and when you do, be picky! Visit at least 20 different apartments and buildings before you make up your mind.
Final Thoughts: Why Agoda is the Place to Be
You’ll be working with ambitious and smart people in an international environment in one of the most fun and affordable cities in the world. You’ll be challenged to be at your best and learn what running a large-scale tech company is like.
