10 Kazakhstani citizens who work in their dream IT companies

Adilet Absatov
Software Engineer at Meta, working on Enterprise Trust. He interned at Facebook as early as 2021 and completed his project two weeks ahead of schedule. Previously, he was a founding engineer at a startup focused on eating disorder support and developed an algorithm for smart roof heating that reduced energy consumption by 90%. He studied in Kazakhstan and participated in the ICPC.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Yerassyl Kalikhan
Associate Regional Public Policy Manager at Meta, responsible for Central Asia and Mongolia. Not an engineer, but one of the key figures who determines how Meta interacts with governments and regulators in the region. Before joining Meta, he was the Head of Innovation at UNDP and a Senior Consultant at EY. He graduated from Columbia University and was a fellow of the IMF Youth Fellowship 2021 program.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Zhanel Turlybayeva
Software Engineer at Google. She received offers from Meta, Amazon, and Booking but chose Google, where she works on the Backup & Restore team. Previously, she spent three years developing Android applications for Kazakhstani companies. She was a speaker at the Ladies Who Tech conference in London alongside experts from YouTube, TikTok, and Google.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Tolkyn Nurusheva
Enterprise Commercial Account Director at Microsoft. She works with the largest Kazakhstani companies and government agencies, helping them implement cloud and AI solutions. She has been with Microsoft for over six years, having previously spent 11 years at SAP. She is a mentor, speaker, and community leader for Women at Microsoft in the region.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Fariza Seilkhanova
Business Development Manager at TikTok LIVE, responsible for Central Asia and the Caucasus. Before joining TikTok, she spent three and a half years in marketing, working remotely with teams in the US, UK, and Netherlands. She has been with TikTok for less than a year but is already managing projects independently, including educational initiatives for teachers across Kazakhstan.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Dias Abdraimov
Senior Software Engineer at Bolt. He works on the Campaigns team, a system that motivates over 100 million users worldwide to use Bolt services.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Akezhan Rakishev
Software Engineer at Tesla. He started as an intern on the Cloud CI/CD team and transitioned to a full-time role after eight months. Before Tesla, he was a Senior Software Engineer at EPAM, with seven years of development experience. He is currently pursuing a master's degree at San Francisco Bay University on a presidential scholarship. He has solved over 1,700 problems on LeetCode and ranks in the top 1% of users on the platform.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Adilkhan Kopabayev
Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Central Asia and Armenia at Apple. Professionals like him determine how Apple builds relationships with governments in the region. Before joining Apple, he headed a state analytical center in Kazakhstan's energy sector, and previously worked as a political analyst at the US Department of Transportation. He holds a master's degree from Brown University.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Asel Yermekova
Senior ML Engineer at Huawei, specializing in speech processing and deep learning. She graduated from Skoltech and interned at the German research center DESY in Hamburg. She helped prepare the Kazakhstani team for the first-ever International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, where the team won three gold medals.

Zhanbota Oraziman
Product Manager at Samsung Electronics. She is responsible for the smartphone category in Central Asia and Mongolia, overseeing everything from product launches to pricing and demand forecasting. Before Samsung, she worked at Danone and EY. She has been with the company for four years, with the last three in a product manager role.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​