IT families: Kuat Baltabekov and Danira Beibit

Kuat Baltabekov, city — Astana, PM at tekmates, Linkedin

Danira Beibit, city — Astana, business analyst at Q-Gate, Instagram

About Us

Danira. I remember it as if it were yesterday: we met in late March 2022 — my first day as an intern business analyst in a construction company. I walked into the Open Space and met my future husband for the first time.

Initially, I was drawn to Kuat’s calmness, his focus on work, and his ambition. Later, I learned that he was a senior business and systems analyst, and I started frequently checking the Confluence space of his project. The meticulousness with which he described business processes and drew flowcharts inspired respect for his work and abilities.

After a year of professional collaboration, on April 15, 2023, our relationship became romantic.

Kuat. Danira joined the company as an intern on a neighboring project. Her loud laughter and sincere emotions immediately caught my attention and sparked my affection.

We often stayed late at the office and talked about various life topics. Time flew by unnoticed; I was falling in love with the way she thought — which was very important to me.

How We Entered the IT Field

Danira. My path into IT was predetermined by skills instilled in me since school: I participated in Technovation For Girls, a hackathon for school students, and subject-specific projects. I enjoyed planning based on development stages and distributing tasks within the team, as I knew my teammates' skills well and loved presenting our results. These factors led me first to Astana IT University, majoring in IT Management, and then to large IT companies where I interned and worked in my profession.

Now I am a business and systems analyst for the Q-Gate team at KazDream Group. We are developing a biometric border control checkpoint to ensure passengers have a safe and efficient border crossing. We work with hardware, collaborate with international companies, and, most importantly, build a domestic product with unlimited prospects. I work in a hybrid format.

Kuat. I have been interested in technology since childhood. Even in school, I created forums and websites with friends for watching movies and playing games. At university, I studied "Computing Machinery and Software." My career began with internships at major telecom providers, after which I worked at Big4 companies, and then moved into product development. I liked everything about IT, so I tried myself in various roles, from sysadmin and DevOps to business analyst and project manager.

Currently, I work as a project manager at tekmates. We are digital partners and create IT products for various companies, primarily in the FinTech sector.

I work in a hybrid format, but I spend more time online because the company office is located in Almaty.

Distribution of Responsibilities

Danira. Kuat usually takes care of many household operational tasks — ordering groceries, booking and paying for tickets, repairs, and choosing appliances. I am often the initiator and set the direction for these changes. We both love order at home, so we never disagree about cleaning: each of us takes care of the house depending on our workload on projects. I handle all the cooking, but Kuat often supports me: he can cut meat or independently prepare breakfast or dinner.

Kuat. We have a flexible distribution of responsibilities, with no rigid zones of accountability; it’s almost like a startup where everyone combines multiple roles simultaneously. We clean the house as needed, but I enjoy how Danira sometimes watches food bloggers, gets inspired, and cooks several dishes at once. Therefore, Danira is usually responsible for food, while I help with grocery orders, cleaning, and other household chores.

In our free time, we read books and articles, listen to local podcasts or watch stand-up performances, and attend various movie premieres. Danira does fitness, and I want to support her and start exercising in the fall.

In the future, we want to allocate more free time for travel and new experiences.

Family Traditions

Kuat. Our family traditions are still in their infancy, just like our family, but we share common views on life and the future. We both want to contribute to society through our work, studies, and the experience we gain every day.

Balancing Home Life and Work

Danira. Flexibility in the IT field offers many advantages when building a family and managing household life. For example, it is easy to adjust your work schedule to meet family needs. The IT industry is considered dynamic and provides broad opportunities for development — this aspect positively influences the formation of a young family, as there is always confidence in the relevance of our skills. A major plus of our field is that it has many open-minded and young people who can encourage and support each other with wise advice during difficult moments in personal life.

Kuat. I think IT is not much different from other fields; if anything, it has its own advantages, such as a hybrid work format and planning and time-management skills, which help in daily life. Here, as everywhere else, the main thing is to be able to separate work, home life, and family, as well as properly distribute your time without compromising any of these areas.

Recommendations for a Happy Family Life

Danira. Remember that we are building happiness.

Kuat. Enjoy every moment, dream, and never forget your main goal in family life.

How IT Families Differ from Others

Danira. For me, the most important thing when choosing a partner was believing in his ability to provide quality support during difficult moments. We always clearly understand what advice is appropriate and why each of us stays late at work, worries, or, conversely, feels a sense of euphoria with successful results. We often discuss news, attend events, and test new services and offerings provided by domestic IT holdings; we love following innovative technologies in the market. For me, the uniqueness of IT families lies precisely in these aspects: in quality support and love for the future, for progress, and for innovations.

Kuat. Like all IT professionals, we try to automate and digitize everything, so we often use online services, various platforms, and mobile applications.

We love finding and sharing various IT insights with each other, can discuss them for a long time, and sometimes even manage to apply them in real life.