IT families: Samat and Aisulu Kalshabekova

Samat Kalshabekov, city — Astana, frontend lead, Instagram

Aisulu Kalshabekova, city — Astana, analyst, Instagram

About Us

Aisulu. Currently, I am on maternity leave, spending most of my time with my two daughters who are close in age, and simultaneously working on my startup nest.ai, which helps businesses conduct proper support analytics using AI.

Samat. I am a frontend lead at BCC Hub, love teaching and sharing knowledge, and am the author of educational courses on Advanced Web Development at nFactorial.

We met in the courtyard of our building — we were neighbors from different entrances. It turned out that we have a mutual friend from Pavlodar. He came to Almaty and introduced us in the courtyard saying, “You are made for each other.” And we? We believed him.

How we got into IT

Samat. I studied at SDU University in the Computer Science department. After graduating from university, I tried my hand at teaching. I started my developer career at a startup where the tech lead gave me great support and a chance to prove myself. Now I work remotely.

Aisulu. During and after university, I worked in the education sector. In 2021, I began my career in IT as an implementation project manager. I became so passionate about the new field that I took courses in Data Analytics and retrained as a data analyst in 2022. Currently, I am focused on our children.

Division of responsibilities

Aisulu. We are a typical Kazakh family. Samat enjoys cooking, so he usually does the cooking. We share cleaning duties equally, although we often try to delegate household tasks.

We try to devote as much free time as possible to our children — they take up most of our attention and energy. Financial responsibilities for the family mainly fall on Samat, while caring for the children is on me.

Family traditions

Samat and Aisulu. We don’t just have a tradition — we have a truly cool ritual. Breakfast and coffee in the mornings. On weekends, we try to go somewhere new. This weekend, we plan to visit the oceanarium.

Our core value is trust. That is what we built and continue to build our relationship on. Education is also important to us — constantly learning something new and not standing still.

Combining household chores and work

Aisulu. Currently, it is difficult for us to balance household chores and work. While the kids are still very young, they require a lot of involvement. But people have spoiled the surprise for us, saying it will get easier.

Recommendations for a happy family life

Aisulu. The greatest luck and the biggest happiness is to meet someone you absolutely trust, someone you can fully rely on. Believe in each other, believe in each other, and believe in yourselves. Don’t hold grudges; resolve and discuss issues immediately — this way, you will progress even faster.

How IT families differ from others

Samat. We have an IT family hack that might be useful. We build family plans using the sprint principle: we break them down into tasks and execute them sequentially. We hold dailies and reviews. Every Friday, after putting the kids to bed, we ask each other: “How was the week?”, “What was difficult?”, “How can I help you?” We manage our family budget in Google Sheets. With this approach, over two years of our family life, we have harmonious relationships, two children, an apartment, and annual vacations abroad.