How non-developers get technical - by Yonghyun Gong, Technical Business Developer

The Elice People team is often asked, “Can I apply to work at Elice if I don’t know much about coding?”

Since we’re a software training service, you might think that you need to know how to code to join us. The answer is: “If you’re interested in software, artificial intelligence, or any other tech field, you can apply!” (Of course, for positions like developer and software educator, you’ll need to have some development experience to apply. )

The reason we say “just be interested” is because there are many opportunities to learn about software, AI, and more within Elice. In fact, we have a number of Eliceers* who have gone on to work in technical roles through our hands-on, hands-on Elice training, including Yonghyun, who is rumored to be working on the Business Development team.

• At Elice, we call them Elicer.

Q. Hello! Mr. Yonghyun, please introduce yourself.

I’m Yonghyun, a Technical Business Developer at Elice. This is my first job at Elice, and I’ve been here for over a year now. I’m in charge of B2B sales and partnership alliances, as well as new business planning to create new value at Elice.

You can actually see the word “Technical” in a lot of job titles at Elice. Technical Operator, Technical Business Developer, Technical Content Developer, and so on, which means that those of us who teach technology are expected to be tech savvy and work technically. At Elice, we support a number of programs and tools to help our employees grow technically.
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**Q. Some people may be unfamiliar with the role of business development, what is the Elice Business Development team like?

The business development team does a variety of things, from finding businesses that can make education intrinsically valuable to many people, to sales, partnerships, business model planning, and initial operations. So far, we have provided digital education in partnership with large Korean companies such as SK, LG, and Hyundai, as well as various institutions such as Seoul National University, KAIST, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Ministry of Science and ICT. In the future, we are preparing to develop more businesses such as job special courses, certification courses, and competency diagnosis, focusing on software education content.

Q. Why did you choose Elice for your first job?

When I was in college, I majored in business administration and was very interested in fields such as strategic planning and business development, so every vacation I used to follow my professor to entrepreneurship camps in developing countries and act as a tutor to help startups. During that time, I realized that IT and education are really important for the development of society.

So I applied for a job at Elice, which is a software training business, because I wanted to contribute to social development, and I think I was lucky that the business development position was open where I could best utilize my core competencies, which I consider to be persuasive and presentation skills.

To build a system for 10,000 people, not 100.

Q. So, Mr. Yonghyun, how did you get into technical work?

My first job at Elice was to set up a stable operation/administration model for K-Digital Training, a coding training business for job seekers. As it was the first boot camp for developers to be launched by the company, there were a lot of new things that needed to be planned. In particular, it is very important to manage data such as completion rate, progress rate, and satisfaction rate in training. However, in the early days, there was no system to check the data in real time. The necessary information was scattered all over the place, and it was difficult to check the accurate information because people had to update the information manually.

In fact, you might think, “It’s okay because it’s the beginning of the business,” but I thought it could be a problem in the long run. We’re not just training 100 people, so it’s most important to build an operational system that can run efficiently even if we have 1,000 or 10,000 students, thinking about the scalability of the business. To do this, we started to identify business processes, eliminate unnecessary work, and streamline repetitive tasks through coding.

Q. How did you learn and implement in practice:

I started learning to code on the Elice platform through the ‘Data Analytics with Python’ and ‘Manipulating Data with SQL I’ courses.

I used Python and SQL to collect student progress data in one go, rather than querying it individually, and then visualized the data through Google Data Studio to build a dashboard. By doing this, I was able to do repetitive Excel tasks in seconds and do something more meaningful with that time.

Q. Was it difficult for you to learn on the job and put it into practice?

It was difficult to upgrade, but it was easy to do because Elice has an environment where you can learn to code even if you don’t work in software development. I was able to learn Elice’ coding education content for free, and I had a lot of help from my coworkers who had the ability to discuss and solve technical problems together.

I’m the customer who knows Else best

Q. So, are there any other benefits that you’ve gotten from working technically?

I think I’m the customer who uses and knows Elice more than anyone else, and I can’t convince a customer if I don’t know what I’m talking about. Because I’ve been trained on the Elice platform, and because I’ve worked on the technical side of things, I’ve been able to leverage my experience when I’m doing B2B sales to explain digital transformation. I think I’ve been able to do a much better job of convincing them by giving them a lot of real-world examples of data-driven decision-making that I’ve experienced.

And as my understanding of technology grew, I was able to speak the language of developers when communicating with them. When I made a request, I was able to clearly differentiate between what information I needed and what I didn’t need, which helped me get bug fixes or requested data faster.

Q. What are some topics you would like to learn and apply to your work in the future:?

While we’ve streamlined a lot of our work, I think the one area where we’re still lacking is in the amount of time we spend on phone calls to customers. To improve this, I’d like to collaborate with other departments to improve our sales process. Currently, we respond to enterprise adoption inquiries manually, but if we can design a system that allows customers to leave a detailed and clear inquiry based on their problems and needs, we’ll be able to streamline the process, make it more convenient, and increase customer satisfaction.

And as a squad* leader, how to motivate and train the team members in my squad is my biggest concern these days, which I hope to fill by talking to them a lot and taking courses on management skills and leadership that will be released soon in Elice.

• A squad at Elice is a small group of people who take on some of the team’s metrics and work autonomously and proactively to produce results. Currently, the Elice Business Development team has three squads.

It’s impossible not to study at Elice!

Q. What is your favorite thing about Elice?

My favorite thing about Elice is that we are not afraid to try new things and we are quick to make decisions. I also like that I am given a lot of authority even though I am a junior, and since I am responsible for that authority, the company recognizes me based on my performance regardless of age and seniority through leadership opportunities, performance pay, etc.

And since Elice provides software training services, I can’t help but come into contact with software-related knowledge while doing my job. I think it’s also a big advantage that I’m willing to study coding for work automation because I want to handle my work more efficiently, even if I’m not as good as a developer. My coworkers are all willing to learn, so it’s natural for us to get together regardless of team to study various fields and ask them what we don’t know and teach us.

Q. And finally, what kind of coworkers would you like to grow with?

I’d like to grow with coworkers who are able to ‘positively stimulate’ each other, and my definition of positive stimulation is something that inspires me to do better at work or in life. For example, when I see a coworker communicate well, it gives me the opportunity to ask myself, “Wow, what can I do to communicate better?” Or someone who gives me honest feedback on my weaknesses so I can do better. If you’re looking for someone who can give and receive positive reinforcement to help you grow, we’re looking for you in our Business Development team!

▶Listen to Yonghyun’s Python and SQL lectures (click here)

▶Learn more about working technically at Elice (click here)




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