He never woke up at fifteen thinking, “I am going to be a data analyst at an international company.” The career of Abilda Zhunis was assembled from pieces that did not seem to fit together at first: mobile retail, a bakery, a national railway, a master’s degree, and then America. But at some point, all those scattered pieces suddenly formed a working system. Meet a man who simply said “yes” and started doing. Abilda’s journey began in 2010 with the most ordinary work — helping run a mobile service sales business. For three years, from 2010 to 2013, he stood behind a counter, rang up sales, and talked to customers. But even then, he was doing something more: he watched the numbers. Which plans sold better? On which days did revenue drop? When was the right time to reorder stock? That was his first analytics school, although he did not know that word yet. At the same time, from 2012 to 2013, he helped manage another business — a bakery producing baked goods. Dough, yeast, expiration dates, flour supplies. A completely different universe, but the same rule applied: if you do not count, you do not survive. That was when Abilda first felt that numbers are the universal language of any business. The turning point came in 2013. He won a grant to study Computer Engineering and Software at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and moved to Almaty. Algorithms, databases, writing code — instead of a counter and a bakery. The first six months were brutal: no high school computer science background, no parents in IT, just the grant and a fierce determination not to fail. Abilda made it. But what is more important — he did not lose his entrepreneurial instinct. While his classmates completed lab assignments just for grades, he was already thinking about how to apply this knowledge to real problems. Studying did not stop him from working — quite the opposite. From January 5, 2017, to May 25, 2017, he worked as a data analyst at KTZh, the national railway company. A giant machine with thousands of railcars, routes, and schedules.
There, for the first time, he encountered real big data. Not academic datasets, but live data where every mistake carries a real cost. Then, from May to June 2017, Abilda worked as a chief analyst at ALC Company “SVX ZHAKSYLYK”. And from July 2017 to January 2018, he served as a chief analyst at LLP “AKZHOL SERVICE-CENTER”. In just a few months, he saw three different corporate cultures: a state giant, a private company, and a service center. The first gave him scale. The second gave him flexibility. The third gave him customer focus. In 2017, another important event happened: Abilda won a grant for a master’s program at Satbayev University. Why would an analyst with work experience need a master’s degree? His explanation is simple: a master’s program teaches you not to be afraid of difficult tasks. When you defend your thesis in front of professors, ordinary work problems stop scaring you. And then — the next step. That same year, 2017, he received an invitation to the New York English Center. He did not go for a month or two — he went for a full course. First, until the end of 2017 and throughout all of 2018, he improved his general English. Then, from 2018 to 2019, he switched to Business English. More than two years of systematic language work. No “English in a month” courses. Abilda admits: this was one of the hardest challenges of his entire journey. Because for an adult to learn a language from scratch to a professional working level is genuinely difficult. But he did it. And all of this led to an internship. In 2019, he started working at Alox, located in Brooklyn, New York, as a junior logistics specialist. Someone might say, “But he is a data analyst — what does logistics have to do with that?” Abilda’s answer: logistics is data. Every cargo, every route, every day of delay — it is just a number. I did what I know how to do, just in a different package. And here, his railway experience with transportation fit perfectly. Plus English, plus his understanding of business from his early years. Everything fell into place. At the end of our conversation, I asked Abilda: what do you consider your main achievement? He did not name a position. He did not name a company. He said: I never turned down an opportunity just because I was scared. A grant — I went. A job in a new field — I said yes. A trip to America — I packed my bags and flew. Sometimes the main thing is simply to say “yes” and start doing. In that phrase lies his entire philosophy. You do not need a perfect plan. You need to take steps and trust that they will lead somewhere. For Abilda Zhunis, they did. From a mobile retail counter and a bakery to Brooklyn. From the first line of code to an internship in the United States.
Abilda Zhunis – data analyst, grant recipient at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Computer Engineering and Software) and Satbayev University (Master’s program). Worked as a data analyst at KTZh (Kazakhstan Railways) and as a chief analyst at two other companies. Completed a two-year language program at New York English Center, including General English and Business English. In 2019, completed an internship at Alox in Brooklyn, NY, as a junior logistics specialist. Specializes in big data, business analytics, and logistics
