Living a satisfying, meaningful life obviously involves making time for your job, for your family and having time to relax. How can you care for these important areas of your life in the best way possible? How can you balance your family life with your job?
Konrad Karpieszuk, a father of two, is successfully balancing his career with his family life. How does he do it?
I enjoy my work very much, but at the same time I know from experience that a desk job needs to be complemented with some physical activity. I try to make time for proper rest and recreation to keep me healthy and fit. But this is not easy, especially when you have bills to pay. Sedentary work plus raising two small kids isn’t the best for my back :)
Monika and I were overjoyed when our first child was born. Little Laura is already 3 ½ years old and attends kindergarten. Young David is still very small, only 18 months and so Monika is happy to stay home to look after him and our dog Bazinga.
I need to be patient with them. When I was young, I also got into trouble at home. For example, I well remember when I put nails (those which you pound with a hammer) into an electric socket. I am still very afraid of electricity. So yes, I am very understanding with my children! Laura is still learning to tidy up after playing with her toys!
Children need encouragement like plants need water to feel worthwhile and appreciated. Monika and I both spend time and a lot of effort to make our home happy and secure.
My work is very important to me, but my family also needs me to give them my best. Physically I am away from home during work hours. So, some of my happiest moments are when my kids come running to me to hug me when I am back from work.
I believe you worked as a volunteer in Rwanda a few years ago. What did you learn from this experience?
A great deal. I was in Rwanda for 3 months teaching ICT (information and Communication Technologies). I was completely alone, but I met a lot of extremely friendly Rwandans. Money is not so important in Rwanda. Of course, the people need money, but they work for the basics like food and how to get through the month. When I returned to Poland I realized what a contrast there is in values. I was watching a morning show on TV and I shook my head in disbelief when a celebrity guest spoke of the most important thing in life is to know how to dance.
About your work here at OTGS – What drew you to OTGS originally?
It was having the opportunity to do what I had been doing. Actually, I didn’t expect that I would stay here for more than few months but now, in November 2018, it is my 5th anniversary here :)
Rather than simply doing the minimum, I look for ways to do more than is required – setting personal goals; challenging myself to do my work better or faster than expected. I take pride in even the small details of my work. I love the feeling I have after a long day of work. I may be exhausted —and my work that day might have even gone unnoticed by others— but I have the satisfaction that I’ve accomplished something.
Of course, I was especially happy when I was selected as Employee of the Month – :) I wouldn’t mind if you did this more often!
How has OTGS changed since you joined?
The biggest change at OTGS is in the number of people here. When I joined I was about the 20th person here. Now we have grown and expanded into a notable corporation
Although we come from diverse backgrounds we have a great spirit of camaraderie. Our Compatibility team is the best here! I thoroughly recommend to prospective candidates to join us!
Do you have a favorite project?
My favorite project is ACFML (Advanced Custom Fields Multilingual). ACF is a popular plugin for WP but it was not working well with
WPML. So I developed ACFML myself. I like how I have full control over it.
In addition I work on a few other things such as replying to WPML users questions that come to our forum. Customers give me great reviews when they rate me and I try my best not to let them down!
In addition, for one year now I am organizing WordUps in my city. At the end of November, we held the 4th edition.
As you see I am a very busy guy, but my family deserves my attention too.
Working hard is the best way to work. If you’re going to do something worthwhile, do it right. Like Konrad, keep your life balanced and you are likely to enjoy your work even more.
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