Kharis Sulistiyono, Happiness Engineer at aThemes is with us today for an exclusive interview so without further ado, let’s hear it from the man himself.
WPJuicer: Hello Kharis, we are very excited to have you with us. Let’s start with a traditional question: please tell us about yourself?
Kharis: Hi! I am a new dad, a husband, and a self-taught WordPress developer based in Indonesia. Occasional cyclists when not on the keyboard for an hour or so in the morning. I am also a Polyglot contributor and responsible for the Indonesian Locale Manager role. Currently working as a Technical Support Specialist at aThemes.
WPJuicer: What should readers know about all the stuff you’re doing in WordPress these days?
Kharis: I and other active Locale Managers and General Translation Editors for Indonesian have been preparing a WordPress Translation Day Mini Event for Indonesian locale that will be held on October 3rd, 2020.
This is part of the global events of the Polyglots team to celebrate Translation Day. And this is the first time for the Indonesian locale to take part in this event. I hope we can get more new local contributors to join and encourage them to make more contributions to WordPress — not just only in translation, but also in other subjects.
Apart from that, I have just released a new plugin Enable Maintenance Mode a couple of days ago. And now I am planning to write some tutorials of use cases on how we can use this plugin effectively.
WPJuicer: You currently work at aThemes. What are your responsibilities there? Could you share any interesting stories?
Kharis: My main job is ensuring customers are happy with the product by answering their queries, listening to what they need, and helping to improve the products by reporting bugs and feature requests to the development team. In short, I am bridging customers to the development team. I love this job. It makes me happy when I can help people run their businesses with our products.
Adding, if it is allowed to self-proclaim, I can say that I am a lucky guy to be part of aThemes. Because they have been hiring me since I was in college — it has been 4 years and 11 months ago. And they still trust me to handle the customer support role until now.
WPJuicer: How much a good WordPress theme contributes to overall business growth and performance?
Kharis: Good WordPress theme is key for a site’s look and feel. When business is well-presented, it will attract more people to buy or use the offered products or services.
To me, choosing a theme is the second step after installing WordPress for a new site. It is really fundamental. In relation to this point, this means we are trying to beautify our new showroom with some decorations and accessible aspects here and there to make people comfortable to live in.
Also, a good theme choice from the beginning triggers a speed in execution to ship the product faster. A good theme doesn’t require a complicated setup, only takes a few seconds to replicate the demo, and provides straightforward adjustments/personalizations. Hence those will help a business grow quickly.
WPJuicer: WordPress has the best community that expands with each passing day. Where do you see this huge community in the next five years?
Kharis: I definitely agree that the WordPress community is the best. I don’t have any idea how to predict the next five years.
WPJuicer: Have you attended a WordCamp? How do these meetups benefit the WordPress community?
Kharis: Yes, I have. WordCamp makes WordPress software more human. It bonds users, developers, and business owners into a warm atmosphere to feel WordPress as part of their life.
WPJuicer: What do you look for in a managed WordPress host?
Kharis: Speed and accessibility.
WPJuicer: Who should we interview next, and why?
Kharis: Devin Maeztri. She is an active Polyglot contributor, WordCamps organizer, Meetups organizer, WordPress.com Indonesian translator, and initiator of catrescue.id (the site runs on WordPress).
WPJuicer: We have talked too much about your professional life. Let’s tell our readers about your hobbies and interests. What does Kharis do other than work?
Kharis: Road cycling. I have been doing this since 2016. My first longest ride was 100km and finished it for 5 hours ride with 3 times pit stop.
WPJuicer: Any other thoughts or things you wish to mention?
Kharis: No
