In this episode of Buluttan Small Talks with Sevim Aydın Kotil. Sevim shares with us today what she does as the Head of Business Development of Buluttan, her views on the future of Buluttan, and the things she enjoys doing.
Gökmen: Sevim, hello, welcome. Today we are with Sevim Aydın Kotil on Buluttan Small Talks. How are you?
Sevim: I am good, how are you?
Gökmen: I am also good. Thanks a lot. Today, we will talk about who Sevim is. What does she do? How did she find her way to meteorology? How did her path intersect with Buluttan? How does she view the future of both Buluttan and the Weather Intelligence sector? What are her opinions? We want to talk about these a little. Let’s start with who Sevim is first. I know her, but I’m sure everyone would like to know her. Let’s start.
Sevim: Actually, I can say that Sevim is currently a business developer with an R&D background. She is also a mother. I have a one-year-old son.
Gökmen: Greetings to Ali Bey.
Sevim: Yes, greetings to Ali Bey. He doesn’t leave our minds.
Sevim: I worked as an R&D engineer in the corporate world for about 8 years. Actually, I am a mechanical engineer. I have a master’s degree in industrial engineering. I worked as an R&D engineer with pleasure for a period of time, but after 8 years, I wanted to try myself. I always say: Rather than being a small cog in a big machine, let me try to be a big cog in a small machine. So, I switched to the start-up world so that I could try it myself. After working in a different place for 3 years.
Gökmen: Yes, I remember.
Sevim: After working together with Gökmen Güven, I’ve now found myself in Buluttan. I am currently working as a business development leader.
Gökmen: How nice that you’ve taken a step. How are the tests so far? Is it okay?
Sevim: Well, it’s going well. So this place is very enjoyable. The team is very enjoyable. Since I have a long experience, I now prioritize feeling comfortable in my environment and working pleasantly. At Buluttan, I’m very happy right now in that respect. It’s great, it makes me very happy.
Gökmen: It’s pleasing to hear because we’re always together, talking. Besides, you have years of R&D experience at Unilever and Arçelik. Besides, your accomplishments are already clear on paper since you came here by taking some wing and choosing something. So I think you can make a lot of comparisons. It is very enjoyable, and happy to hear. So, what does Sevim do when she’s not busy with Ali and work?
Sevim: Sevim, actually, I have hobbies in many different fields. So, I love drawing. For a while, I tried to learn how to sew. At the same time, I love traveling, like most of us, but I love traveling very much. I try to spend as much time as possible for myself.
Gökmen: Being a mother, of course, is hard.
Sevim: I can’t make it right now. Yes. I can’t make time for it right now, but there have been periods when I did. I will be back again. Currently, I am trying to enjoy my motherhood at home. At the same time, I am learning meteorology.
Gökmen: Do you think it is difficult to learn? You already have a master’s degree in industrial engineering on top of mechanical engineering. It’s something you can learn very easily, but it’s still a completely different field.
Sevim: No, it’s a completely different field. So, when studying mechanical engineering, we were taking courses like fluid mechanics. So, I actually knew a little bit about how complex the job was. So, I knew how complicated it was through chaos theory. But when I got into this business, a whole different world opened up for me. That’s why, right now, I’m trying to learn the details, stay a little bit more macro, and try to understand how we can explain this to everyone in the easiest way from my business perspective.
Sevim: Because the weather has a funny side. My family is actually very interested in the weather. I mean, everyone is very engaged with the weather, starting from my grandmother. “Oh, it’s going to rain. Oh, it’s going to snow.” There is always such a conversation, and I don’t know why. When we look at it now, it actually affects our lives very seriously. When I first learned that you switched to Buluttan and what Buluttan does.
Sevim: There was a question mark in my mind as to how they make money from this business. Then, when I thought about the details and actually got into it a little bit, I saw how much it affected our lives. So now, in the morning, we all open it and check the Buluttan app to see what the weather will be like. Is it going to rain, or is it going to be very hot? It seems like it’s very passive on the user’s end, but it’s not.
Sevim: We take a lot of action accordingly and are affected. It’s not just what we wear. If it is very hot, traffic may be affected. Where you work may be affected. There is air conditioning; it’s like, let me go here. It actually affects our daily lives a lot. From this perspective, it has serious effects on companies in operational and financial terms. But without thinking about it this way, it’s as if we remain passive about the weather. It feels like that when you don’t go into detail.
Gökmen: After all, you can’t control the weather. What to do?
Sevim: But actually, it is not like that. We can make serious differences in terms of planning.
Gökmen: When you say it like that, it’s almost a bit. Looks like we’re getting closer to controlling it.
Sevim: There is very little time left for Buluttan’s next product. Not for now. Combining these two worlds for myself, turning my passion for the weather, just controlling that situation, into a job, influencing my professional life, learning the details of the job, and learning the technology excites me very much right now.
Gökmen: Great. So, you know, we think there is a transformation going on right now. It’s actually a paradigm shift. We can benefit from more horizontal data channels that did not exist before. In the vertical, better-quality sensors can access more consistent data. They are increasing in number. Their capacity is increasing. This is already strengthening the data source. On the other hand, since access to processors, speeds, and performances of processors have improved tremendously when you combine the two, it actually becomes more consistent, and the possibility of predicting things in advance increases.
Gökmen: Here, too, we have our own prediction engine. We make these models using our own unique method and try to reach the most consistent predictions. And for this, we’re actually doing things at the right time, with the right method, in the right place, and with the right people. I think this is one of its greatest assets. To conclude, I would say that we are as strong as our team. We are trying to expand this team with people with the right motivation, the right capacity, and the right approach. We have teammates from all levels. What would you like to say here? So, it can happen to both meteorological engineers. We’re really close, and they can see us if we wave.
Gökmen: Besides, people from other disciplines who are not meteorologists work in this business, perhaps not on the meteorological model side or the product side, but in many areas. We have friends on the team who are not meteorologists. What would you like to say to new applicants and those who are curious? It could be young people, it could be interns. What kind of people are we looking for, or who do you think would be suitable for the environment here?
Sevim: I usually get this question: Why did you switch from corporate to startup? Why Buluttan? I noticed something when I was in corporate. I want to be in something that grows significantly based on my research and reading. I think it’s important to place one’s bet in a growing place. So, what you need to work here is, for example, working in a company that grows 05-05% per year, a solid but slowly growing place. There is also the option of betting on something to grow many times over. The second is more risky. It is necessary to work more. There are greater stresses. You take on more responsibility. But, of course, the result is much more rewarding. I find the second one more exciting. And when choosing, of course, there are many startups, and there are many sectors and areas that are predicted to grow. It is necessary to scrutinize it carefully. Because the time you spend is very important.
Sevim: Buluttan’s difference here is that, as a sector, it combines weather intelligence and artificial intelligence together. This is really new for Turkey, especially for our region, and I came here because I think that it will grow significantly when I make my own analysis of these aspects and that it has huge growth potential here. I recommend that both those who work here and those who are not working here make their own analysis about their current careers and future career goals or those who are not working. Because, as I said, the time they spend is very important.
Gökmen: Their efforts and time are valuable.
Sevim: When they put this in the right place, they will definitely reach their goals quickly, step by step. In other words, you should not stay in something, such as homeostasis.
Gökmen: In a fast-growing place, you can also grow fast, in general, right?
Sevim: We should not be afraid. One should not be afraid of taking such risks, especially at the beginning of their career.
Gökmen: Well, great, then, those who are both meteorology engineers, non-meteorology engineers, and those who work in any field who are not engineers say, “I think I may be interested in meteorology, climate, I want to grow, develop, learn, work at a high tempo, I want to produce something at a high tempo.” We welcome everyone. We invite you to work and apply. We say ”may your weather be nice!”
Sevim: May your weather be nice.
