A Fusion of Fun and Expertise in UA

Our team here at justDice is a blend of fun and professional. And that’s what these posts aim to unlock. We want the Humans of justDice features to focus on getting to know the people and minds behind the scenes. We’ll get to know a different team member every month, giving you an exclusive look into how we work together here at justDice 🙂 

Social butterfly Sena comes from the beautifully diverse Turkish capital, Ankara and is in charge of acquiring users for our core apps. Aside from her self-proclaimed karaoke talent, Sena’s experience in digital marketing, campaign management, and her natural ability to work in team environments made her a perfect fit for justDice’s UA approach. 

But enough from us. Sena has kindly shared her experiences at the company so far, the stress of moving country, her professional background, and a few things you might not’ve guessed…Enjoy! 

Q1. Who’s Sena in Your Own Words?

So I am Sena, from Turkey. Passionate about my job but also very passionate about baking and cooking. Traveled around the world since I was almost 5 years old, and I have been living in Hamburg for the last 2 years now. Sena is (in my humble opinion) practical and able to think on the spot. I love talking to people, and I like being straightforward and being simply me (and I expect others to be the same for me). And in the office, I love being that person who always insists on a group photo!

Q2: How Was Your Experience Moving to Deutschland, and How’s Hamburg Life?

Of course, moving away from friends and family is never easy, but thank god for Facetime! I believe the initial move is always hard on anyone. I personally hated Hamburg in my first 3 days. Then I do not know what happened (maybe the tiredness/stress of moving went away), but I fell in love with it! I am very happy that my move to Deutschland was to Hamburg, not another city. I understood what German people meant by “Hamburg meine Perle”. 

Q3: Tell Us How You Got Into UA and How It Shaped Your Approach Here.

So, I actually graduated from International Relations. I’d always wanted to be a Diplomat and travel the world. But during my studies, I have done multiple internships and came to the realization that it wasn’t for me 🙂 I had no idea about user acquisition and digital advertising, not even the slightest bit. But my first job, AppSamurai, took me under their wings and taught me everything from scratch.

From there, I slowly but steadily started to grow an interest in the gaming industry, which is when I started to work for Product Madness. They were my first official gaming company where I worked as a UA Manager. Even though the games produced in Product Madness are not the same as justDice, I have learned quite a lot about how to work across teams, testing new ideas the best possible way, learning from failure tests and how we can repeat this failure but this time make it different 🙂 So I am still trying to carry what I learned from Product Madness and my whole career into today: fail today, learn tomorrow, and never be afraid to try again. I think this method is also very much appreciated in justDice as well. 

Q4: With that, Tell us About a Project You’re Proud of, Its Success, and What You Learned.

I am the type of person who would like to give second chances. So, for me, if something was done before I joined and it failed. I would like to test it myself, and maybe my “spice” would change the taste of the dish 😉

Of course, this did not always end in success! But every 2-3 tries, you end up with a successful one. In my case, it was the fact that with a partner with whom we have been working for years now, CPA campaigns were not working quite as well. We had too many ups and downs, but after multiple calls and chats, we realized something might be missing. Finding this and being a bridge with the Backend Services, the Product team, and the partner itself brought really great results! With this success, I really learned that sometimes, looking at the picture from a close-up does not help. Stepping back and tracing the bigger picture can very much help.

Q5: Any Tips for Aspiring UA Professionals?

I am really bad at giving this type of advice tbh. I believe that everyone has a different approach and their own way of learning, understanding, failing, succeeding, etc. But I will give the advice I would give myself: never stop trying. In our business, everything we do is somehow involved with money. This could be the revenue generated, the spending on the ads, the invoices paid for tools, etc. So it is very natural that you become a little hesitant to try new things, considering that you might fail and lose money. But I then saw later that everyone appreciates the fact that you are at least “trying”, and the money spent is never the issue (of course, this “money” spent is not millions, haha, keeping the budget tight here). So, the more you open your mind to new stuff, the more you will become a little more successful. 

Q6: You Bring a Vibe to the Office. But How Would You Describe It and Its People?

With a simple word: Great! (everyone would have expected me to say “Cake!!” here, but that too). It feels super easy to say that your work environment is chill and fun. But after talking to alot of people in Germany or Turkey, I realized that this does not happen that often. We are very much international, and yet it feels so easy to talk to each other. Learn about our cultures, stuff we do back home, the things we do not like about Germany or our home countries. Bond over being “ausländers” 🙂 I would always think never mix your work life with personal life, but in justDice, almost every friend I have in Hamburg is through my colleagues (I would say here friends actually, but you get the point) and their friends. I gained so many friendships over the last 2 years and made so many nice memories!

Q7: How, and Be Honest, Do We Stand Out From Places You’ve Worked Before?

Simple: I like the fact that we have a very open line of communication, no matter who is talking to whom. We know when to be serious, when to have fun, and when to get our shit together.

Q8: Lastly, Fun Fact/Unexpected Talents?

Well, I am a very open book, so there are not many hidden talents that the team may not be aware of 🙂 But I am great at organizing people to go to a Karaoke bar! I love singing Karaoke (not that I have a good voice that’s unrelated), and Karaoke is nothing if you do not have the right crowd to sing with. So the more the merrier!!