Creativity is intelligence having fun

Albert Einstein

Einstein’s quote above proves true in how Yossy goes about his typical day. While performing well at his job as an Analyst in Mitrais and contributing to the collective success in his 11th years with the company, he also finds time to pursue his passion. Yossy spares an hour or two after a good day’s work to do his favourite hobby – drawing.

From Comics to Codes

What started as a fondness for sketching Manga and anime characters on copy paper evolved into creating portraits, doodles, and urban sketching outdoors. Yes, behind the bespectacled analyst scrutinizing and optimizing computer systems is an artist who blends his creativity seamlessly with his tech tasks, making it flow smoothly like a work of art.

The parallelism is both visual and virtual – in drawing, he connects dots and lines and blends colours and space, while in programming, he connects codes and creates arithmetic, conditions, and loops, seeing the beauty of it all. Both involve combining minute particles to create a meaningful whole – whether drawing a life portrait with pen and paper or creating an emergency system using an advanced programming language.

Yossy shares, “Drawing improves memory, eye-hand coordination, problem-solving skills, and helps bring out our imaginative and creative side, skills that are relevant to programming work.” For him, pens and programs are like two peas in his mental pod.

Faces and Interfaces

Yossy is blessed with the ability to integrate his creative side in his work, and he does it well too. So much so that he gets commissions from colleagues who request portraits of themselves from him. From there, opportunities to sustain and grow his hobby spilt over to his workplace, where work-life balance is cultivated. He is as comfortable drawing faces as he is developing user interfaces.

Expressions are essential for both portrait drawing and program development and analysis. Yossy’s ability to utilize this creatively in both endeavours enables him to create value. Whether it’s about getting the facial contour or the language syntax right, his work output is always a result of his passionate mind.

Stress Relief

His hobby was instrumental in helping him keep it together during the pandemic when things were going south with the world. Every sketching project serves as a stress buster, each stroke decluttering and calming his mind, helping him stay grounded. 

His art serves as a therapeutic exercise and has been a source of solace for him in many ways. It helps him process things better and experience self-discovery by putting together lines and colours to bring an image into existence. And yes, it makes him feel better, too, as art creation is known to increase serotonin levels.

Advice and Aspirations

His advice to other artists struggling to find that balance as he did is: Don’t focus too much on what others say; simply trust and enjoy the process. From there, build upon your interest and skill by continuously learning techniques. Substance and form both matter. 

“Learn from the experts and find your own style. Never stop improving yourself just because people say you’re good. Consistency is the key to polishing your craft. Have fun and draw inspiration from anything that fascinates you,”

Yossy Winata

He feels that the joy of creating something from nothing is the reward itself – which is true for both drawings and programs. He also advises beginners to work with whatever they have – regular pens, papers, anything, as long as they stay authentic to their art and not be afraid of trying and becoming.

While Yossy enjoys pursuing his hobby independently, he also hopes to connect with other artists in Mitrais by starting a Drawing Club in the company where workmates can share stories, ideas and draw together after work or as schedules permit.

Work Your Passion

Being part of Mitrais allows Yossy to be himself – someone whose creative expressions are part of his work and play.

There is no limit to what you can do if you love it enough to let it grow at its own pace. With a promising work-life balance in Mitrais, nurturing a hobby and excelling in the office is no longer mutually exclusive. In fact, they can complement each other. Yossy has a good grip on both, and you can, too, if you program your mind with discipline and colour your heart with passion.