Before starting my career at Vanguard as an application engineer, I had some preconceived notions that I would be siloed at a desk, head down, and coding. Much to my surprise, I could not have been more wrong about my typical day of work. While a career in software development does inherently entail screen time, it is complemented by collaboration within and across teams, which fosters an environment of endless learning, as well as interpersonal and professional growth. Despite what most people think, software development is an extremely team-oriented career. We work with a variety of mission-driven teams – gaining and sharing knowledge all along the way.

Vanguard encourages a cooperative culture by building teams of people with different backgrounds and experiences in technology and business. This diversity truly expands your knowledge base by encouraging multidimensional thinking and idea sharing – so we’re always learning from each other. The people who come from non-technical roles often lend creative solutions to the problems that had our technical team blocked. Sharing my technical knowledge with others is energizing and very fulfilling. For example, enabling business partners on the team to perform their own testing not only helps our efficiency, but lends to great comradery.

Making an Impact

As part of a product team, crew in technical roles can participate in all client-facing discussions. Offering ideas and hearing directly from our clients is rewarding as a developer. We get to see how the work we do makes a genuine impact on the clients we serve.

While developing a new feature, I sometimes find myself getting excited about an idea to improve the current design, so I will typically reach out via chat or even stop by our product owner’s desk for real-time feedback. I’ve gotten to build close relationships across Vanguard, that would not have been possible if I had been isolated from that part of the process.

I genuinely love coming to work and cannot imagine myself anywhere else. That’s due to the incredible teams I have been a part of, and Vanguard’s commitment to creating a collaborative environment for all crew – especially in the technology space!

— Laurel A.

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