I grew up here

When I sat down to write my story, I thought I had a good idea of what I wanted to say about my experience in IT at Vanguard. After several attempts to put it into words, I realized that I just couldn’t share my IT story without also sharing my experience at Vanguard as a whole. I recently celebrated 20 years at Vanguard. As I think back over my years with this organization, I realize that, in many ways, I grew up here.

As a kid, I dreamed of being many things—an archeologist, a doctor, a nurse, an astronomer, a lawyer, a meteorologist, and … an MMA fighter. I was all over the map. However, one thing these careers all have in common—even the MMA fighter—is science. I was always interested in learning how things work, how to use them, how to fix them, and how to improve them. When it was time to go to college and set my career path in motion, I found myself struggling to choose a field and landed on business. I graduated with a degree in business administration. I figured I’d eventually find my way. Then, I learned about Vanguard. I heard good things, I read good things, and I appreciated the mission.

I started out as a data analyst serving pension clients. I used Vanguard’s tuition reimbursement program to get my M.B.A. while I moved on to be a legal analyst in Intellectual Property & Technology. As I learned more about Vanguard, I became interested in IT and wanted to explore my interest in the field. With the support of my leaders in the business, and in coordination with leaders in IT, I secured an internship in the IT division. The opportunity allowed me to get hands-on experience and solidified my interest in technology. I’m still here, in IT, 10 years later. Over the last decade, I’ve been a business systems analyst, a scrum lead, a chief of staff, and a project and program manager. I have also had the opportunity to support and benefit from our IT Women In Leadership crew resource group, and it has been my honor to participate in our mentorship programs both as a mentee and a mentor. And, while I never became an MMA fighter, I did manage to learn karate on-site at Vanguard from a program many years ago!

I am grateful to have worked with and learned from many kind, patient, and intelligent individuals and leaders along the way. All the while, there have been countless opportunities to work on projects leveraging new technologies and with the creative minds learning to implement them. The crew, their passion, and the community of support that comes with working at a place like Vanguard is hard to match.

My years and experiences here have shaped the person that I have become and led to a career in the technical space that I never anticipated. Even after 20 years, I’m not done. There is still so much more growing and learning to do, and I know that there will continue to be ample opportunities for me to do that here.

-Jill K.

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