Every unique and talented Avantee is a co-creator of the Avant culture we love. We hope the @Avant series helps you get to know who we are, how we do what we do, and what it looks like to build your career at Avant.
Jonah Fidel
Software Engineer on the Prospect Engagement Team
Joined Avant in 2020
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Jonah for his take on our culture, and here’s what he said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
Avant has a very open, flexible, and accepting culture. This is my second software engineering role out of school, and my first one was at a bigger, older financial institution that was much more corporate and buttoned up. The contrast with Avant is night and day—you can wear what you are comfortable in, you’re allowed to choose your own path, and in general it’s not a super corporate culture. I really like that about Avant.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
For me, having freedom and choice in my work is really important. Being able to choose how I spend my time, not having somebody over my shoulder telling me what to do and how to do it, is really nice. Avant has given me that freedom and allowed me to grow and learn within my own interests, and to take my own approach. That has definitely made me happier and more successful here.
3. What’s a superpower that you get to apply at your job?
I really feel like the freedom and flexibility that I get at Avant is a superpower in and of itself. Like, sometimes I’m more of a night owl and will get inspired to do something later at night, and because Avant gives me some freedom to choose to work when I’m most productive, I can actually get it done much faster than if I had to do it at the office at 9am. Having some flexibility allows me to thrive and follow my inspiration.
4. If you had to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
This is a difficult one…I generally try to do right by my friends and family, and my community and colleagues, and leave things better than I found them. I also really love dogs. My girlfriend and I just got a dog, a black lab pitbull mix. He’s so loving and well-behaved, and it’s really great just hanging out with him. When I was younger, I took it for granted how great it was to have dogs. And now that I’m older and responsible for my own dog, I definitely have a lot of appreciation for it. So I am just really loving being a dog owner. It’s brought a lot of joy into my life.
5. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I think I wanted to be a videogame designer. I really like that I’m able to apply some of those same principles when I’m doing frontend development now. I like where I ended up.
