At Metromile, we like to do things a little differently. (We are disrupting the auto insurance industry after all.) From offering drivers more fair and personalized pricing to streamlining claims with our AI-powered process, innovation is at the core of everything we do.
Especially when it comes to our employees’ development.
Gone are the days of traditional career paths. It’s all about the career jungle gym now, and with how competitive job hunting is these days, it can feel like a free for all on the job-market playground!
Career growth at other companies can be like one-way streets: there’s a clear line of sight that gets you to where you want to go, but there isn’t much room for venturing out or trying new things. At Metromile, all of the left turns, byways, and side streets are not only fair game but encouraged. We make it a point to provide Metromilers with a breadth of exposure and exploration to help guide them along their career journey, whether providing access to training courses to help move up in your current role or into a managerial role or hopping on over to an entirely different department.
In this blog series, you’ll hear from some of our very own to get a taste of what’s possible with a career at Metromile.
Devin, Fulfillment Administrator
Metromiler since March 2019
What brought you to Metromile?
At the time, I was working at a consulting firm and didn’t enjoy the environment. It was a very competitive atmosphere where it felt like I had to fight my coworkers to secure clients. That was the means of growth and success. I attended a Metromile holiday party as a plus-one, and just from that one event, I felt like I fit in with the people — not just interest-wise, but I got the sense that everyone had this collaborative goal in mind when it came to their work. I felt, they wanted to help each other succeed. That was the turning point for me, and I applied to Metromile not long after that.
What’s your career jungle gym looked like?
I came in as a customer experience advocate. I went through the training, and Metromile helped get me licensed as an insurance agent — the whole shebang. At the time, the customer support team was much smaller than it is now, so we had to be very scrappy, and I learned very quickly.
A few months later, my manager let me know there was a role being developed for someone to work with our finance team and supply chain manager for all things related to our Pulse device operations. I had been interested in that area of the business and had even started teaching myself some of those skills with the help of a couple of the analysts on our finance team. I got the role, and I’ve been in this fulfillment administrative role for over a year now.
How has it been expanding into this new territory?
It’s kind of rare to have somebody like me, with formal project management experience, switch to customer service. But that’s exactly what was needed for this position. I believe in our mission and love this company so much that I was willing to go out of my comfort zone to take on this new role and its responsibilities. I started doing some guided applied learning through a tool called Data Camp. And it’s not just the abstract learning — it’s a broad skill that I’m starting to get down, which has been really fun. Now I’m able to work on applied projects with it. I still come up against things where I have to seek help and answers from others but I have such a great network of coworkers. I feel like I’m doing something impactful for the company.
At my previous company, no one cared as long as you did your job and what was asked of you. Here, I feel Metromile genuinely wants to help every employee realize their interests in order to take their career to the next level. I’ve had the freedom to craft my role based on my unique skills and passions, which I really appreciate. It’s one of my favorite things about being at Metromile.
I really enjoy working on cross-functional projects with so many more people outside of my immediate circle, especially coming from the customer service field. On the flip side, I’ve really enjoyed being a resource or a point of knowledge to my colleagues. Metromile is technically larger than my previous company, but I feel like I have a greater impact here.
What do you have coming up that you’re most excited about?
One of the things I think is so cool about Metromile is that we’re so data-driven, and I’ve wanted to learn more about data analytics. It’s interesting to understand how our customers drive and identify trends in driving habits. There is a big area of opportunity with the analytics available from the Pulse device that I’m excited to explore more of.
I’ve also recently been bolstering up my work with engineering. Within my everyday work, I will sometimes catch something that could be improved. I’ll bring it to the engineering team, but instead of just taking it off of my hands right there, they’ll keep me in the loop and help me resolve the issue.
It’s also been really interesting working with finance and seeing the big picture of our company. It helps inform my work and gives me that other perspective so that I have a holistic view of the business. Creating these kinds of cross-department solutions has been so important and helpful to furthering me in my career.
What’s been your favorite part of your Metromile experience?
To this day, I still think the people are the best part of Metromile. It’s been exciting to be a part of such a hands-on, collaborative culture and see the company grow. It’s so rare to find a workplace now where you can mesh with and you can truly feel like you can be yourself with; that was something I had never really had before Metromile.
What advice do you have for Metromile candidates who may not come from an insurance background?
If you believe in what this company does and you’re willing to put in the work, just go for it. I don’t have any formal technical or finance background, yet here I am!
Interested in joining the Metromile team? Check out all of our open positions. We can’t wait to hear from you!
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