USAA

My fifteenth anniversary of working at USAA was on September 14^th and I reflect on my career and how it has grown over the years.

I stared work as a co-op and was ever thankful to my college friend, Korosh Shetabi, who passed my resume over to my hiring manager.  It was a nerve wreaking month before graduation, but I was offered a full time position working at the Bank Help Desk, a week before I walked the stage. It is not like there were floods of job offers, only one other. My life would have been different if I had moved to Houston, to work for a petroleum company, where I would have coded, developed applications, and maintained databases.

After taking a year off from the college world, I returned to the rigors of late night reading and cramming for exams to receive a Masters in Business Administration.  Back when USAA offered a four- day-a-week work week, I would find my way over to the E building classrooms.  The Incarnate Word College would bring their instructors over for class.  This was also the time that USAA paid tuition in full and had not yet caped the education expense at $5000 a year.  At the time, G and H building did not exist.  Today, those E classrooms do not even exist.

My co-workers have become my forever friends and confidants.  I have seen them date, get married and watched their children grow- in their bellies and in school.  Through the years I have meet fitness buffs, runners, and bike riders.  I was part of starting the Employee Cycling Team and enjoyed spending evenings and weekends riding with many cycling friends.  USAA has seen me through two marriages and one divorce, and I have seen USAA change three CEO's.  USAA will always be the place where I was when 9-11 occurred.  It is where I was when my father called to tell me my mother was taking her last breaths.

USAA allowed me the freedom to ride my bike to work and do yoga on my lunch break.  My managers have been flexible with my time, when mom was on hospice and when I used all my paid time off to roam across America, by bike.

USAA is the place where I worked for the past fifteen years, but it was also my home away from home. USAA is always the place where my co-workers are my lifelong friends and where I feel honor knowing that with each day I went to work, I was supporting our military.

It has been a privilege to work for a company that honors the military and supports their employees.  Only fond memories of USAA will echo, as a member and former employee of USAA.