Pros
Beautiful office, a great brand, a compelling mission, and the potential to one day (maybe) make a big impact on financial services.
Cons
I had heard from so many people prior to joining USAA that it was an amazing culture and when you join, you never want to leave. I also really bought into the HCD mission at CDO and was stoked to join. The challenges with transforming the tech culture there were real, but expected. I found that the folks I worked with in San Antonio were passionate and mostly delightful to work with. What I wasn’t expecting was the strange culture within the design office. I thought that the spirit of human centered design would be alive and well there. What I found was hierarchy, a lot of process, a lack of support amongst leadership (I don’t even think my boss’s boss knew who I was, much less didn’t seem to have any interest in forming a relationship with me), and some weird fear/territorial/controlling behaviors amongst teams and their leaders. It was unlike any design team I had ever been part of. I felt completely out of my element there and felt relieved when I left. Also, similar to a review above, I wondered why I was hired and sold this role when it turned out that my skills weren’t a good match for what was really needed. I’m not one to post a review like this under normal circumstances, but I know that I would have wanted to know this prior to joining.