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.
Chase Matheson
Senior Cyber Threat Operations Analyst for the Cyber Threat Operations Team
Joined Avant in 2021
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Chase for his take on our culture, and here’s what he said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
Avant’s culture is motivated and passionate, and full of people who are hungry to learn. There’s great mentorship opportunities, people who want to teach me things, and then I’m able to teach things to others. And everyone here accepts you for who you are. That’s something that is really important to me. Avant is full of passionate people who allow you to be yourself. We care about each other, our teammates, what they’re going through.
I actually started here as a cyber security intern. Prior to COVID, I had no knowledge of security. I have 10 years’ experience in graphic and web design. Coming in with my non-traditional background, I was very nervous! I felt out of place at first. But people really let me be myself and motivated me—they even found ways that I could apply my graphic design background in the work I do now. The people around me helped me relax, and the culture was just warm and comfortable.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
I’m a person who needs to feel like what I’m working on matters, that it’s important. Being in the fintech industry and coming to Avant, there’s so much going on, and I’ve really been able to pivot and find things that I’m good at. My manager’s style is to say, “What do you feel you could be best at here? Let’s start there.” I can actually see myself having an impact on the projects I work on, and that motivates me. The opportunities are out there, and it’s been great for me, finding new things I didn’t know I was good at and putting my passion into projects that have made a difference here.
3. At Avant, we talk a lot about our love of problem solving, taking initiative—the more technical or functional elements of our culture. What is the softer side, or the human side, of Avant like?
I am a big believer that even at work, we are human, and sometimes, you have a bad day. And at Avant, I’m able to just be real if something’s going on for me. Sometimes all it takes is a five or ten minute conversation with a teammate or a manager, telling them what’s going on and maybe getting some advice. That is our “soft side”—you can have a bad day and you’re not going to be judged for it. If anything, if something’s bothering you, people are here to help.
I love getting together over a happy hour and learning what my teammates’ favorite movies are, what they did on the weekend, what games they like to play. It’s great to build that personal connection with your team. That’s why we all feel comfortable with our cameras on every day! No matter what’s going on, we’re all human and we acknowledge that, we don’t push it aside. That’s very meaningful to me.
4. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
In the simplest terms, I am a selfless empath with a passion for cybersecurity and graphic design and a love for helping others. I love mysteries, I love puzzles, I love challenges. I volunteer a lot, like with the National Child Protection Task Force, doing intelligence for them. I’m the type of person who needs to set goals that I can chase, I have to be working towards something, otherwise I feel stagnant. I’m also a big fisherman, I’ve played hockey all my life, I love the outdoors, and I have two Dobermans.
5. What’s a superpower that you get to apply at your job?
Graphic design. That background helps tremendously, believe or not. We’re always cranking something out: graphs, logos, our biweekly cyber threat operations news, incident write-ups—all of those need some sort of branding or Avant color guide. We want them to grab people’s attention, and I use my superpower to draw more eyes to our work and really showcase what we do.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Little Chase wanted to be a marine biologist. I love the ocean and I was fascinated by aquatic stuff growing up. To this day, I really want to go see the coral reef, to go snorkeling in the Bahamas, to see that crystal clear blue water.
