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.
Dylan Opet
Head of Product Design on the Product Design team
Joined Avant in 2022
What’s it like to work @Avant? We asked Dylan for his take on our culture, and here’s what he said:
1. How would you describe Avant’s culture?
It’s collaborative, action-oriented, and flexible. We’re able to be sort of start-up-y, especially compared to some other companies I’ve worked at where it can be almost too structured. I really like being able to jump into messy problems instead of being kept in one structured lane. If we see a solution to a problem, we can pull up our sleeves and get to it.
And we collaborate not just from a product level but across teams, too. Design really never solves a problem all by itself—actually, some of my favorite projects have been sitting in a call shadowing room together with Engineering and Product and Compliance to hear how our agents are taking calls, and then bringing all of our perspectives together. The beauty of it is you get cool opportunities to work on anything you’re interested in.
2. Why are you happy/successful here?
Over my 16 years of industry experience, I’ve always enjoyed wearing a lot of different hats, and that has really helped me grow. At Avant, I’ve been able to be a developer, a product manager, a designer…Some days, I’m deep into product design. Others, I’m thinking about strategy for co-branding for partnerships. One day it could be mentoring designers, and the next could be coding on projects with the engineers. Having the flexibility to wear multiple hats and then apply it to my work is where I really shine. That’s what makes me happy and considered successful here.
3. What’s something Avant is really good at? What’s something you’d like to see us get better at?
I think Avant is really good at solving complex problems. Customers’ problems, operational problems, the customer experience itself—there’s so much that goes into running our business. A lot of our work sits at the intersection between Product and Risk Compliance and Engineering and Customer Support, and people here are really good at navigating that web. Avant is really good at bridging those gaps.
I’d love to see us work on getting alignment earlier in the process: how we define the problem and what specific, nitty-gritty end goal and customer outcomes are considered success. That’s actually kind of connected to the way our culture has elements of a scrappy startup, which is one of our strengths. So I think it’s more about finding that “best of both worlds” balance between the two. That way, when things change or structure shifts, we can rely on that alignment to tell us how and why we’re pivoting or how a new initiative has changed.
4. If you were to describe who you are and not mention your work at all, what would you say?
That’s the million-dollar question…I’m definitely a creative tinkerer. I do a lot of experimental art, dreamy music, shoegaze, I’m really into photography, art, music, fashion, and just finding ways to blend all those worlds together on an abstract level. I have lots of little projects on the side after work.
5. How does your work at Avant fit into the rest of your life?
Making things has been such a big part of my life. I’m a high school dropout, I started my own business at 15, by 16 I started working for agencies, at 17 I came to Chicago. Outside of work, that creative part of me comes out through photography, my experimental art, fashion, music, coding projects. Some of it is pretty abstract, but it fits into my Avant work because I can bring all those skills here and use them in a more practical way.
And then another way my work fits into my life is kind of the reason I joined Avant in the first place. I know how hard it is to rebuild your credit. It takes a long time. Knowing how that feels because I’ve truly been there, and then seeing our reviews of Avant customers saying “you gave me a second chance when nobody would”—it makes me incredibly passionate and motivates me even more. I’m very passionate about the fact that we offer opportunities to build or rebuild your credit.
6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
It’s funny because it’s sort of what I’m doing today. I always wanted to combine art and problem solving. I know a lot of people will realize that that’s what they want to do later in life, but for me, I got it immediately as a teenager—and even younger—and just fell in love with it. So really the answer is, I wanted to do what I’m doing today. Little Dylan always wanted financial freedom through creating art and solving problems.
