There are many reasons that people take their first job. A lucky few people know from a young age exactly what they want to do with their lives, but most people don’t. You try to find a company and a position that seem interesting enough for now. At a minimum, you simply take a job so that you can earn a living and pay the bills. Regardless of how you start, though, at some point your job becomes more than just a job. It becomes a piece of your career. Maybe you aren’t there yet, but at some point, you’ll start to look at what you’re doing with your life and assess whether it’s a productive use of your time. Everyone will have their own way to evaluate this, but to me it’s a simple question - can you look at yourself in the mirror at the end of each day?
I can. I may not be a surgeon, but my parents are still proud of me.
Growing up, my parents encouraged me to do my best. Whether it be school, sports, or extracurricular activities, they instilled in me a drive to always do better. They pushed me to work hard so that I would have options when it came to choosing my profession. I chose insurance, and it slowly became my career.
Like many other insurance professionals, I have hand-delivered checks to customers in need on my weekends. I have volunteered at schools to educate children on bike safety and led junior achievement courses. And, I have been on the front lines of a catastrophe, where there is no concept of the work week or business hours – only the extreme focus to get funds into the hands of our customers - the insureds - as quickly as possible. Insurance is hard work, but insurance is noble work.
Now, working for Guidewire, my respect for individuals working in the insurance industry has only grown. Recent natural disasters have brought out the true mettle of our customers, the insurers. A great example of this is the flooding in Alberta, which is estimated to have caused between $3-5B in damage. Our customers in the region are doing everything in their power to help their insureds, and Guidewire is proud to support them with this objective. For example, our customers are using Guidewire Live to view their policy exposures in the flood zones so that they can proactively reach out to their insureds to provide guidance, instructions, and reassurance. Using ClaimCenter, carriers are automatically creating claim files for customers located in severely damaged areas so that they can accelerate claims processing. Carriers are utilizing Guidewire portals and mobile apps to not only get claims filed quicker, but also to get payment into the hands of the insureds quicker. The floods have displaced over 100,000 people from their homes, and these funds are essential to insureds to enable them to pay for alternative housing, clothing, food and eventually, a new place to call home.
I work for a company that builds software that helps insurance carriers continue to do noble work, and at the end of the day, that’s a very fulfilling feeling. I may not be conducting surgery, but my parents are proud of the work I do.