Right now, many college graduates are making the same decision Dhruv Shah did back in 2021. After graduating from Bentley University, Shah moved from Boston to Austin to take a job at Unchained, a Bitcoin company he became infatuated with during his studies. New grads are making the move to Austin in part because of the city’s abundance of tech jobs and low cost of living, as confirmed by a new report from consumer financial services company Bankrate, which named Texas’ capital as the best city to launch a career.
Of course, Austin tech doesn’t just offer opportunities for new grads. Steven Spansel joined Acrisure Innovation, the tech arm of insurance broker Acrisure, in 2022 during the city’s meteoric rise as a tech hub. Spansel is a senior software engineer there and noted that there are opportunities for those deeper in their engineering careers to make their mark by helping determine what future iterations of the company’s architecture will look like.
Both Unchained and Acrisure Innovation are hiring now and offering opportunities for those early in their careers along with more seasoned professionals. Continue reading to hear more from Shah and Spansel about what life is like at each company.
Acrisure Innovation develops artificial intelligence technology for the insurance industry designed to better understand and forecast risk.
At what point in the interview/hiring process did you realize that Acrisure was the company for you?
I joined in August 2022 and there were a few factors that helped me decide this was the place I wanted to be.
The first factor is that, from the very first conversation, I sensed that I would be able to form strong connections and community with the people here, and I was right! Recently, a small group of us had dinner after work. Someone mentioned that even though we’d just met, it felt like we had been working together for years, and this is a testament to the camaraderie we’ve built here. A second factor was knowing I would have the opportunity to use my skills as a software engineer to help insurance brokers do their job more efficiently, which ultimately results in delighting our customers.
A third factor was that I loved the fact that we are a small, scrappy team powering the technological evolution of a large corporation. We are able to move fast and be nimble, but we don’t ever have to worry about where our funding is coming from. Finally, I was attracted to the fact that I not only get to work in a fully distributed, very modern technology architecture, but I also get to actively participate in discussions about what future iterations of our architecture will look like.
I not only get to work in a fully distributed, very modern technology architecture, but I also get to actively participate in discussions about what future iterations of our architecture will look like.”
How did your colleagues set you up for success and help you get acclimated once you came aboard?
From day one, everybody helped me get set up, learn insurance lingo and made me feel at home. Another thing that strikes me about the people here is that they have a strong combination of intelligence, credentials and humility. Everyone is extremely smart and they have all accomplished some amazing things in their careers, but they are also very down to earth and easy to talk to. I don’t remember ever having a question and waiting more than a few minutes for someone to make the time and help answer it. And that in turn spurs me to do the same for others, which helps create a culture of helpfulness where everybody can grow and learn.
Looking ahead, what do you hope to accomplish with your team?
Looking forward, I am very excited about the new direct-to-consumer tools we are building, which will allow both individuals and small businesses to compare competitive quotes for world-class insurance products from the comfort of their living room, the beach or anywhere in between. Stay tuned!
Unchained offers long-term Bitcoin holders cold storage as well as the ability to take out Bitcoin-backed loans, put Bitcoin in an IRA and set up Bitcoin inheritances.
At what point in the interview/hiring process did you realize that Unchained was the company for you?
I joined Unchained a bit differently than most.
I used to spend time in online forums and there I met people who raved about Unchained. On a random Wednesday in January 2021, one of my online friends told me to fly out to Austin to attend a meetup hosted by Unchained. I booked my flight the next day and went all the way to Austin to meet the team.
I was not immediately offered a job, but I knew Unchained was the place I wanted to work. Upon graduating in 2021, I called those I met on the Austin trip and was lucky enough to be hired. What Unchained values most is having a genuine interest in Bitcoin and self-sovereignty. If you are persistent and make connections across the company, inevitably there will be a role for you.
What Unchained values most is having a genuine interest in Bitcoin and self-sovereignty.”
How did your colleagues set you up for success and help you get acclimated once you came aboard?
I had zero professional experience when I joined Unchained, but I was lucky to be hired with a cohort of colleagues who helped guide me through my first few months. That being said, every team has an onboarding process and provides all the resources necessary to get you started. Each team also conducts weekly calls where you can ask questions.
Since joining your Unchained, what’s your favorite success story?
When I joined Unchained, we were very much a young startup that was all hands on deck. There were processes everywhere that were broken, and I got to pick and choose what I worked on. One of the first projects I worked on was building a better billing process. At the time we were manually running ACH payments every single day. This was not a scalable process, and I began reaching out to credit card vendors and finally convinced Stripe to let us use their services. This was a major accomplishment for me as well as the company in terms of billing.
