What interested you in joining the Appian Government Acquisitions team?
I discovered that the Appian Government Acquisition Management (GAM) applications stand out from other offerings in the acquisitions space. Other similar products use traditional software tools that by nature are more rigid and difficult to adapt to the needs of each agency. The Appian applications are modern, low-code software that we create, implement, and work closely with customers to make successful in an agile, adaptable way.
I’ve been working with the federal government in the acquisition space for more than 20 years and saw the growth opportunity on this Appian team. The fact that Appian is growing worldwide was very appealing to me.
In your first few months working at Appian, what surprised you?
When I first joined, I got pinged by many coworkers and directors who I barely knew offering to help, assist, and answer questions. It felt good to be reminded that you’re not alone in starting a new job, especially when you’re working remotely. This feeling of support and collaboration right from the start was in stark contrast to previous places I’ve worked where this wasn’t the case.
I was also impressed at how quickly and adaptable we’re able to work as an agile team. It feels like our team is in startup mode, with the support and investment from the rest of our large organization.
What makes the team feel like a startup?
We’re a small team that’s growing a lot right now, and we’re able to be adaptable and act fast. In previous experiences with acquisitions at other companies, customizing something for a client used to involve months of design work and longer process workflows. Here, changes to the customers’ applications can happen within one sprint and that’s very exciting to see. Joining the Government Acquisitions team now also allows you to help build our team and its structure within Customer Success.
What programs are there to support new team members in growing their careers?
I’m a mentor to five people within Customer Success now and it’s a great way for new people to learn from leaders outside of their immediate team. I often get the question: what is the path to get promoted? My advice is to take on challenging assignments to show your initiative, make it visible to leadership, and show the impact. It’s common at Appian to transfer to other teams, especially within Customer Success. We have many of those opportunities within the Government Acquisitions team, not just because the products are new, but because we have lots of new work coming in the pipeline.
Within the department, there are resources like the Customer Success Career Compass to help guide your career path at Appian, and many other learning and development programs.
How do you see the team growing in the next few years?
The federal government buys billions worth of products and there’s a huge shift happening now to modernize their tools so that federal acquisition regulation experts (1102s) can work smarter and faster. When you join our team, you will acquire valuable knowledge on acquisitions and how the government adopts our software, and because this skill set is incredibly valuable to us you will have many career options ahead of you. As our team based in the US grows and possibly looks at expanding to other countries in the future, it’s a very exciting time to join our team.
Read more about joining the growing Government Acquisitions team.