At Axonius, growth is important to us. In fact, it’s our mission! Since we know growth happens in many different ways and is also different for each individual, we asked Axonians to share their personal stories.
Ellie Davidson has been at Axonius since January 2022, and is an Operations Analyst on the Talent Acquisition (TA) team. Here’s her story.
Kait Lagalante: What does growth mean to you, Ellie?
Ellie Davidson: For me, growth is really about improving a little bit every day. I don’t necessarily think as much about the logical or measured progress or the linear steps. I just try to look at each day and see if I made progress. Like, what did I do to get to the next step or next level? That helps take the pressure off. As long as I’m doing that, I’m going somewhere. I love the analogy of rock climbing. Sometimes you have to go sideways or down to go up!
Lagalante: You were hired to manage analytics for the Talent Acquisition team. Can you share a pivotal moment in your career journey at Axonius so far?
Davidson: There was a moment when I’d been building TA dashboards for a while and then my data was used to inform business decisions for goal setting! It was probably the biggest impact I’ve felt that I’ve made at a company. I think it propelled me forward in a new way. I’ve been able to expand that work to not only create dashboards for my team, but for the People team as a whole, including company-wide data. We’ve also had a few folks on leave, and I’ve been able to jump in on things like the employee engagement survey analysis. It's especially rewarding to be able to do that before I go on parental leave myself! These opportunities have broadened the scope of my role and have been a really cool opportunity for me to dig into different kinds of data that I’ve never been exposed to before.
Lagalante: You’re going to be a first-time parent! That’s certainly a big part of your growth journey.
Davidson: You’re right, yes, I’m literally physically growing, it’s true! When I was thinking about speaking with you for this interview, I started getting deep. I thought about the journey of getting laid off from my last job. Really, my biggest growth so far has been the confidence I’ve gained in this job at Axonius. Being a parent is going to be another huge thing — I’m going to have to figure out how to balance my life in a different way, while continuing to grow personally and professionally.
Lagalante: What’s a skill or lesson you’ve learned while working at Axonius?
Davidson: In addition to the data skills I mentioned earlier, learning how to work remotely has been a huge one! I’ve learned to be more open in my communication, and I’ve learned how to contribute to the community that is Axonius. Since people are so kind and open and welcoming, I think it makes everything work better. Another big learning opportunity has been to advocate more for myself. Since you’re not physically in the room, you have to make yourself more known and raise your hand to help out, ask your questions, and share your comments.
Lagalante: How are you planning on using your GrowthBucks*?
Davidson: I’m going to take a data visualization/analytics course!
*GrowthBucks are funds that Axonians can spend on training, books, etc., of their choice to support their learning and growth journey.
Lagalante: What’s the one big takeaway for you from your time at Axonius so far?
Davidson: If you raise your hand and want to help out, people are incredibly gracious and that has allowed me to help in areas that are growth opportunities for me. We’re all trying to make things better, and when you realize you ARE making an impact, then you want to do more! It feels amazing to know you have the answer to something.
