Rocket Academy – Becoming Your Best Self

David Juan, a Senior Director of Engineering at Rocket Mortgage^®, shared with us his journey to the company and his path so far, before discussing how he’s been able to take advantage of our education benefits to take his career to the next level.

In 2007, I was working my way through college fixing cell phones at a well-known wireless communications company. My major was in business management and I was also studying Japanese, but I hadn’t decided on a career path yet. One day, while working at the repair counter, a customer came in who would change the course of my life. I noticed she had a common Japanese last name, so I told her about my interests in the language and culture. She recognized my potential and told me she was a recruiter for Rocket Mortgage and that I would be a great fit for the company. Within a month, I started a career as a Mortgage Banker at what would become the largest mortgage lender in the country. I put my education on hold so that I could focus on building my knowledge and skills in the mortgage industry. Over the next few years, I would have a successful career as Mortgage Banker throughout both challenging and exciting times.

After spending 4 years on the mortgage banking side of the business at Rocket Mortgage, I realized that my passion was in designing and building technology. I was constantly creating new processes and leveraging technology to improve my day-to-day workflow. Every time I talked to one of our Technology team members, I could feel myself being drawn closer to that career path.  Leveraging the tuition reimbursement program at Rocket Mortgage, I went back to school to study computer programming in 2011. In 2012, I found myself in a familiar situation. I was talking to one of our technology leaders about an idea when the opportunity to join the team was presented. Less than a month later, I was starting a new career as an IT Business Analyst and once again put my education on hold so that I could focus on learning the ins and outs of the technology processes at Rocket Mortgage. Leveraging in-house training alongside a generous training budget, I was able to grow into the role of Senior Director of Engineering and became responsible for the entire digital storefront of Rocket Companies.

Saying that the year 2020 was challenging is an understatement. Yet, while most companies were looking for ways to survive in the “new normal,” Rocket Mortgage was focused on the growth of our team members. In spring of 2020, the Rock Family of Companies announced a new program called Rock Academy. I had leveraged the tuition reimbursement program at Rocket Mortgage previously, but this new benefit was very different. Rocket Academy consists of a wide variety of curated programs at high quality universities, with many of them being fully funded. This meant that I could leverage the additional time I was spending at home during quarantine to invest in myself with the full financial support of my company. I enrolled in summer classes at Purdue University Global and began earning a Bachelor of Science in cloud computing and solutions. This degree would allow me to build on top of the experience I had already gained at Rocket Mortgage and establish a deeper understanding of cloud computing. Just a little over a year after beginning the program, I walked across the stage in West Lafayette, Indiana graduating summa cum laude. Rocket Academy made this possible for me and I didn’t have to spend a single dollar. This experience has been so transformational for me that I am currently in the process of applying to graduate school, leveraging the Rocket Academy program once again. I would strongly encourage any team member at Rocket Companies to look into this great benefit and see how it can help you today.