It’s a Chimed Life: Meet Albert Alquisola, Engineering Manager

Albert Alquisola played a lot of sports growing up. Over time, his love of teamwork on the field and the court — of working with others to achieve a shared goal — seeped into and shaped his career. “I get a huge sense of fulfillment from accomplishing things, and I love talking to and working with people,” Albert says. “It’s a truly unique experience to get people aligned and working towards a common goal, whether in a sport or at work. The reality is, you can only accomplish so much by yourself, and there are compounding effects by getting others involved — you can create something that would otherwise be impossible by yourself.”

Albert is an Engineering Manager at Chime and recently won our Talent Builder and Advocate leadership award. The award recognizes a Chimer who understands and utilizes their team’s strengths, and invests in their development by coaching, enabling, supporting, and motivating them. Most of all, Talent Builders and Advocates are humble and inspire humility while challenging Chimers to reach their potential. Albert received the award because he’s known for going above and beyond to build trust, recognize great work, and care for Chimers’ well-being.

“In the most basic sense, being a talent builder means you support people,” Albert said upon receiving the award. “You identify where they can grow, assist them in honing their skills, and most importantly, help them to cultivate and harness the confidence they need to pursue new heights. I believe everyone can be great — and I also believe that a prerequisite of greatness is having help, having that support from those you count on.”

Here’s a look at Albert’s path to becoming a Chimer and the leadership philosophy that’s shaped him into the talent builder and advocate he is today.

The ultimate form of creativity — right at his fingertips

Albert became interested in software engineering in high school, where he took several computer science and programming classes. “From the get-go, I realized software would let me do so many fun and creative things, whether I was building practical tools or just pushing the envelope of my imagination,” he says.

One of the first things he ever built was an automatic Southwest Airlines check-in bot. If he booked a Southwest ticket, the bot would automatically check him in exactly 24 hours before the flight (because of Southwest’s model of no assigned seating until check-in, the earlier in the 24 hours before a flight that a passenger checks in, the better seat they’ll get). “When I built that, it felt like I had the ultimate creativity at my fingertips,” he says. “Anything you can think of, you can build.”

And Albert believes that to be more true today than ever before. He didn’t grow up with a smartphone to give him maps and directions. Instead, he’d write driving directions on post-its and stick them to his dashboard. “Working in a time when things are being built that fundamentally replace or change how we used to do them is huge,” he says. “There’s no other industry that can do something at such a rapid rate as tech; we’re able to completely change industries seemingly overnight.”

“It’s the ability to bring my ideas to life that makes software so enjoyable.”

Finding his way to Chime

To Albert, Chime is a prime example of technology fundamentally changing how people do something (manage their finances). “Ten years ago, if you asked someone to imagine checking their balance or sending a friend money on their mobile phone, or to picture a financial technology company that didn’t have any physical branches, they’d think you were crazy,” he says (Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC).

When Albert first heard of Chime, he was looking to work on a consumer product. After spending much of his career focused on backend systems, he welcomed the change of scenery. And while he’d done some impactful work on products that were very lucrative throughout his working life, many of them lacked a mission that resonated with him.

“I find it so inspiring that at Chime events, such as All Hands, we get to see real people — Chime members — who go out of their way to record messages about how Chime has impacted their lives and helped them achieve things like buying a car or renting an apartment,” he says. “It’s easy to lose sight of that in the tech industry, but Chime does a great job of constantly checking in with members and sharing our impact so that we know we’re working on things that positively impact people’s lives.”

Defining — and finding — success

Early on in his career, Albert measured success from a financial perspective: “If I could make a certain number of dollars, that meant I was successful,” he says. “At the time, I wanted to establish myself and experience financial freedom.” Over time, that definition has shifted dramatically. “I now define success from a happiness perspective and recognize what a luxury it is that I wake up and feel invigorated to work,” he says. “So many people live for the weekend and dread Mondays, but I’m just as happy when Monday rolls around.”

Albert is the first to admit that finding fulfillment at work and feeling successful because he’s happy at work is a privilege — that much of his approach to success earlier on was based on his desire to be financially stable. His journey and awareness of what success has looked like to him have helped him develop his philosophy as a manager and find ways to support his reports.

“I realize that in my current role, if I can make my reports successful, help them feel passionate, and support their career development, only then will that translate into success for me,” he says. “That’s why my primary focus is to empower them.”

Moving into management and developing his philosophy

Talking to Albert, it feels natural that he would be a leader, but he’s always oscillated between management and individual contributor (IC) roles. This is his second time being a manager, with time spent as an engineer in between. “Every time I step into a new role, be it as a people manager or as an IC, it feels like a new career,” he says. “Being a manager means honing skills like mentorship, coaching, product and technical skills, strategy and direction.”

As a manager, Albert adheres to his own philosophy: “Everyone is unique and different, and therefore has varying priorities — it’s my job to figure out what those priorities are and help people achieve them,” he says. “Every report I’ve ever managed has had a diverse perspective and been at a different stage of their career, so their goals naturally vary.”

Some members of his team have wanted to learn new skills, while others have wanted to tackle hard technical challenges or develop their leadership abilities. “Once they communicate what they want, it becomes my priority to put them into a position to achieve it,” Albert says. “Whether that’s putting someone on a hard project, submitting them for speaking opportunities, or asking them to run our team meetings.”

Another core element of Albert’s management style is the idea of growth as a byproduct of discomfort (the kind that will keep his team feeling challenged and growing). “I believe that when people are faced with challenges, there can be great opportunities to rise to the occasion and grow,” he says. “As a manager, I encourage my team to step outside of their comfort zones and find areas in which to learn, expand, and push themselves.”

“I believe that when people are faced with challenges, there can be great opportunities to rise to the occasion and grow. As a manager, I encourage my team to step outside of their comfort zones and find areas in which to learn, expand, and push themselves.”

The importance of mentorship

Albert’s career and approach to leading others didn’t come from thin air — it stems from the role mentorship has played in his life.

“It’s cliché, but my mom has been the mentor who helped me get to where I am today,” he says. “As the second youngest of nine children, she grew up incredibly poor (she and her eight other siblings all shared a single bed in one room growing up) — to me, she embodies the American Dream. She came to California with nothing, made a living for herself, and put her three sons through school so we could have a better life. She is my OG talent builder and advocate. She helped me get to where I am today and set an example as a leader I could look up to.”

Albert has continued not only to mentor his teams at Chime but is also involved in mentoring aspiring software engineers. “A few years ago, I began volunteering my time for people interested in pursuing a career in software engineering,” he says. “The premise was simple: I scheduled an open Zoom call two times a week, and anyone could pop in and ask questions. To date, I’ve helped over twenty people break into a career in software. I’m very proud to say that one of my original students recently accepted a position at Google.”

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We’d say that’s something to be truly proud of. Thanks, Albert, for your contributions as a Talent Builder and Advocate and for sharing your perspective with us!