It’s a Chimed life: Meet Phillip Barnett
Phillip Barnett knows a thing or two about allyship (and he’s always quick to admit he’s got more to learn). In fact, he landed in his current career thanks to a community of allies who supported him in his transition from nonprofits to software engineering.
The transition to tech — and then Chime
First, let’s rewind a little. Phil was an Environmental Economics major in college and went on to work in the nonprofit world for a while. But his dreams of starting his own company someday and fascination with the breadth of what’s possible when technology is applied to solving a problem motivated him to enroll in a coding bootcamp called #YesWeCode (now known as Dream Corps Tech).
#YesWeCode was founded on the principle of shaping a more inclusive future by cultivating new, underrepresented talent to enter the tech economy. It was the ally that helped jumpstart Phil’s career. Because #YesWeCode knew that transitioning out of a bootcamp to employment can be a challenge, it engages companies as allies in the program to provide resources like mentorship, networking, and apprenticeship programs for graduates of the program. “We have to understand that when we are trying to make a radical change in an industry, we need to think outside the box and develop new paths for those who have been kept out of that industry,” Phil explains. “If we preach that diversity and inclusion are important to us, we have to actually make those things happen.” That’s what #YesWeCode does for a community of developers — including Phil.
With an ally in the form of the #YesWeCode community, Phil made the transition to the tech world as a software developer. And when he met our recruiter, Jamaal, at a 100 Black Men event, he was interested in learning more. “I made a good friend in Jamaal and learned about a cool company I didn’t know about,” he says. Now, he’s an engineer on our Growth team, where he works to build and improve our members’ first experience with Chime.
Phil was drawn to Chime because of our mission: “I love that what we do at Chime impacts the everyday American — after all, banking* is a service that many of us take for granted,” he says. “I remember seeing that access to financial services is not a ubiquitous thing in my volunteer work, so it’s nice to be contributing to making it more accessible now.”
Paying it forward: His role as an ally — and accomplice — at work
When Phil joined Chime, there were already a couple of Chimer Resource Groups (CRGs), but not one that represented him 100%. He and several other Chimers realized that we needed a space to support Black Chimers, so they started a CRG called AfroChime. Since then, AfroChime has focused on community building and exposure, as well as growing and supporting, Black Chimers in their careers.
Beyond his role in AfroChime, Phil also acts as an ally in his day to day work as a Growth Engineer. Because his team focuses on peoples’ first experiences with Chime and signing up to become a member, they’re constantly trying to reduce impediments to enrolling and therefore, putting themselves into members’ shoes.
“We try our best to meet members where they are, which includes understanding their individual struggles and finding the best way to make the enrollment flow as simple and clear as possible,” he explains. Doing so is made a bit easier by the fact that the team is diverse, because different perspectives help them identify different needs in the product.
“Even still, we have to understand that we have a level of privilege by virtue of working in this field and these careers, which means we may not face the same struggles and issues as our members. We have to take a step back and be allies to them so that we aren’t designing something that works for us, but something that works for them.”
For Phil and his team, that means embracing diversity of backgrounds, not taking privilege for granted, and always encouraging open conversations about experience, design, and what members might be dealing with.
There’s always room for improvement, especially as an ally
One thing that Phil has carried into his career and role at Chime is a constant striving for more empathy — and to be a better ally. “The biggest hurdle to becoming a true ally is first understanding why it’s important,” he says. “We often want to help people based on our experience, but our experience is often completely different from someone else’s.”
That’s where empathy comes in: “When people empathize more with others, they create more space and expand their mindsets, helping them see why being an ally is so important.”
For Phil, CRGs are a great place to start the process because they provide the space to share experiences and learn about each other. For example, Phil cites the new Chimmigrants CRG, a group for immigrants, who recently held a talk on the experience of being an immigrant: “I learned so much about things that I take for granted every day as an American citizen.”
Phil remains committed to trying to see the things that aren’t obvious, like hardships others might be facing, and being supportive while at work. “People are always dealing with things that we can’t see which affect how they work,” he says. “We’re a more effective team when we can understand that, give one another grace, and be supportive, rather than always just focusing on the task at hand.” To do that, Phil’s manager has implemented a daily check-in to keep abreast of how folks are feeling — the first few minutes of each meeting are for people to express where they are on that day.
“When people empathize more with others, they create more space and expand their mindsets, helping them see why being an ally is so important.”
Whether he’s participating in a daily check-in on his mood or working as part of Chime’s anti-racism task force, Phil says he feels grateful for having the conversations that matter. “As a Black employee, I’ve experienced many different levels of emotions in the past few months especially. Being able to talk about and process it helps us all understand each other’s experience of the world and be mindful of how we’re supporting one another.”
Phil is an embodiment of our commitment as a company to constantly doing the work. “We’re driving the point that to truly be anti-racist will take additional effort and intentionality, and we’re thinking about how to incorporate that into everything we do as an organization — that’s the best place to start,” he says.
“It’s easy to overlook how things — and systems like banking — have broader impacts on our world. As a company, I’ve felt that we are continuing to educate ourselves, and we’ve always been willing: willing to understand, willing to change, and willing to have a positive effect on society. That’s a huge opportunity and an ongoing endeavor, one which I’m glad to be taking on at Chime.”
Interested in joining Phil and our growing engineering team? Check out our open positions on our careers page.
*Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by, and debit card issued by, The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC.
