Celebrating ESL Employees During Black History Month:
Devon Adjei

February 2021

In honor of Black History Month, we’d like to introduce you to a few ESL employees who have built unique careers for themselves in and outside of ESL. Then learn more about our commitment to becoming a diverse, inclusive workplace that provides equitable growth opportunities for all employees.

Meet Devon Adjei, ETL Developer, Systems & Technology Department

Why do you think it’s important for companies and their employees to recognize and celebrate Black History Month?

As a country, we are recovering from a time where it seemed that our efforts to be united were regressing. Luckily, in the wake of a year that was filled with racial injustice, we are also seeing unity forming once again. I am very pleased with ESL and their commitment to celebrate Black History Month; this celebration and recognition of a culture and its people shows ESL is light years ahead of other companies in regards to promoting racial harmony.

Tell us about your current role at ESL.

I joined ESL in August of 2019 as an ETL Developer. I was lucky to be paired with a brilliant and hardworking team. Our duties are to develop and support complex applications to extract, transform, and load data from multiple sources into our database.

Everyone has their own unique career journey. Share something unique about your own career experiences.

I graduated from St. Bonaventure in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. After graduating, I began my career as a Big Data Engineer at a company in Raleigh, North Carolina. As I began searching for other opportunities, I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview with ESL. From the first conversation I had with managers, I could tell that team comradery and core values were held very highly, which I was enthused to see in a company.

What has provided the best opportunities for career growth?

With the continued push by ESL to expand our database and data management team, there is a lot of room for growth within the company. I am excited to see all of the new projects and positions that will be coming in the future.

What career advice would you offer to those starting out?

I would tell someone beginning their career to not only analyze a company’s success, but to also research their willingness to focus on employee wellness and positive team environment when making the decision of where to work.

Has ESL provided support to help you manage your career? Have you taken advantage of any of the learning & development options available to employees?

I have been thrilled with my managers’ consistent and continuous efforts to ask me where I would like my career to go in the future and also by showing me new opportunities that arise within ESL.

What is your favorite part of working at ESL?

Working at ESL has been phenomenal, everyone is very friendly and upbeat. It was clear from very early on that coworkers hold following the ESL Core Values very highly.