Career Path of a Senior Financial Analyst at Dexcom

I went to the University of San Diego and graduated in 2021. When I started, I was a computer science major, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. I looked around and kind of fell into finance, which I found really interesting.

So, I ended up with a major in finance and a minor in computer science to keep my options open. I was also in college during COVID, which gave me a little more free time. I added another minor in accounting. I think having those three different fields helped me throughout my career.

My first job was at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Carlsbad. They always attended career fairs at USD and had former alumni there, which I thought was cool. They are also in the biotech and pharmaceutical space, and I wanted to work for a purpose-driven company.

Before starting there, I applied for their rotation program. However, it was during COVID and very competitive because it was remote initially. I didn't get into the program, but I did receive an offer to join their finance data science team, which seemed perfect given my major and minor. I learned a lot in that role for about 10 to 11 months.

Then, I switched to what's more like traditional finance, working in FP&A. I learned a lot and it was a good way for me to start my career at a large, Fortune 100 company. I did feel like a cog in the machine and wasn't sure I was providing value.

After two years at Thermo Fisher, I moved to a much smaller company. I knew the vice president of the finance team there because she used to work at Thermo Fisher. Because I knew her, I felt like that gave me an insight to get the role. I was a financial analyst, or analyst two, at Thermo Fisher.

When I moved to the smaller company, NeoGenomics, I became a senior financial analyst. It was very similar to my role at Thermo Fisher, so I wasn't expecting that. There wasn't a huge learning curve, and I was even a little bored. Coming from a finance team of 20 to 40 people, the entire finance function at NeoGenomics was about 12, so it was very different.

I didn't think I would miss the work culture, but having team events and seeing people in the office made things a little easier when I was struggling. I wasn't actively looking for another role, but I spoke with someone I used to work with at Thermo Fisher, who now works at Dexcom. She persuaded me to apply, and that's how I found my way here.

I'm still a senior financial analyst and started at Dexcom in June 2024. I'm now on the commercial finance side, which is more revenue-focused. It's smaller than Thermo Fisher but bigger than NeoGenomics. The work culture is amazing, and people are incredibly easy to talk to, from the lowest level all the way to the VP or CFO. You can literally talk to anyone and have a conversation. That's a little about me and my short career so far.