In 1993, when Axon (formerly known as Taser International) was founded, I was just beginning my undergraduate program at New Mexico State studying Electrical Engineering with a focus on Computer Engineering. I had dreamt that one day I would be designing products in which I could apply technical skills to creatively solve problems. Non-technical courses were a drag… “Of what value is MUS101?”, I would ask myself. It did not factor clearly into my career goals of designing high-tech electronics. I had a conscious burning desire to create products. That desire provided direction for my early career choices and it led to my career at Axon.

I am a strong believer that the experiences that life brings us, good or bad, are largely a result of the choices we’ve made in the past. Choices and decision making are inevitable. Whether we choose inaction or action, there are impacts, both positive and negative. I’ve found that over time, the effects of our choices become much more apparent. It is interesting to trace the path that got me from where I was to where I am today; to be part of an awesome company, working with great people, designing cool products that are changing the world. Perhaps I am just lucky, perhaps my choices played a role!

Career choices are pretty big ones. In making these choices, items I considered included: how my abilities fit with the role, will I be challenged to grow in this role, can my skill provide value to the organization, will I be happy working there over the long term, is the business providing value to society?

Sometimes it seems like out of the blue, opportunities come knocking at the door. That is how I felt when my college buddy called to see if I would be interested in interviewing with a medical device startup. I was working on my Masters in Electrical Engineering at the time and had received an offer from IBM to work in their computer chip design group when I was to graduate a year later. The exciting unknown startup, or a large prestigious company- this was my first major career choice (small vs large, highly focused role vs multiple subsystems, risky vs mature and secure). In the summer of 1998, I made the decision to take the startup opportunity, and never looked back.

Fast forward 5 years later to March of 2004, I had accomplished many of the things I wanted to at the startup. We successfully miniaturized the hardware of the medical device, while simultaneously improving the performance. Although improvements were achieved in hardware, the predictive algorithms of the device were still in development, and it seemed like it would be another 10 years before we would have a product that could be used in the field. It felt like the startup no longer aligned with my goals. I wanted to accomplish more. I wanted the products that I developed to have a tangible impact, and I did not want to wait a decade for the algorithm refinement and clinical studies. To avoid being a complacent employee, I decided that it was time to leave. 

I found an article about a local company called TASER International that was developing an interesting law enforcement product. Though I was not experienced in high voltage design, I did have some applicable experience, and most importantly, I felt that a career here would meet my goal of working on products that would have an immediate impact on society. The company at the time had a small engineering team of three full-time guys, one VP of engineering, one Mechanical Engineer and one Electrical Engineering manager, and an additional firmware contractor. What was amazing about the company was the passion of the people that I met; it felt like a startup company at the verge of exponential growth. Everyone at the company, it seemed like, was highly skilled and indispensable; it was fun and contagious. Much of this dynamic is still present today despite having grown quite a bit. We continue to drive ourselves as we evolve as a company, pushing technology even further with every iteration.

Today at Axon, I lead our video engineering team. I am involved in many of the design choices that our team members make, though each engineer is empowered to suggest and make key design decisions every single day. Their choices contribute to the whole. Every circuit component, every line of code, and every mechanical draft angle matters. As we grow, the stakes are higher. We are constantly having to make decisions that impact performance, size, cost, reliability, and time to market; the results of which, in turn, impact our customers and the communities they serve. Because this impact is incredibly important and truly saves lives; our day to day work is rewarding. To help fuel our growth, hiring choices have been critical for us as we look for talented individuals to join our team and drive creation of the next round of revolutionary products. In engineering, details matter. 

Today, we are working on our next-generation in-car system that will be one of the best, if not the best, systems on the market. This is due to the thoughtful decisions that have been made in its definition and design. We continue to learn from the past and challenge our thinking of the future, making impactful choices along the way as we design new technologies that enhance our customers’ experience. We desire to continue designing more compelling products that meet and exceed the needs of the present time. At Axon, we empower the team with the ability to make decisions and strive to create an environment where every engineer can contribute towards and reap the rewards of success of the company as they continue to build up. This is a part of who we are, reflected in several of our core values: “Own It” and “Aim Far.” 


Life is too short to have yet another job, with only so many working years. It’s an opportunity cost, and you should seek to find meaningful careers that align with your goals. The choices you make are key to a fulfilling and rewarding career. I hope that this helps you focus on the importance of your choices, and I would love to hear your thoughts. What critical choices have you made and what are their impacts on you today?


Check out Axon Career Opportunities here

Hear from our Director of Video engineering about how his career choices led him to where he is today.

Choices

ARTICLE: Choices

"Is it a fact, or is it an opinion?" That's a question I find myself asking a lot, both at work, and in my personal life. It's easy to state our opinions. We see something, we make a judgment rooted in our experiences, and the words come out. Truth, on the other hand, takes time. Getting to the truth requires more listening than talking. It means being open to learning, having perspective, and uncovering nuance. It takes introspection and consideration. In software development, teams latch on to catchphrases like "fail fast" or "move fast and break things." These philosophies encourage organizations to build and release software quickly. However, they also hinder the teams' ability to interpret the environment before it becomes altered by their solutions. In my search for truth, I ask whether a statement is a fact or opinion because I want to know whether folks have taken time to consider nuance and perspective.

Since joining Axon, something I have learned is that first responders often don't have much time. Depending on the information they are told, they must move at varying rates of “fast”. The need for lights and sirens doesn't make the truth any less important though. My team is building software that provides first responders with information before they get on the scene. While we can't ensure that the citizens who report incidents are truthful, we can equip first responders with tools that lead to identifying the truth. Neither Axon nor first responders can afford to "fail fast" when it comes to actually saving lives.

I've talked with a lot of software development folks in my product management career, whether it be at conferences, in interviews, or online. There's often a desire for product managers to have some grandiose vision or some fantastic solution that can be proven significant through iteration. The truth is, I don't know all the answers on how software can save lives. My grandiose vision is that I will help build and collaborate with a diverse and thoughtful team that's open to learning with me about all the problems that exist in and around public safety. I am fortunate to be working with the most diverse team I have ever worked with and as Axon and my team continue to grow, I'm hopeful that we will be able to encourage even more diversity. To truly save lives, we'll need to ensure that we remember that truth is not as easy as listening to one person's opinion or perspective. Truth is much more complex and challenging, but discovering it is essential.

Hear our view about the importance of truth and how Axon practice with this in mind in product development.

The Importance of Truth

ARTICLE: The Importance of Truth

I never thought I was the “type of person” that could work at Axon. To understand why I say that, we have to go back to early 2018 when I first received my offer. I was a senior at a university in Philadelphia studying Communication in the liberal arts school, and was heavily involved with a student organization that studied the effects of gun violence on the local community. I spent hours speaking with parents, friends, and siblings of those who had been lost to gun violence, as well as with individuals who wanted to share their diagnosis of the cause of the growing epidemic. A common thread running through their stories was a distrust of law enforcement. This sentiment took the form of: “We can’t trust the police to protect us, so we have to protect ourselves.”

From hearing countless versions of this narrative and from my own experience as a person of color in America, I admittedly felt this distrust myself. Even now, as a proud (and I mean proud!) Axon employee, my ties to my community and working for a company that produces weapons is a tension I feel almost daily, despite having spent hours upon hours with our law enforcement customers whom I’ve developed a reverential awe for.

In the spirit of Expecting Candor — my favorite among our values — I continued to feel the reluctance of taking a chance on Axon, even into my first couple of weeks at the company. I looked different than a lot of the people I saw, I felt different, and I worried that Axon and I could never be a match. Despite the incredible conversations I had with individuals across the company, I was afraid- afraid of betraying my beliefs, afraid of not being accepted, and afraid of what others outside of the company would think of me. Was I a sellout? Was I actually making a difference? Why didn't I choose to do something easier?

I spent so much time during the first couple weeks imagining what my life would look like if I decided to work at a company less entrenched in social change and issues. My life would be “simple” - go to work every day, sit at my desk and perform my daily tasks without having to consistently consider the real-world effects of my actions. There would be no stress, no interactions with law enforcement - just me being content at a straightforward job.

Thinking back to that time over a year later, I’ve often tried to identify the single moment this illusory desire for simplicity began to go away. Was it my first ride-along with an officer? The first time I saw body camera footage in the news with our signature Axon delta watermark? One event in particular that always stands out was a sit-along I had with a 911 dispatcher in Oakland, California. I listened to her take call after call, each more intense than the last. Within the short time of my sit-along, I heard her take at least two suicide threat calls and I watched in amazement as she remained calm, focused and determined to get the caller the help they needed. And on top of everything, she did this while using outdated software, slowing her down as she performed critical work that would save lives. I came away saddened, motivated and appreciative that I work for a company dedicated to using technology as a medium to improve the lives of people like that dispatcher, and the outcomes of the work they do for the safety of the community.

In retrospect, considering all of the incredible, transformative experiences I've had thus far at Axon, I can't imagine having taken any other path following college. During all of that time of hesitation, I had briefly forgotten why I had decided to join this company in the first place. I did not then, and do not now, want “simple.” Believe me when I say, there is no greater motivation than knowing that the products you work on have the ability to literally transform the world as we know it. We create technology that has the real capacity to save lives with forward-thinking products like, a more efficient dispatch system that will expedite the process to get life-saving aid to the places and people that need it most, and less-lethal weaponry that gets us closer and closer to our mission of making the bullet obsolete.

I think despite the differences I was so fearful of before joining the company, there is a powerful commonality among all Axon employees that becomes obvious when you start to work here. The people here are genuinely interested in making the world a better, safer place for all individuals living in it. They have taken it among themselves to attempt to solve the world's most challenging problems, which honestly is not always the most “fun” experience. The things we see and the conversations we have do not always leave us with a light heart at the end of the day, but it is necessary work that we are all deeply committed to doing.

I recently discovered a mantra while watching a show that I believe sums up my feelings toward working at Axon pretty well - “Here am I. Send me!”. There will always be challenges, but I’d rather be a part of the discussion for ethical solutions, rather than assuming that I am not the “type of person” to do this work.

Hear our LDP's story about why choosing a career full of challenge and working at a company this entrenched in social change and issues.

Be a Part of the Discussion

ARTICLE: Be a Part of the Discussion

At Axon, we want everyone to get home safe. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to create the most cutting edge technology for public safety so we can help protect life. But our goal doesn’t stop there: while we want to ensure our customers have the tools for de-escalation and transparency so they can return home each evening to their loved ones, we want that person having a bad day to get home safe too. And the mother who entered a store where that person is having a bad day, to get home safe. And that student who sat alongside their classmate who is having a bad day, to get home safe. We recognize that with technology, we can work on solving some of society’s most challenging problems. 

We relayed just this in our recent brand video that portrays a number of people whose lives are interwoven by one person’s bad day. A police officer, a store owner, and a man suffering from a mental health episode each represent so many members of our community that we walk alongside each day. This is the story of why we do what we do at Axon. 

We recently sat down with Tony Biaggne, Axon’s VP Brand Creative, to hear more about the importance of telling the story of “why” we do what we do. Read below for a glimpse behind the scenes at how this video came to be:

What inspired you to bring your creative experience to Axon?
It’s a great question that started around a plate of nachos. I was working as a lead creative at Amazon, creating advertising campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands. It was exciting and there was always something new to tackle. So, when Axon called I initially wasn’t interested simply because I was pretty happy with where I was at. They convinced me to meet up at one of my favorite Mexican places just a stone’s throw from my office. That’s when it happened. I heard audacious ideas around making the bullet obsolete, about ending school shootings and modernizing public safety. In about 20 minutes I went from “I’m doing this for the nachos” to “I really want a job here.” A few months later I landed the position and got to work. 

Why this video? 
After looking at all the creative assets I realized there was a big hole in one key area—storytelling. The team had created amazing product videos, developed a strong brand identity and was working on a new website. But there was this massive gap between telling the story of why we do what we do. Rick Smith, our founder and CEO, was doing it on his own through channels like Reddit and LinkedIn, but a brandcentric video of our mission was missing. I shared my opinion with the entire leadership team that our story is not only strong, it’s essential. We needed to tell the world why we exist. This video is a result of some of those conversations, and really, the first conversation I had with Axon over nachos.

What makes this video different?
First and foremost it’s not a product video. Yes, they’re in there, but they aren’t the focus. Our focus was to find the thread that connects us all. After talking with several people in law enforcement, around the office and some of my friends and family, I realized the biggest thing we all have in common when it comes to public safety is the idea that we all want to get home safely. The goal of this video was to connect people—both the general public and law enforcement, as a means to offer hope and position Axon as a place that is truly working hard for the safety of everyone in mind. You’ll notice we don’t call out any products by name. Instead, we focus on what these products were designed to do, including our empathy training, which is one of the products I’m most excited about. This video is designed to start a conversation between law enforcement and the public by expressing a sentiment both share.

At Axon, we are solving some of the hardest problems in the world. Now is the time tell the story of how we are revolutionizing technology for public safety. Because we believe everyone should get home safe.


Axon Brand Video

At Axon, we want everyone to get home safe. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to create the most cutting edge technology for public safety so we can help protect life.

Smart Weapons

Cameras

Software

Accelerate / 2020

Overview

Axon Body 3

Accelerate / 2020

News

Choices

The Importance of Truth

Be a Part of the Discussion

Why Axon wants to get you home safe - the message behind the video