"Everyone in my family are mathematicians and engineers who had acquaintances in Silicon Valley, in the local Armenian community. Unfortunately, there was no one my age, during the first 6-7 months I had no chance to communicate with young Armenians of my age. It was very difficult for an Armenian from Armenia to integrate, Diaspora Armenians were not used to seeing Armenians moving to the USA, I felt like a stranger. Even visiting an Armenian church did not help. When I spoke pure Armenian, people were surprised because they were not used to hearing Armenian, they spoke English to each other, and Armenian only in a narrow family environment, with their parents."
Maybe, Suren thought, it would be easier to integrate into the Armenian community in Los Angeles, but when he finally moved, he had already lived in the US for 8 years and knew that the diaspora was not his place. According to Suren, maybe that is the reason why he always wanted to return to Armenia.
"If I had gone to Los Angeles from the very beginning, maybe I would have stayed there. Honestly, I'm grateful that we settled in San Jose first, because that's where I first felt that I didn't belong in the US."
After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an MBA from Pepperdine University, Suren worked as a budget analyst for 2 years. After living in the USA for 10 years, in 2009, he returned to Armenia for a short time and found a job as a business analyst here, which paved the way for him to a more complex and interesting job in Ukraine, where he worked for 18 months in the development center of Deutsche Bank. It helped him land his dream job in New York.
"When I moved to New York, I was older and I didn't feel the need to be constantly actively involved in the Armenian Diaspora, as I was when I was 17, when we had just moved to the USA. Now I was a more mature person, I knew what I needed. New York has a very strong Armenian community, but people don't interact much with each other because the city is big, people live far from each other. There is a large Armenian church in Manhattan, but not everyone comes to Sunday services. I was working as an IT business analyst and project manager in New York until I got an offer from Ameriabank."
According to Suren, life in New York is very difficult. Dynamic commuting and work take up all the time, and the fact that the Armenian diaspora is scattered throughout the city also makes it difficult to find a spouse. In addition, in 2008, Suren's parents had returned to Armenia and he missed them very much, so he decided to return to Armenia himself and start all over again.
"My parents started to convince me to come back, they said that if I find a job, everything will be fine, so after working in New York for three and a half years, I applied to Ameriabank and got a job offer. To be honest, I was very doubtful because I was happy with my current job and the move meant I would have to give up a great opportunity, but I had heard so many good things about Ameriabank and finally decided to take the risk. I am very grateful that my decision justified itself."
Suren currently works at Ameriabank as a Senior Project Manager (Innovation and Digital Solutions Department). He is entrusted with projects implemented at the level of the entire organization. Suren has 2-5 business meetings a day, constantly reviews and improves projects according to the requirements. Suren is very satisfied with his new job, the environment of the organization and says that working at Ameriabank forces him to strive for perfection every day. According to him, the professional growth and development of employees are in the first place at Ameriabank, and what he likes the most is that the management always supports employees at Ameriabank, and the work itself provides an opportunity to overcome new challenges every day.
"We don't have time to be bored. Every day new ideas, new challenges. At Ameriabank, I implement CRM-projects at the level of the entire bank. In the US, such projects are usually implemented by large consulting firms, but here I have the opportunity to manage them myself with the support of my invaluable colleagues."
Suren's work in Armenia was a turning point in his life.
“During the first few weeks of working at Ameriabank, my workplace was located next to the marketing and PR teams. More specifically, I was sitting next to my future spouse. My marriage played a huge role in my decision to stay in Armenia."
For Suren, one of the biggest challenges of working in Armenia was not being able to schedule a 9:00 a.m. meeting. Now, 3 years later, he is already used to it and has discovered the many advantages of living in his homeland: he can go to work on foot, meet his friends at any time, even if only 20 minutes before, he can be sure that he can preserve his Armenian identity. Every day is a new opening page for Suren, full of new discoveries and challenges.
"I have only one wish for the future. I would like my son to live a peaceful and safe life in an economically developed and politically stable Armenia."
Source: RepatArmenia