Devin Hampton, a BYU–Hawaii alumnus from Palm Springs, Southern California, graduated in June 2019. He majored in accounting and business management with an emphasis in operation and supply chain and minored in theater and business enterprise systems. He served in the Argentina Salta Mission from 2014 to 2016.
On January 2, 2018, he married Abigail Hampton who is also an alumna of BYUH. Abigail majored in intercultural peacebuilding and communications and minored in Spanish. She is from northern Utah and served in the Detroit Michigan Mission from 2013 to 2015. She used to work at the BYUH Service Center as a supervisor and Students Advisory Council of BYUH. Recently, she started her own condo cleaning business. They met in a class at BYUH.
Devin likes performing arts. He was in several plays while he was studying at BYUH, including Into the Woods, Romeo and Juliet, Proof, and Taming of the Shrew. He wrote and directed some one-act plays as well. He also won the Great Ideas competition two years ago.
His other hobby is raising chickens. He likes to build chicken coops and hatch eggs. He worked with BYUH Sustainable World Action and Technology Team, also known as S.W.A.T.T since 2016. He loves animals, especially chickens, so it was a perfect place for him to work. When he was in high school, he raised 300 chickens. He has a lot of experience of taking care of them, so he gave suggestions to brother and sister Harper, who oversees S.W.A.T.T about having a chicken farm on campus. They worked hard to bring the idea to life, and today S.W.A.T.T has over 70 chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and pigs in their farm.
Working at S.W.A.T.T helped Hampton to get over his fear of making mistakes. He said “It is almost expected to make mistakes in order to learn and come up with the best idea. The culture at S.W.A.T.T is you can come up with crazy ideas and can try it and learn from it.”
Devin’s parents run a pool construction business called Vacation Pools Inc. in California which was established in 1974 by his grandfather. They build swimming pools in people’s backyards. His parents raise chickens, pigs, and goats as well. He is the oldest of four and has one brother and two sisters. He has learned from his father the importance of finishing something that he started. He said people get excited when they start new projects or have good beginnings but do not always finish it.
Hampton said he has learned many things from his mother, but the most important one is communication skills. He said, “Being able to articulate myself clearly and being able to listen and understand to what others say to me and then communicate with them effectively were the main reasons I found happiness and success in my life.”
When he was in high school, he had two big accidents. In his sophomore year, he broke his neck. He had surgery and got a titanium plate and six screws in his neck. A year later, he broke his back and ribs that punctured his lungs. Hampton stated, “I used to play water polo in high school. Right after my seasons, I got these accidents. I worked so hard to regain mobility in my neck and back and get back into shape to play the next seasons. I was tempted to feel pity for myself. Overcoming that negative feeling and recovering was one of the hardest things I went through in my life. However, Heavenly father is the best doctor.”
Hampton said he made a lot of changes and rearranged his life in order to go on a mission. He learned that if he knows where he wants to go, he needs to visualize his goals and work hard even though he is not sure whether he will get it or not.
While he was studying at BYUH, he found a job through the Ohana Network which is a newly launched platform to connect BYUH students with BYUH alumni and mentors. Hampton said Marc McDonald, the director of Alumni & Career Services of BYUH came into his class one day and explained that the Ohana Network is a platform where students can meet with employers who graduated from BYUH. Hampton added that the platform has a lot of useful options, including requesting an audience with employers, setting up interviews, doing one and one talks about resumes, transitioning schools and much more. He signed up and did his assignment to reach out to a company he wants to work with.
Hampton said “Amazon.com, Inc. is the company that I believe in and want to work in. I even bought stocks of it. I looked for and found a guy called Vijay who graduated from BYUH and works at Amazon. I sent him a message and asked him if he was willing to talk with me.” Then, Hampton sent his resume to Vijay and got useful advice on it while they were talking online. Later, Vijay connected him with other employers of Amazon. Hampton applied for Amazon’s finance program and reached out to more people and had interviews with recruiters. He said, “The Ohana Network gave me a chance to contact someone who knew the culture and school I came from and who knew how to take advantage of experiences I gained at BYUH."
He was hired at Amazon Inc. as an accounting financial analyst last November. Hampton said he was competing with certified public accountants, MBA students, and strong professionals who have way more experiences and paper qualifications than he has. He further explained that he has learned his experience at BYUH was very unique and more valuable than other candidates’ experiences to employers. He will move to Seattle, Washington to work at Amazon’s headquarters by August 2019.
He is planning to work there for the next five to ten years and start building his family. Eventually, he wants to have his own financial company and retire at the age of 45. He said, “It is up to us to manage our own success. We have great resources and cool tools like the Ohana Network, motivated professors like Mark McDonald, and reliable mentors. Having more resources doesn’t define an individual’s success. Determination and commitment towards one’s goals do.” When he has free time, he likes swimming, snorkeling, and free diving.