Application Development New Associate Review

Working within the Cloud First practice as a Business analyst. Day-to-day I write User Stories as a member of a Scrum team, converting business requirements to acceptance criteria and scenarios for the development team to complete. In addition, I participate in the sprint activities owning minor configuration changes alongside the migration of these changes between software environments (Dev, SIT and UAT)

As a part of my job, I have been able to experience a variety of different technologies outside of my specialism, including testing software (Smart Eye) and Project Management software (JIRA). As a part of my specialism, however, I would not say that I have not been able to advance my software specialism skills. I would say this is due to project needs and other team members more advanced experience. At university I have been able to learn about a diverse range of topics and technologies including Java, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, MetaSploit and Oracle SQL.

Whilst I enjoy the university element of my course, I can't say that the job necessarily appeals to me. There's an element of luck to landing the 'right' project/role that aligns with your aspirations and in my personal experience, a lot of the development is completed by offshore teams, which is the area I aspire to work in the short term (software development). As a junior member of a project, again in my experience, you can and may be given work that other team members don't want to take ownership of such as documentation or menial tasks.

As previously mentioned, being the most junior member of any team can mean that you are given tasks that others may not want to. Being such a large company, it can feel like you are a small cog in the grand scheme of the company. However, if you are willing to seek it there is a lot of support offered, including an assigned buddy and a career counsellor. By the individuals I work with, I do receive praise often which is encouraging, but as a whole I don't feel 'valued' by the company itself.

Initially, the process was very smooth; we had a 5-day intensive workshop training teaching us about Accenture's history, the tools that we may use and the types of work that we do. This was followed by a 3-week introduction to the fundamentals of Java programming which I personally got a lot out of. Following that, Accenture has handed over responsibility to the training provider, the University of East London. So far the experience has been enjoyable but somewhat mixed between modules.

In the first year, we had a dedicated academic advisor who would check in with us semi-frequently (~3 times per year), who was also one of our lecturers. Unfortunately, he left after the first year and hasn't officially been replaced. Despite this, whenever we need help with one of our modules or a general query, lecturers and programme leaders are more than happy to answer emails, and during tutorials lecturers are more than happy to help if you run into any issues.

As previously mentioned, if you seek it, there is a lot of support. I have: a buddy, a career counsellor, a software advisor, a HR advisor and an academic advisor at my disposal should I need them. My career counsellor specifically has set up monthly meetings to discuss my progress, which I very much appreciate given her seniority and availability schedule.

I currently live at home with my parents, which includes monthly rent payments and this salary more than covers this expense. I'm currently on a project outside of London, so all of my travel, hotel and meal expenses are covered by this, and Accenture covers the cost of the degree, so I'm more than happy with my salary.

Again, if you look for it there are plenty of opportunities; as an Accenture employee you are entitled to 3 paid charity days per year and there are numerous volunteering opportunities to take advantage of. Being such a large company ( >450,000 employees) there are plenty of networking and development opportunities, including sports, technology, hobby and software training events/communities.

Yes

I think if you have a clear idea of what you want to do and how to get your ideal opportunity, then there is little that can get in the way of your success. As long as you are assertive and clear about what you want as an individual, and how you can bring your experience to a project, I think that you can have an enjoyable experience at Accenture. While there is an element of luck in regards to project role, the message that you receive at the beginning of the job is that you determine your own success; if you want something, it's up to you to get it.

Make sure that you are flexible in the run up to your interview - I was one of the last ones through the door so to speak, and I only had a few days to prepare. Be honest if you don't know something, they'll recognise that you may not have experience. One thing to note if you have joined is that your first role is assigned to you.