IT/Technology Consultancy?

apocalypse_7 · 20-04-2014 9:50pm #1

Hey guys,

I am soon to be a CS graduate and am trying to figure out what path to go down. I have experience with a couple of MNC's so that looks good on my CV.

What I have learned though is that I am not mad about programming, just sitting in front of a PC from 9-5 all day, every day! (I know, I could have pegged that earlier :P)

Now I was just looking up jobs and happened to stumble across Accenture and Bearing Point consultancy jobs. They appear to mix development and business nicely, so that you are not always stuck developing at a PC and have client side work too with a decent bit of travel thrown in too. (I am not nieve though, i'm sure like anything you get sick of it.) I just like the idea of not having a standard routine day, where anything could come up.

Does anyone have any experience on this side of things? Or any other routes I could take a gander at?

Raging_Ninja · 21-04-2014 10:33am

apocalypse_7 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I am soon to be a CS graduate and am trying to figure out what path to go down. I have experience with a couple of MNC's so that looks good on my CV.

What I have learned though is that I am not mad about programming, just sitting in front of a PC from 9-5 all day, every day! (I know, I could have pegged that earlier :P)

Now I was just looking up jobs and happened to stumble across Accenture and Bearing Point consultancy jobs. They appear to mix development and business nicely, so that you are not always stuck developing at a PC and have client side work too with a decent bit of travel thrown in too. (I am not nieve though, i'm sure like anything you get sick of it.) I just like the idea of not having a standard routine day, where anything could come up.

Does anyone have any experience on this side of things? Or any other routes I could take a gander at?

You could go down the business analysis route, which is a pretty much non-techical route which is more customer-facing. If you want to stay technical without doing much code you could try the IT admin route.

apocalypse_7 · 21-04-2014 8:28pm

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

You could go down the business analysis route, which is a pretty much non-techical route which is more customer-facing. If you want to stay technical without doing much code you could try the IT admin route.

Yeah I was looking at the IT admin route alright but it seems to be a) not the best pay-wise and b) prone to outsourcing

ChRoMe · 21-04-2014 11:09pm

apocalypse_7 wrote: »

Yeah I was looking at the IT admin route alright but it seems to be a) not the best pay-wise and b) prone to outsourcing

If you wont code, you won't get the best money. I'm afraid that's something you will need to accept.

Stheno · 21-04-2014 11:12pm

ChRoMe wrote: »

If you wont code, you won't get the best money. I'm afraid that's something you will need to accept.

There are alternatives such as Service Management and BA, I'd not recommend Service Management to a grad, but would BA, it's a good route.

@ OP I've worked as a consultant in one of the big technology firms, and know a fair few who work in Accenture.

You could end up being on a client site for months on end with little home support, and constantly travelling which may initially sound enticing actually sucks.

On the flip side, it's a good boost on your cv.

ChRoMe · 21-04-2014 11:16pm

Stheno wrote: »

There are alternatives such as Service Management and BA, I'd not recommend Service Management to a grad, but would BA, it's a good route.

@ OP I've worked as a consultant in one of the big technology firms, and know a fair few who work in Accenture.

You could end up being on a client site for months on end with little home support, and constantly travelling which may initially sound enticing actually sucks.

On the flip side, it's a good boost on your cv.

What is "Service Management" near 15 years in the industry and I've never heard that phrase used as a job title.

Stheno · 21-04-2014 11:17pm

ChRoMe wrote: »

What is "Service Management" near 15 years in the industry and I've never heard that phrase used as a job title.

ITIL/Project Management/Service Manager/Service Delivery?

Big with the outsourcers!

Royale with Cheese · 21-04-2014 11:28pm

Accenture hire pure tech people for coding roles. It'll be mostly tech work but you'll be expected to be able to sit in a meeting with a client without embarrassing yourself.

When they talk about 'consultant' positions, they mean more like business analysis work. You're not supposed to be doing any coding in those roles but from time to time it happens. Basically you usually start in testing, then business analysis, then project management. Your role from project to project will change, but that would be the same with most companies. The only difference will be that each project may be for a different client in a different location, which is usually somewhere in Dublin. Travel is quite rare. Personally I'd hate to do the work they do, lots of documentation and spreadsheets. That's just me though.

Stheno · 21-04-2014 11:58pm

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Accenture hire pure tech people for coding roles. It'll be mostly tech work but you'll be expected to be able to sit in a meeting with a client without embarrassing yourself.

When they talk about 'consultant' positions, they mean more like business analysis work. You're not supposed to be doing any coding in those roles but from time to time it happens. Basically you usually start in testing, then business analysis, then project management. Your role from project to project will change, but that would be the same with most companies. The only difference will be that each project may be for a different client in a different location, which is usually somewhere in Dublin. Travel is quite rare. Personally I'd hate to do the work they do, lots of documentation and spreadsheets. That's just me though.

You've described what I did to a tee but I also had travel, I was a bit more senior though and had to deal with the profit/loss side of things, which lead to the spreadsheets/timesheets/balancing it all

I do know first hand though that Accenture are good at supporting graduates, compared to others.

The Corinthian · 22-04-2014 11:23am

Depending upon the project consultancies will employ differeent types of roles, but typically:

Technical. Programmers, network admins, DB admins, architects and with some form of consultancies also creativities such as designers. These are the core resources who do the work on the ground, so in your case you would be developing 99% of the time (except for 'meetings').
Project Management. Basically a glorified PA, with the word manager tagged on (I know I've done it myself). For this you would be looking at specialized qualifications such Prince 2, APM, etc. Dead easy to get most of these.
Business Analyst. Probably the most fun (IMO) in that it is both creative (project management is not) but still allows for more human interaction than a pure technical resource.

With the latter two, technical expertise is highly advantageous (and naturally essential with the first). You'll often see demands for 'technical project manager' or 'analyst-programmer' and so on because in the industry the ability to understand both sides of the business-technology equation are like gold-dust. As such I would still recommend that you spend a few years as a developer before moving into a PM/BA role. I'm not sure I've ever met a BA, in software, who was never a working developer (not saying they don't exist, btw).

ChRoMe wrote: »

What is "Service Management" near 15 years in the industry and I've never heard that phrase used as a job title.

PMs and BAs will typically have some Service Management qualification or experience and unless they are very specialized, you won't see it in any title.

It's essentially a series of strategies to better allow an IT consultant / consultancy service their client's business.

John_Mc · 22-04-2014 11:51am

I worked for Accenture as a software engineer for a few years. As other have said, with this role you'll be a technical resource so would usually be assigned as a developer on a project. You could also be involved in the technical architecture side of things, or in the pre-build phases which involve design, estimating efforts, documentation, building prototypes etc.

There is a client-facing element to it, and because of this you'd probably spend less time coding than the average developer in a software development company. A large part of your day will still involve sitting in front of a computer though.

As others have said, you could also work as a technology consultant and this would involve testing, requirements analysis, lots of meetings, lots of documentation etc. Your technical background would stand to you here and you'd rarely if ever be assigned the more technical tasks. A lot of people in this role have done Business Information Systems courses in college.

As for working in Accenture, it's great experience and I enjoyed my time there. I worked on a lot of interesting projects and learned a lot but the deadlines are always tight, and you will have to do overtime from time to time. Some projects can be pretty bad for this, but then on others you'd never do OT. It really depends and is a matter of luck. You do get paid for all the OT you do though, which is usually not the case for regular software development companies.

It's the same story with travelling. You might be lucky and be assigned to a project where you have the same desk every day and you could be there for years. Then again, you might be on several short term projects which involve travelling. I personally spent 3-4 nights a week in a hotel 2 hours drive away for 6 months. It gets very annoying after a while but you can earn pretty good money from expenses for the inconvenience.

Another thing to consider is the nature of the work. One week you might be assigned to a project in Sandyford, and then another you might be assigned to a project in Swords, and then another you might be "on the bench" and based in the head office in Grand Canal Square. This makes it difficult to chose a place to live which is convenient to get to work. It's not something you can really do about either.

youcancallmeal · 22-04-2014 1:50pm

John_Mc wrote: »

I worked for Accenture as a software engineer for a few years. As other have said, with this role you'll be a technical resource so would usually be assigned as a developer on a project. You could also be involved in the technical architecture side of things, or in the pre-build phases which involve design, estimating efforts, documentation, building prototypes etc.

There is a client-facing element to it, and because of this you'd probably spend less time coding than the average developer in a software development company. A large part of your day will still involve sitting in front of a computer though.

As others have said, you could also work as a technology consultant and this would involve testing, requirements analysis, lots of meetings, lots of documentation etc. Your technical background would stand to you here and you'd rarely if ever be assigned the more technical tasks. A lot of people in this role have done Business Information Systems courses in college.

As for working in Accenture, it's great experience and I enjoyed my time there. I worked on a lot of interesting projects and learned a lot but the deadlines are always tight, and you will have to do overtime from time to time. Some projects can be pretty bad for this, but then on others you'd never do OT. It really depends and is a matter of luck. You do get paid for all the OT you do though, which is usually not the case for regular software development companies.

It's the same story with travelling. You might be lucky and be assigned to a project where you have the same desk every day and you could be there for years. Then again, you might be on several short term projects which involve travelling. I personally spent 3-4 nights a week in a hotel 2 hours drive away for 6 months. It gets very annoying after a while but you can earn pretty good money from expenses for the inconvenience.

Another thing to consider is the nature of the work. One week you might be assigned to a project in Sandyford, and then another you might be assigned to a project in Swords, and then another you might be "on the bench" and based in the head office in Grand Canal Square. This makes it difficult to chose a place to live which is convenient to get to work. It's not something you can really do about either.

Yep this is my exact experience too. Sometimes interesting sometimes not. If you end up in role you're not happy with you can get out if you really want to

apocalypse_7 · 23-04-2014 4:51pm

Thanks for all the responses. Certainly a lot to think about. I have applied anyway to Accenture's technology side (And BearingPoint consultancy too) as the consultancy side jobs are closed currently.

I have also applied to this;

http://www.ictirelandskillnet.org/uploads/ICT178%20Technical%20Support%20in%20Cisco%20Systems%20Programme%20_2.pdf

I just happened to see it in GradIreland opportunities. If I am doing nothing else for the summer, at least I could get a few good certificates under my belt perhaps.

KSnee · 15-10-2014 3:49pm

How did you get on after applying to Accenture and Bearing Point? Did you get called for an interview(s) yet?

IT/Technology Consultancy?

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