Data Analyst Review

My current role involves working as a data analyst on a mass migration project for a national telecommunications leader. In my day-to-day role, I am involved in multiple client and project team meetings discussing scope, deliverables and any changes to the project plan. My personal work mostly involves ad-hoc analysis for multiple client teams, usually on large datasets. I also act as a data co-ordinator for the wider migrations managing any data-related issues and ensuring these are fixed in good time.

The main skills I have developed on throughout the length of this project are stakeholder interaction, communication and data analysis. I've also learned about the business functions that exist in the Telecommunications industry as well as how to create effective and clear process flow diagrams and maps of relevant, existing business processes and functions.

The programme as a whole is an excellent opportunity. There are a wide variety of roles and projects to choose from and experience. The work, team and responsibilities vary wildly depending on the project you work on, however from my experience the teams have always been very supportive and the work has generally been interesting enough to upskill and develop myself as a professional in.

The programmes structure is okay. We are given clear university days at the start of every week which is extremely useful and Accenture gives us a fair bit of support and flexibility with training and studying for University. At the same time, I found the support to be very lacklustred since the pandemic has been in effect and we have been working from home. The care given to us as apprentices has not been much, and there has not been much consideration given to us, especially in third year, when it comes to having a better work-life balance during lockdown. Finally, the University itself is generally organised however there have been many times where this has not been the case. As an example, we found out which module we would be studying at 23:00 the night before we started the semester. The university had over 6 weeks of downtime to notify us of this.

As mentioned previously, the support recieved ranges depending on the situation. Taking time off for university, ensuring the workloads are not too large and general support coming from the project team has been great in my experience. However, from the wider apprenticeship team there is not as much support given especially to 3rd years who are struggling with workloads and university alongside the stress of lockdown and the pandemic. Accenture itself has many support options that were provided to employees during the pandemic and as a general employee it is good, but as an apprentice it needs improving as we have the extra workload of a full-time university course on top of our day-to-day role and this fact seems to have gone awry from the leadership teams priorities. Finally, we have a careers councillor that does help us, in a more informal way, to grow our careers and see us progress while giving advice.

The training provider gives some support from time to time including an occasional check-in meeting and the ability to raise concerns or problems to lecturers, supervisors or the apprenticeship team themselves. However, when dealing with a problem the attitude is generally great and they always ensure to keep us students as the highest priority.

The qualification has not helped my as much as the hands on experience has in my role. It is almost like learning backwards, where I am exposed to the business and technology world in my role and must learn it from a practical perspective, then some months or years later I learn about it from a theorectical perspective in University.

Accenture does provide many extra-curricular activites to be involved with which is a great benefit. Pre-COVID there were many social events to attend of all different forms and sizes. Now, while there are less overall, there are still many opportunities for social activites that happen such as virtual escape rooms, team virtual dinners, virtual magic shows etc. Accenture also provides the opportunity to volunteer 3 days a year without impacting pay, which is a great way to give back to the community. Finally, Accenture also provides many corporate discounts to leisure clubs, gyms and other social events.

Yes

Although there are many things that can be improved from the perspective of an apprentice in the company, overall Accenture provides an excellent stepping stone into the professional world as a world-renowned leading consulting service with a wide range of projects and specialisms to choose from, alongside a great incentive for development and training. Finally, they are generally accomodating to apprentices and value apprentices within the company who are looking to improve themselves personally and professionally.

Ensure you are being your authentic self, express your interests but understand that you may not be able to work in your passion right away and may have to upskill in other areas. Understand the company culture, structure and read up on some case studies to understand the type of work done. Finally, have a basic idea of what you want to do and what you enjoy doing and try and see if Accenture aligns with it or would be beneficial to it.