Technology Architecture Associate Review

I struggled to enjoy my placement due to the projects I was assigned to and the lack of ability to become assigned to areas in which I was interested. I was also unassigned for a great deal of time to start with, which meant that my motivation decreased at the start. it was difficult to know who to seek help from as a many people did not respond. I did however enjoy my side of desk work, which were held in sectors i was more interested in (Life sciences and Fintech). I believe too many industrial placement students were taken in for our cohort so there was not enough work to cater for everyone to begin with, and getting a client you were interested in became very unlikely.

My team mates on projects rarely made me feel as though the work I was doing was valuable. It did lead to less motivation with my approach to work as I rarely was given a 'well done'. I believe this was not however characteristic of everyone's experience as many people told me this was unheard of to them. My side of desk work in Life Sciences, Fintech and Health and Public Service were very encouraging and it was down to this that my enthusiasm at the company remained.

My TFS never responded to me, however I believe he was overloaded with the number of people he was dealing with. It was difficult to understand the process through which roles could be gained, as in the technology division, these were not assigned automatically as opposed to in the general consulting division. this meant that if you had no internal experience (which no one could have had entering the company for the first time), you couldn't get a role. All roles were essentially gained through word of mouth and luck of meeting people which I believe is a really poor way of securing something. It also meant that you had to be stuck in something for as long as your contract lasted (as you had to take what you were given) and you could have hated every part of it. This meant many people were placed into divisions for which their skills and capabilities did not align.

When I was unassigned, I had nothing to do all day. I went out of my way to secure some side of desk work, which eventually filled most of my working day, however had I not taken that initiative, I could have spent 8 hours per day sat at home doing absolutely nothing. On my first project, I was quite busy but not overly. My second project was completely overwhelming and I had absolutely no support with the work, meaning I would very regularly finish quite a lot later than my hours. I made it very clear to my managers that I could not handle the volume of work they were expecting of me. They did not take this into account, and only when they could see that deadlines physically could not be met, they simplified the role, only to later find that I was given really bad feedback that prevented me from gaining a graduate scheme. This completely rendered all of the hard work I had put in over the year irrelevant. I was very upset at this outcome.

the responsibility I was given varied from project to project. In the side of desk work, there was medium responsibility. In my first project, there was a fair bit of responsibility as I was in the Project Management team. In the final project (which involved contractual work) I was given so much resposibility that an intern should not have at this level of their career. I was prone to anxiety attacks at this point and several stress related panics, and this level of responsibility did not assist with this.

I was not given the opportunity to work in the sector that I wished to work in (despite efforts that spanned a whole year), and hence there was no relevance to my degree course. Sadly, my overall experience I believe, would have been improved by a client that matched my interests and skills. I am very grateful for training I received as i believe it will assist me in future jobs without a doubt, however there was no relevance to my degree course.

it was a nice office, people were friendly. However i never really felt like I could be on a personal friendship level with others in the office due to the competitiveness, no matter how many socials were organised.

the placement was organised well by several members of the company, however the ability to secure roles was a total shambles, hence my technical 'unemployment' for 3 and a half months. This also meant that i became so desperate to work that i accepted the first offer I was given, which I was absolutely not at all suited to and ended up disliking.

this was a very good aspect of the company. I believe they genuinely invested a lot of effort to make us rounded and take the opportunities that were given to us. I was given plenty of opportunity to learn about whatever I wanted, i could join a huge range of societies and side of desk opportunities were plentiful. I was also given several charity days (paid for by the company) to go out and help in various charitable initiatives. This I absolutely loved about Accenture.

I dont believe I would return to such a large firm, so I doubt I would ever reapply. However i am very grateful to the company for the opportunities i had and the ability to have thrown myself into industries I before never would have. I also have left with some great qualifications.

Due to covid, there was not. however in the first 5-6 months, i would say we were encouraged to meet up and have socials. a lot of money was spent by the company to maximise our chances of becoming good friends. unfortunately, no one really clicked so it didnt really work. having said that however, come out with 2 friends who I will know for life, so it wasnt bad in the end!

i lived at home so i didnt have a high cost of living. activities in central london however are not cheap. the company did subsidise these costs.

it was okay, however covid caused it to be bad!

many!