How I got a graduate job at Accenture… and turned it into a career
January 20, 2020
Jack hadn’t even heard of Salesforce until he started working at Accenture. Now he’s a full-time Salesforce Developer, building innovative software solutions for some of Australia’s biggest companies. Read how he turned an interest in tech into a rewarding career.
I am a certified Salesforce Developer and computer science graduate. Apart from having a deep interest in the field, computer science is one of the most employable degrees in the world, giving grads exposure to a broad and diverse job market in areas such as software engineering, virtual/augmented reality and Artificial Intelligence.
My career plan was to go into a development role, but I wasn’t sure what programming language I wanted to work with. Then, in my final year, I signed up for an eight-week internship program at Accenture run in partnership with RMIT. Using modules from Salesforce's Trailhead for Students education platform, RMIT tailored a short course for its students, specific to the needs of Accenture, which then takes on all the course participants as interns.
The first two weeks were intense as they rapidly trained us up in both Salesforce Administration and Development. Until that moment, I had been completely unaware of Salesforce – this mammoth CRM used by over 150,000 companies around the world.
Breakfast with Accenture’s Salesforce Analysts Group
Fortunately for me, the Salesforce programming language is similar to other programming languages I had tackled throughout my degree. After just two weeks of training I was ready to be deployed into a live Accenture project with a major marketing services company. I spent six weeks developing a campaign site and part of the related Salesforce implementation. This was an awesome experience that catapulted me into being job ready – fast.
After my internship, I was offered a graduate position at Accenture (Applications for our graduate roles in Australia open Feb 1st 2020!). The first couple of months I spent training myself up, completing internal learning modules. Then I got to work on a proof of concept for a business development project that was later sold. Eventually, I landed with my latest client. For the past year, I’ve been helping a major insurance company to migrate to the Salesforce platform as part of a large-scale digital transformation program.
At Accenture, birthdays don’t go unnoticed by your client!
I’m confident that I’ve landed in the right place. I’m a learner and I relish the opportunities that Accenture provides in the way of learning. In my own time, I like to learn German and Portuguese (albeit at a snail’s pace!) and plan to soon resume flying lessons to obtain my Private Pilot License. Due to the complexity of the projects I work on, there’s always a challenge to overcome, but it’s all part of the fun of consultancy. What I really enjoy about my work is solving the most complex problems for my clients, and working alongside switched-on, high-calibre people. Their experience rubs off on you.
Accenture tends to attract highly motivated team players, with a strong focus on self-development. We’re all here to get our clients’ projects over the line. The collaboration I’ve experienced so far has been A-Grade. People are always willing to help, and I’ve become better at asking questions. Looking ahead, I’d like to specialise in the technical side of Salesforce. My next role will be a Technical Architect. Moving overseas to Europe is also on the cards at some point – hopefully through a transfer with Accenture!
Still studying but want real-world, hands on experience at one of the world’s most innovative companies? Keep an eye on our website, Facebook and Instagram for news about upcoming internship programs.
