New is being Unafraid to Stand out from the crowd

ROSIE SACKETT
Bachelor of Science and Commerce
Management Consultant

I grew up on a farm. When we moved there, I wasn’t too keen on the idea, but in the end, I loved growing up there and I didn’t want to leave! Working in shearing sheds and on a dairy farm when I was at school helped me develop a fair bit of resilience and appreciation for the little things.

I’ve always liked to keep an open mind and try lots of different things. My general rule of thumb was to pursue areas that I was interested in and hopefully a career path would follow from there.

Before I started at uni, I took a gap year. I spent my year working followed by five months living and working as a teacher’s assistant in Argentina where it was great to experience the South American culture.

Whilst I was at university I was involved in both coaching and playing for my local netball team. Given my love of all things sport, I also organised and played lots of sporting events with my residential college.

During university, I also worked in the marketing department of the science faculty, organised marketing events and met many people who had a big passion for science. From there, I also discovered the importance of being able to communicate to people about science which is where the business side of my degree was helpful.

I finished uni with a double degree in science and commerce, I always had consulting in the back of my mind as something that would be very interesting yet competitive to get in to. While researching lots of companies, I realised that the culture of the company was a particularly important factor.

Eventually I stumbled upon Accenture and started asking people I knew about it. The response was that Accenture has a collaborative community, encourages diverse teams and different ways of thinking which really appealed to me.

Accenture is a great company with lots of offices all around the world and expertise in a number of industries I took on a role in Management Consulting in the Health and Public Service sector which combines my interests in science and business.

My current role involves helping with the implementation of a major technology change at a Government client. The new technology will impact the way that our clients work every day, so I’m enjoying being involved meaningful work that will improve the way that our clients work.

At Accenture, you can choose to be a bit of a generalist, as well as be a specialist which I really enjoy.

ANGELO FARINHA
Bachelor of Engineering
Application Support Analyst

In my early high school days, I was really into music and graphic design. My interest in science gradually developed because I was good at it. That eventually led me into an engineering degree.

I felt that I was good at the maths and the physics sides of engineering, and I’ve always been a bit of a tinkerer. I like to figure out how things work and solve problems, and that’s what put me on the path to mechanical engineering. Once I had my heart set on it, that was my main focus following high school.

My engineering degree included a diploma in engineering practice, so I got a fair bit of work experience completed while studying. I became involved with a motorsports team that eventually turned into an internship building race cars, and I also had the opportunity to work at a robotics research centre, which turned into a project for my final year thesis.One of my lecturers at university got me really inspired about engineering. He gave me a passion for working in teams with people, getting these ideas out and everyone collectively coming up better ideas than you would as an individual. At the end of the day, what attracted me to consulting is the chance to break down problems, figure things out, do the best you can with the pressure of time and the pressure of resources. That whole process, and not just physics engineering.

Once I completed my degree, I started looking outside of the engineering industry for a career that would provide me with meaningful and interesting work. One of my friends from university recommended Accenture, and when I decided to apply, I ended up finding out all about my operations analyst role. Just the role really ticked a lot of boxes for me, and I figured it was the way to go. It was really interesting and opened up a lot of doors for me, so I decided to run with it.

Accenture promised a challenging work environment within technology, with lots of different opportunities and pathways to expand my skillset, and I’m glad that I decided to join because they’ve given me just that.

Within my operations analyst role, I do anything from design and testing to operations work. I love having a lot of freedom to prove myself and do things my way. Being accountable in a supportive environment is a great way to learn. There’s always lots of friendly, clever people around me, so there is never any shortage of help.

There’s lots of opportunities to upskill yourself and move across different roles and projects. I never knew how to use SQL before, but now I’m using it every day. My knowledge of the software design life cycle and front end design has grown significantly since I began working here and I recently had the opportunity to complete an Agile Training course, and am now a certified professional.

The people at Accenture are fantastic; it’s been such a pleasure to work with them. Everyone’s very supportive and everyone helps each other grow. My team is quite diverse when it comes to gender, ethnicity and educational backgrounds. We are comprised of a lawyer, an IT specialist, and I have an engineering degree, so we all bring different skills and mindsets to the project, fostering a great environment for generating new ideas and collaborating.

TESS NASH
Bachelor of Business and Information Technology
Application Development Analyst

I’m an Application Development Analyst in Accenture Technology. At uni, I majored in International Business for my business degree and Information Systems for information technology, and I didn't do any coding whatsoever at all.

Working with a client from the resources sector, I’ve been fortunate enough to interact with people from the client side, Accenture and other companies daily. I’m also lucky that I always get to learn more about the client company itself. Accenture reinforces the concept of one global network – regardless of where you are in the world, we all feel connected as part of this massive community and get to connect with people from across the globe to help us do well in our fields.

On top of my job, I am also on the Associate Academy social committee. We organise fun activities and networking events for associates and analysts within Accenture Technology. Senior leaders help us organise events and get involved in activities within the office and wider community. They’re a very good support system, encouraging everyone to attend the gatherings and meet new faces. These events help our Academy members, who are all grads, feel welcome, gain exposure to other areas of the business and mingle with peers. It’s perfect for expanding networks and keeping people engaged!

The social element is only one part of the Academy—there is also a structured program for associates. When I started, I attended a two-week training course that provides new Technology grads with an introduction to some of the key concepts and topics within the industry today (e.g. Agile, Cloud, AI, Design Thinking, etc.). While I was down in Sydney for this program, the class got the chance to meet Bob Easton – our country managing director – who gave us good tips on becoming our best selves in our careers and encouraging us to take advantage of being a member of the Accenture community . The training course was a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with new grads and leaders from other cities, and the experiences that I shared with my fellow classmates during this program will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I like the fact that everyone here is very supportive, and we are all encouraged to learn, so that you can find your passion. They want grads like me to succeed in their career and find what they love doing. They will even encourage you to ask questions or be curious and say, “I like this. Can we do more of this?”. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved in different things, which is very important when you are starting off.

Accenture has a heavy focus on making sure that we all take time out for ourselves. Managers and career counsellors make sure we don’t work all the time, encouraging us to balance our careers with other aspects of our lives. While they expect results like any company would, they also don’t want you to burn yourself out doing it – it’s all about maintaining a healthy mind so that you can do your best at work. It’s a very big part of the Accenture culture.