Prior to joining Accenture in October 2000 Jane obtained an MEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and PhD in Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Materials from University of Surrey. I joined Accenture straight from my PhD as an Analyst. The first few weeks here were daunting but also full of anticipation and excitement – and a lot of fun. When I first started I went on a five week graduate training programme, which included two weeks in Chicago. This gave me a good sense of the culture of the organisation and helped me bond with my start group, which is a really important network of people who you rely upon throughout your career. The best thing for me at Accenture, without a doubt, is the people. It’s extremely motivating to work with very intelligent and talented people, and I have learnt a great deal from colleagues whilst I’ve been at Accenture. Also, the variety of work is a very strong point about Accenture – it has allowed me to steer my career and provided a wide breadth of opportunities which I would not have in many other consultancies or companies. The only downside would be the hours. Project work inevitably has its peaks and troughs in workload and hours, but the long hours can be demanding. This certainly isn’t a career for you if you want a “9 to 5” job, but the team work and sense of achievement reaching common goals is very rewarding. My first projects were all for the same client; a large retail organisation in the UK. I joined the client engagement at the start of the programme and helped shape the transformation projects which I then worked on the delivery of. I chose to steer my career towards technology consulting and so all my projects have been in this area, but I’ve worked with a wide variety of technologies and client industries (Retail, Government, Communications & Media, and Pharmaceutical market sectors). My roles have been very varied, from being responsible for the development and delivery of a new Customer web based portal to providing strategic advice on the data architecture and overall application strategy. In the early stages of my career I built skills and knowledge of delivering projects which I’m now able to draw upon when engaging with client Executives and increases my credibility when providing IT strategic advice and proposals. The people I’ve worked with over the past six years in Accenture are truly outstanding. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a wide variety of people, from different backgrounds, nationalities and cultures. Accenture has a strong focus on diversity, in every form. And being a woman in Accenture is about being recognised and rewarded for being a capable and intelligent person and not about gender. I've never experience discrimination in any form (either positive or negative), which I think is a healthy environment in which to work - I wouldn't like it any other way! Before embarking on a career in consultancy you really need to be honest with yourself about your career aspirations and priorities. Consultancy is not a career for everyone. You need to be prepared to travel, which may not be acceptable for everyone, and be comfortable with change and new situations and people. If you are not a person who relishes new challenges and prefers stability then perhaps this isn’t a career path you would thrive in, however if you are someone who has a constant appetite for learning and enjoys challenging yourself then you would probably love being a consultant. My tips for anyone thinking of joining a consultancy would be to approach every project and role with enthusiasm and positivity; you can never tell what opportunities are around the corner, and each role is merely one step in your overall career; and grasp every opportunity presented, it will only serve to build your reputation and therefore open up more opportunities. Looking back, working with people from different cultures has made me think about the way we need to modify our own styles and working practices in order to succeed. It also makes you face up to your own preconceptions and any prejudices, which one may not be very comfortable with openly admitting.