Deloitte’s Joey Curran discusses getting to grips with business nuances and shares his advice for future graduates.
Having studied computer science and business at Trinity College Dublin, Joey Curran is now a cloud engineer consultant at Deloitte.
“I originally studied physics in college but transferred course after one year. Because of that, I had a lot of friends who were a year above me, which gave me a great chance to learn about internships, grad opportunities, theses etc – all the stuff I had coming my way,” he told SiliconRepublic.com
“From chatting to my mates, I knew Deloitte was a company that hired based on an ethos I aligned with, and this has definitely proven to be true. I found consulting – specifically technology consulting – to be an area of particular interest for me, as it hit the sweet spot to foster my dual interests of computer science and business.”
‘You’ll never learn anything if you don’t try’
– JOEY CURRAN
With this programme, are you now working in the industry or type of job that you wanted?
The nature of consulting is that it is unpredictable and constantly changing. The role I’ve been placed in has given me amazing opportunities to work with four clients in the short space of one year, which I’m incredibly grateful for.
To be honest, that’s why I love the grad programme, I’m still figuring out what industry I want to settle in so having this array of opportunities and experiences is really beneficial, in both finding what you love but also realising what you don’t.
Can you describe a typical day in your role?
Not really! As I write this I am in the RDS helping to onboard more than 200 new graduates and tomorrow I’ll be hosting a scavenger hunt for the consulting graduates who have just joined our company.
If you had asked me what I was doing last week I would have told you I was doing project management for a regulatory reporting banking project, and six months before that I was interviewing stakeholders and building operating models of a technology team in a multinational corporation. Each day in consulting has its surprises, you’re never stagnant that is for sure!
Did your responsibilities and workload change as the programme progressed?
Absolutely. I was lucky to have been put onto a project with senior management and directors within my first month of working in Deloitte, and when I say I experienced a steep learning curve I am understating it.
The team was extremely supportive. They never made me feel unwise and always incentivised me while I was learning. The environment for graduates in Deloitte is definitely one of collaborative learning, guidance and mentorship.
Since starting a year ago I’ve been given the opportunity to create content that was key in final deliverables for clients, lead stakeholder interviews, and take ownership of a workstream that heavily impacted the success of my overall programme.
How do you think the Deloitte graduate programme has made you more prepared for working life?
I don’t know if I’d say this programme prepared me for working life as the programme is working life! I do have to say the business knowledge and operational skills I’ve learned have been invaluable and unparalleled with any job or internship I’ve worked previously.
Learning how to navigate the business world as a graduate while picking up on the nuances, acronyms and business colloquialisms can be difficult to say the least, but over the last year this has become second nature.
Beyond the things you pick up on the job, Deloitte have placed a heavy emphasis on upskilling and offered plenty of learning opportunities both on the internal knowledge exchange and with third-party partnerships like Udemy.
Would you recommend the graduate programme at Deloitte to others?
I would absolutely recommend the Deloitte graduate programme to anybody who is considering a career in consulting after college. Aside from being the largest leading professional services firm in the world, Deloitte is an institution with a culture of inclusion, acceptance and opportunity.
Not only have I been given countless opportunities to showcase and grow my skillset within the client work I’ve engaged with over the past year, but I’ve also managed to meet some amazing people who I now consider some of my closest friends. Deloitte really prioritises creating opportunities for the analyst group to network, connect and foster these lifelong friendships.
Is there any advice you’d like to give to future graduates who are just starting out?
I’m still just starting out, but one piece of advice I will give though is to realise nobody expects you to know everything, and you’ll never learn anything if you don’t try. Not engaging with a project, problem or question because you’re afraid of failing is the worst thing you can do in a new company.
This is especially true if you’re in a graduate programme which is designed to help your growth and your learning experience. Engage wholly with the work, ask questions, reach out to mentors, make friends and try to keep the work-life balance in check as best you can.
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