6 months as a Business Consultant, fresh from Varsity — This is how much of a rollercoaster it has been!
Today marks exactly 6 months since I started my first ever formal job, and this is in consulting, specifically tech consulting. I joined the company as part of the Graduate Development Program that the company runs every year. The main aim of the program, like it states, is to train people that are fresh from varsity, to become experienced consultants.
Business Consulting overview
For those wondering, a consultant solves problems in general. So, in my situation, I consult at other corporate companies (currently consulting at one of the banks in South Africa). In simple terms, this Bank has outsourced a system to improve and modernize its operations. Unfortunately, this system did not meet all the bank’s needs. So we, consultants, were brought in, to improve it, and get it as close to what the bank needs as possible. If this is confusing, just remember that we solve problems.
Lessons learnt so far
Practical lessons
Joining as a graduate and coming from one of the top universities in the country, you feel like you know your story quite well. But life has a way of challenging your concept of never. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been quite a learning journey, but with each lesson, you realize that you literally don’t know anything, and it feels like all the knowledge you accumulated in varsity is playing little to no role. Know why? Because what varsity does is, it teaches you different concepts theoretically but there’s very little practical learning happening. Even with that practical learning, it’s probably simulated and has been made to fit the purpose. This is what we call a 'happy path' in Information Systems. But the more practical you get in the real world, the more you realize that the happy path does not really exist, and now you have to face reality of things going south, troubleshooting why things are going south, engaging with a whole bunch of people to ensure all the requirements are met. It’s never smooth sailing as varsity made it sound.
Communication
Growing up, I always believed that I was an introvert, and wanted to do things alone all the time. This was to a point where I did not even want to engage with visitors whenever we had visitors at our house. But like I said, life has a way of testing you, and believe me, it will. Right now at work, I’m forced to talk to people all the time, ask questions, and now everybody that met me two years ago or so, believes I am an extrovert. But what I actually do is, I put up a front and make everybody believe that I easily engage with people when in reality I trained myself to be this person.
I have since learnt that life, especially when you work in consulting, will push you to step out of your comfort zone and realize that there is more to life than just believing that you are an introvert who cannot work with other people. Because believe me, in consulting you will talk to a bunch of people, maybe even new people every day. At times, I get so tired of speaking at work that I genuinely don’t want to speak when I get home!
Feedback
This may sound very cliche but the people you work closely with are more aware of your strengths and weaknesses than yourself, especially in a new environment where you’re still learning, and you don’t even know what you don’t know. This is what they call the blind spot in The Johari Window framework — it’s known to others, and not to you. Getting that continuous feedback from your colleagues often helps in bridging this gap. But remember, it has to be constructive feedback that tells you what you are doing wrong and how you can improve.
Learning more about yourself
You get to know things about yourself that you didn’t know — this could be the good and the bad. Or sometimes, you get to prove things about yourself that you have been told but did not believe. For example, I have always been told I am stubborn, but I would always disagree. You know what, they proved me wrong, and I am in fact very stubborn, and more often than not, I want to get my way. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation. But I’m more aware of this trait now, and I actively try to work on it every chance I get.
The other thing I learnt was how much I jump into solutions (or conclusions if you may) without even analyzing all the details. This also can be a good thing or a bad thing, but more often than not, it is a bad thing, and I have seen how much this trait has negatively affected my own personal life. But like Maya Angelou once said ‘I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.’ I know better now, and I am actively trying to work against this trait. Besides, in consulting, you have to analyze each and every minor detail because we work with facts, and not gut feeling.
In conclusion, I just want to say that new environments will test you; they push you to a point where you could never imagine was possible. But eventually, we adapt, survive, learn, and grow!
