My Tech Life on the Road

An analyst job at Accenture can mean many days out of town working with clients. James Madison grad Kyle Hawke describes a typical day

I am an analyst at Accenture (ACN), an information technology consulting company focused on helping companies meet their business, technology, and outsourcing needs. The culture here is driven by our ability to meet clients' needs. Employees work on client priorities to resolve issues, answer questions, and help with initiatives (see BusinessWeek.com, "Always on the Run at Accenture").

I work on a project-by-project basis in the Communications and High Tech Operating Group. Currently, I am helping a global telecom provider. My role evolves along the cycle that accompanies any technology project. Over the past year, I have worked through requirements, design, development support, and test phases of the project.

Joining Accenture after graduating from James Madison University's College of Business in 2004, I was attracted by the potential to see different industries, businesses, and client issues. My largest misconception was around what happens to the mobility of a new analyst within the firm.

The reality of the business is that when you have built a specific skill set and achieved an understanding of a client's business, your mobility drops because your value to the client increases. Yet even on long-term engagements, nothing gets stale because we are flexible in the work we can tackle. That makes it hard to describe a typical work day, but I'll give it a shot:

6 a.m.—I wake up in an unfamiliar hotel room to the sound of a call from the front desk. Though I am based in Arlington, Va., I travel each week for my project to a client site in Colorado Springs. I put on my running shoes, shorts, and shirt and head outside for a three-mile run. While I know running is good for your health, the main thing that drives my workouts is how good I feel for the rest of the morning.

7:15 a.m.—I'm out the front door and in a rental car to the office—often with a co-worker to minimize expenses for our client. Since I didn't find a large cup of coffee at the hotel, I have to stop on my way to work. Starbucks (SBUX) has the best coffee, but Einstein has the best bagels, so it's always a toss-up.

8 a.m.—After booting up and scanning e-mails from the night before, I start my day with a conference call. This meeting will be critical to ensure that nothing impedes development progress. Coming out of this call, I usually end up with a few additional "to-dos" for the day.

9:30 a.m.—Another daily conference call, this time with the billing organization to ensure it is getting the right information from order entry to bill customers. Over time, I have achieved a fundamental understanding of telecom ordering, billing, and networking.

10:30 a.m.—I navigate through a crowded inbox from the morning. As things get busier, I see which e-mails I need to read and which I can delete or put off until later. I know it's a bad day when I delete or ignore messages that I should have replied to yesterday.

11:30 a.m.—I grab an early lunch because of my small breakfast. I head back to my desk to eat and read the news online.

Noon—I bounce between e-mail and conference calls with various client IT groups to discuss the approach and details of our ordering and billing system designs. On average, I spend 40% of my day on the phone. On some conference calls, I don't say a word while on others, I lead discussion.

4 p.m.—This is our daily meeting/conference call with teammates across time zones to discuss our progress on system interface designs from the day.