Accenture Technology Masterclass

Last week, I attented the Accenture Technology Masterclass in Amsterdam, the main Accenture office in the Netherlands. I met Accenture about a year ago at the Consultancy Game in Groningen. That event was more oriented towards management and strategy consulting. The two-day masterclass I attended was oriented towards technology consulting. There were about thirty participants, selected from a group of three hundred applicants. All had just graduated or were about to graduate. I had to send in a motivation, curriculum vitae and a list of my grades.

Ito Tower at the Amsterdam Zuidas, where Accenture is located

Accenture is located at the 13 – 17th floors of the Ito Tower at the Amsterdam Zuidas. Fortunately I was able to stay at a friend in Amsterdam North. Still an hour long trip by public transportation to the Zuidas, but much better than traveling by train from Groningen, which would have been over two and a half hours. Naturally, we got a tour of the offices and it all looks pretty neat.

I have met so many people in those two days. Of course there were some recruiters, but most Accenture people who attended the masterclass work as a consultant. Everybody was very kind and always willing to help out with our case or answer questions about Accenture. There were about thirty people in our group, all almost or just finished with their education. I have talked to almost all of them and they were a great group to hang out with and work on our business case.

Working as a technology consultant sounds like fun. Basically, you get to work for all these different and big companies and find new ways to apply and implement technologies. We worked on a business case for applying RFID technology in a supermarket supply chain. At the final day, we had to present our plans to the board of directors of the fiction company “Super Albert”. It all went pretty well, even though we did not win the giant bottle of champagne.

You can see the roof terrace through the window. 16th floor. Really nice view.

One especially nice thing about the masterclass was the “vrijdagmiddag borrel” on the second day, which mainly meant drinking cold Corona beers in the sun at a roof terrace on the 16th floor whilst a DJ played some relaxed music, talking with a lot of Accenture personnel (from analysts to senior managers) about working at Accenture and their daily jobs. It got me really interested.

Next week I will be visiting some Accenture consultants who are working at Gasunie here in Groningen to check out what their daily activities are.