As we say goodbye to yet another year, I write my annual reflection on the year gone by. This was overall a quiet year with only one major life update – I made it into Deloitte – so 2022 belongs to Deloitte! For so long, I had tried to get in but never even made it to an interview but this time round, I was approached by a recruiter, from Israel nonetheless for a job in M&A IT! I was convinced it was a hoax but went through with the customary phone call anyway and lo and behold, 2 months later, I had the offer from Deloitte in hand!
January was a breeze because most of the month I spent going through the motions of the interview. Mid-February, I quit my 5.5 year career at Ford and took a week off before flying to Chicago for my orientation at Deloitte!
The last few weeks at Ford were nice, most connections I worked with were super nice with their farewell messages – Kristen Johnson, Simon Bergg, Charlie Kimerline, Kevin Mueller, John Michael Ferrer, Carly Dobbins-Bucklad from my Ford Pro Team! Sara Hendricks, Julia Hawley, and of course Nancy from my Corp Strat team. Then of course were my closest connections at Ford – Tim Krull and Ryan Lawson! I will miss them most 🙂
My first week at Deloitte was interesting! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were focused on orientation in Chicago. Lots to learn about the company and even more stuff to do for onboarding. The major concern with consulting is that you need to be approached by senior managers to get staffed on projects. Even before I could worry about how to get on people’s radars, my resource manager already had a call with Chris Madsen lined up! I have no idea how Chris even knew about me considering I hadn’t even been with the firm a week but boy am I glad that he did! Even before the call, I knew I was going to accept the project. One, because it never occurred to me to hold out for a better project but two because it was IBM! I talked to Chris and immediately accepted the project. Surprisingly, I also got contacted by Ninad Deshmukh and Erwin Lopez for two other projects on Friday but I spoke to them and politely refused their offers. I started with Robin in my second week. I am still on the project. It’s odd being in such long projects but I am glad my first project is long. It’s giving me more time to settle in and get comfortable.
Robin has been excellent! Built a really strong working relationship with Chris and he gives me the sense that he likes working with me as well and thats critical to my career at Deloitte, however long I choose to be here. I admire his skills immensely and have a lot to learn from him. I have also built very strong relationships with Kirti, Prasahnthi, and Pranshu! I hope to carry these three relationships for a while at least! During this project, I traveled to Dallas, New York, and Chicago in addition to Ann Arbor for team co-locations. It was fun but obviously also heavy on the pocket because of the dog-boarding but I signed up for it! The New York trip was obviously the highlight as we were enjoying ourselves outside the office almost as much as in the office! New York and Chicago were also my first ever Michelin star restaurants – Crown Shy and Oriole respectively. In Ann Arbor, got to enjoy the historical Gandy Dancer restaurant with the team! All in all, these were memorable experiences!
Outside of Robin, it’s been very interesting. Traveled to Deloitte University twice, once for Welcome to Deloitte Consulting and once for CDx Empower – SC milestone program. During both trips, managed to make some good connections – Prajwala, Smriti, Parvathy, and Jie! Traveled to Chicago another time for a MAR Academy pilot program. With firm initiatives, it’s been a bit of a challenge. Tried the automotive talent initiative, a couple of half-baked proposals during the year, and joined Fred in his M&A Central Sales and Demo team but ended the year strong with two actual proposals. Two important connections made this year were Joydeep Mukherjee and Jim Rose. Hope these two can help me survive in the company. Looking forward to another important relationship with Darren Olson in 2023 as he is about to trust me with a big project for a firm initiative. I hope I can deliver and build as good a relationship with him as I have with Chris! The only relationship I am expressly targeting to build next year is Bernardo! Already have the invite for another trip to Deloitte University in February.
Personally, not much to report. Still didn’t get to see Babi this year but there is hope on that front, he is expected to come over next year in March for almost 4 months! Whisky is 6 years old and Luca is 4, as naughty and lovable as ever! Still keep in close touch with Nancy and Willie but don’t get to see them as often because of my crazy work hours. Still in touch with Tim and try to meet up with him for lunch a couple of times. In addition, got quite close to my neighbors Adam and Vanessa because of the backyard and front yard re-design project. They even invite me over for dinner at their place often. Through them, have built good relations with Greg and Andy, their neighbor. Also, finally jumped on the BTS bandwagon and developed a major crush on V! So far, my top 5 BTS songs – Butter, Boy in Love, Danger, Mikrokosmos, and Fire!
Well, that’s my 2022. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2023! Happy new year!
Musings of a confused nut! 