I started, after graduation, at Deloitte.  They courted me and several other students that graduated at the same time to staff up a new center that was being built here in Nashville.  It is a state-of-the art data processing center to support Deloitte’s eDiscovery and Litigation support business.  After being hired as an entry level “trained monkey” I quickly found myself climbing up to new levels and responsibilities.  My role there was not primarily software engineering…  it was more of an Operations role – you know… running the applications that process the data.  Being a new center, though, there were many growing pains and gaps in process, procedure, and tool sets.  Being proactive, I began writing methods and standards that I thought would be helpful for the teams of the center.  These methods would lead to higher efficiency, task automation, and better process definition.  I worked with a great team and we were able to accomplish a lot.  I also had the chance to write a valuable application (still in use today) to automate various processing tasks as well as reduce risk in processing by creating a controlled method of performing day-to-day tasks.  After we were able to successfully implement the procedures and the software, I had nothing to do aside from return to the operations team and go back to button pushing.  There was no way I was going to do that…  so I decided to leave to further my experience as an enterprise application developer.

My experience at Deloitte was mixed.  I have to say that I absolutely love the people that I met.  We all started at the same time.  We trained together, we grew together, and we learned about each other and the business together.  It was very much like an experience you have in school where everyone is a stranger on day one but by the end of the semester or the year you do not want to leave them.  They are with you day in and day out.  They struggle and celebrate with you and you become close.  But unfortunately the best part of the job was the people.  Being in a new center, the environment was volatile.  There were many points of contention.  We were new and it was difficult, but it got better and from what I hear it is continuing to get even better and better.

I learned a lot about being on the teams at Deloitte, but more so, I learned a lot about me.  There were several problems within myself that became obvious after starting work at Deloitte.  After all… it was my first “big boy” job.  All I knew about work prior to Deloitte was what I experienced at Walmart (where I worked for 8 years through High School and College).  It was different…  to say the least.  I may not have gotten the most technical experience I could have gotten there, but what I was able to learn was far, far more valuable.  I live the lessons learned every day; I am better because of it.

I still keep in contact with a few people in the offices at Deloitte, and I left on very good terms.  I am not closed to the idea of returning some day, but for now, that is not where my opportunities reside.