Wednesday, September 13, 2006
I've just finished my second day of Bain training, and I'm definitely feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. Most of the people in our training class have been consultants before, whether at Bain or other firms. So they all speak consulting. I feel like I'm taking calculus in a foreign language. I'm still at the point where I have to translate what people are talking about.
The thing about consulting is that consultants are trained to approach a problem in a very systematic way. When you add this systems challenge with the lingo challenge, it makes it hard for people like me to contribute during the training sessions. The good thing is people seem really understanding about slowing it down and understanding that I don't speak powerpoint-slide fluently yet. I try not to worry about it, but nobody wants to be the slow one in the group.
I still absolutely LOVE my job. Last week during lunch a group of us started talking about some of the challenges of measuring success in education (is success graduation rates? is it the ability to think in a more concrete way? is it exposure to new ideas? is it the same for everyone?). The conversation drifted to other things (as these type of conversations often do), but when we finally ended 2 hours later, a manager mentioned that these types of conversations were important to the work we do. That meant A LOT to me. It really made me feel blessed and lucky to have my job. I get to spend my day talking and thinking about subjects about which I'm extremely passionate. And while I'm doing it, my employer actually cares whether I get something out of the experience. I recognize that everyone doesn't have that. I'm very grateful that I do.
The thing about consulting is that consultants are trained to approach a problem in a very systematic way. When you add this systems challenge with the lingo challenge, it makes it hard for people like me to contribute during the training sessions. The good thing is people seem really understanding about slowing it down and understanding that I don't speak powerpoint-slide fluently yet. I try not to worry about it, but nobody wants to be the slow one in the group.
I still absolutely LOVE my job. Last week during lunch a group of us started talking about some of the challenges of measuring success in education (is success graduation rates? is it the ability to think in a more concrete way? is it exposure to new ideas? is it the same for everyone?). The conversation drifted to other things (as these type of conversations often do), but when we finally ended 2 hours later, a manager mentioned that these types of conversations were important to the work we do. That meant A LOT to me. It really made me feel blessed and lucky to have my job. I get to spend my day talking and thinking about subjects about which I'm extremely passionate. And while I'm doing it, my employer actually cares whether I get something out of the experience. I recognize that everyone doesn't have that. I'm very grateful that I do.
