Accenture Consulting 1

The “T” in Information Technology

2

Marketing & Information Technology

3

Application Development - Healthcare.gov

4

SnapChat rejects Face-book

6

Bowling with Accenture 7

Announcements 8

Inside this issue:

I was invited, together with another Marquette alumnus, in November to speak to a group of students who were enrolled in Introduction to Infor-mation Technology about Accenture. I looked at the students and fondly remembered that I was in their same situation a little over two years ago.

It was September in my junior year when I called my dad. I had just talked to Maggie Morris who was interviewing for several consulting positions. “Dad, what is consulting?” I said after a stressful day of classes.

“Well, Meg basically, it is that you are hired on to consult or give advice to your clients on some particular top-ic that the company feels you have expertise and experience in solving” says my father from the insurance world. “Personally, I think it would be a good fit for you. You like people right? And you can talk? I would look into it.” And here I am now.

Since graduating from Marquette in May 2013, I started at Accenture as a Business and Systems Integration Consulting Analyst. Sounds like a mouthful right? I thought the same thing when I was interviewing for the position. Each day, I am learning more and more about the position and what it means to be in consulting. I started off as a Marketing major and took Introduction to Information Technology the spring of my junior

(Continued on page 6)

In reality, I didn’t have to

decide what I wanted to do

for the rest of my life.

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY

ITSO...GOOD Volume 7, Issue 3

November 2013

“

”

Ease of use – Python’s syntax is very clear and easy to read, making it much easier to fix mistakes and make updates to your code. The source code also resembles the pseudo code and so it is fairly easy to learn. Ad-ditionally, Python’s library features thousands of pre-built modules that can be snapped on to assist you in quickly making powerful programs ranging from small to large in scale.

Reusability - Python supports mod-ules and packages, which encourages program modularity and code reuse.

Productivity – Python is designed to emphasize programmer productivity. It likes to keep things structured, consistent, and simple. For instance, python has strict indentation rules. Furthermore, the edit-test-debug cycle is incredibly fast, making python a very attractive language for programmers.

I’ve frequently been told that in terms of IT, my path is strictly pointed to-wards project management. I don’t have an extensive technical back-ground and until this semester, the only programming language I knew was Visual Basic. I had accepted this PM path. I was recognized for my attention to detail, leadership, and management skills; why stray from the bag of tricks that had proven so suc-cessful?

It wasn’t until this semester that I real-ized what more IT held for me, and what a nerd I truly am. This semester I began learning how to code in Py-thon, and to my surprise, I absolutely love it. I’ve enjoyed figuring out and understanding the logic behind a pro-gramming language and being able to create working programs from nothing. Creating games such as hangman and word jumble have quickly become engaging pastimes for me. I now completely understand how one could stay up into the wee hours of the night trying to fix that one line of code to make your program work.

For those of you not familiar with the language, python is a high level, ob-ject-oriented and interpreted pro-gramming language that lets you work more quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. It runs on Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac OS X and is a free to use, open source lan-guage. It is known for several ad-vantages:

Now, having mastered the basics of the python programming language, my next task is to interact with Twitter via python in order to stream and analyze tweets. So if you ever see me in Ray-nor admiring my computer screen (or, equally as likely, hunched over the

keyboard in confusion), I’m probably coding. That’s right, I’m a coder, proud of it.

While I still acknowledge that my key strengths lie in organization and com-munication, I am no longer going to turn my back to the more technical side of IT. My future could be in any direc-tion, project management, a more technical path, or some sort of combi-nation of the two. Either way, I’m ex-cited for what the future holds. ~ Katie Kemmerer

The “T” in Information Technology

Page 2 ITSO. . .GOOD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmM_xDzy2nU

Volume 7, Issue 2 Page 3

The ability to complete a dual degree in four years from the College of Business Administration is a great as-set to Marquette students, and as a result the question is often posed: what majors complement each other best? Milton Hwang from GE Healthcare spoke to IT and LEAD1000 students about how Mar-keting & IT are two industries con-verging and how double majoring in these majors could give students an edge in the industry.

Why are the two industries converg-ing? Data as assets. As technology advances and Big Data grows in pop-ularity, the volume of information col-

lected and available to marketing teams is growing at an exponential pace. All that is needed is a process to turn said data into the information needed for marketing’s efforts.

Sounds like an easy process, right? Wrong!

There is so much data that can be used for such a wide variety of pur-poses, but there is not a clear process to follow in order to guarantee suc-cess. Hwang believes that Marketing and IT’s role as a pair is to provide customer insight, to define the “who” throughout the buying cycle. He be-

Marketing lieves this is where the issues arise as Marketing and IT merge; companies are tasked with finding the right pro-cess to transform the data into infor-mation to support this objective.

As the two roles are growing more and more integrated, the two departments’ personnel are working closer with one another as well. This can cause friction between leadership, as there is no road map of how the two should inter-act, or which department should follow the other’s lead. This is even more of an obstacle when one department does not understand the other’s role or purpose, which is often the case. Mon-ica Behncke from Sirius Decisions stat-ed, “One of the fundamental challeng-es of the marketing/IT relationship is the contrast between the overall mis-sion and motivation of these two func-tions. Each head wants the body to go in its own forward direction, leaving the animal stalled and doubly frustrat-ed.”

That leaves the question: can the two heads agree? Hwang believes that with compromise and patience, Marketing and IT will collabo-rate better, resulting in new, hybrid roles. Thus proving that hav-ing a background in Marketing and IT will give students the edge in the industry they are looking for.

Senior Katie Kemmerer reflects on the presentation, sharing why she chose to pursue a dual degree in Information Technology & Marketing. “As Milt ex-plained in his presentation, not many people see IT and Marketing as com-plementary forces, arguing that the two functions contrast one another in terms of their overall missions and mo-tivations. To Milt’s point though, such opposition only supports the need for hybrid roles, for individuals who un-derstand both perspectives and who

are able to leverage this knowledge and understanding in order to pursue common goals. It is this message that reaffirmed the thoughts behind my de-cision to pursue a Marketing and IT dual degree at Marquette. I have always been an energetic, passionate, and people-focused person. It was this part of my personality that initially drew me to Marketing as a freshman. However, I am also analytical and detail-oriented. I enjoy the process involved in facing and conquering a difficult chal-lenge, which is what later led me to IT. Although I am often asked, why Mar-keting and IT, for me the answer is readily apparent. There is an increasing need in today’s corporate environment for marketing software, data and ana-

lytics, social and mobile platforms, apps development, content marketing, web mechanics, and digital advertising networks. For this, we need Marketing, but we also need IT. As Milton described, we need marketing

technologists. With more data to ana-lyze and new means of reaching cus-tomers, there is ultimately a larger playing field to conquer. However, in order to do so, marketing and technolo-gy must, and are actually bound to come together. In light of this emerging trend, I feel extremely lucky to be en-tering the workforce at such an exciting time and can’t wait to see where my two degrees take me.”

~Megan Hauser

Milton Hwang, IT Leader, GE Healthcare

Information Technology

In the Web Apps class, IT students are expected to create a scale-down ver-sion of CheckMarq, a course admin-istration website, throughout the se-mester spending hours of time coding. As IT students, we are able to recre-ate a program students use every day at Marquette. In the real world, a lot more coding, regulations, and security is needed for websites. With all their experience, shouldn’t experts hired by the United States govern-ment have a greater understanding of the internet and be able to pro-duce a working website for the na-tion?

On October 1st, 2013, the new web-site for nationwide healthcare (Healthcare.gov) exchange went live, and it may turn out to be the “most public software failure of the dec-ade.” Many Americans are upset about how the new healthcare web-site rollout was planned. With the amount of money put into the website, producing a product should not have been an option. Every news-paper, radio station, news channel, and blog has since talked about the complica-tions and how people feel about it. Even celebrities have made comments about the rollout. On November 6th, the Country Music Awards opened with hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley singing a song about the failure of the healthcare.gov launch. One line included, “I got on the web-site to sign up last week, and I’m al-most done.”

Many problems existed for users as they began to try to sign-up for this new Healthcare program that would change the lives of many.

Problems that existed after the roll-out included: - Creating accounts - Logging into the site - Receiving confusing errors - Slow page loads - Forms failed to respond - Data security

Maybe the website de-velopment was not the only thing that went wrong? In Systems and Design taught here at Marquette by Dr. Adya, we are taught about agile methodolo-

gy. Some critics mentioned that the developers should have used a more “modern” software practice, like agile development. Little do critics know, the website indeed use agile processes. Common words we hear during our Systems class when learning about ag-ile include sprints, user stories, and in-cremental testing. These are all meth-

ods that were used and docu-

mented by the developers. Many critics question whether they did not go about the “rapid and lean” style of agile the correct way. We are current-ly using agile to build a database pro-totype for a nonprofit in Milwaukee. One important and vital part of agile

that we noticed as a group is testing, and this may be one specific area developers failed to do correctly dur-ing development. If real testing was seriously considered, the developers would have recognized issues and deferred the go-live of the website, just as my team in class would test the database before giving the final product to the client.

A lot more security concerns are be-ing investigated and more simultane-ous testing is taking place as more code is load-ed. In mid-November, about 60 fixes were made to the website, and another 50 are on top priority. The main fear was whether the website will be able to handle the bandwidth and the high volume of users accessing the website at once. Hopefully, the promise from the Presi-dent stating the site will be “working smoothly for the vast majority of users by November 30th” will be correct. This will be vital in order for all Amer-icans to make the December 15th deadline to buy health insurance.

~ Tara McQuillan

Application Development - Healthcare.gov

Page 4 ITSO. . .GOOD

Even when you post something on Fa-cebook and “untag” yourself, the im-age is on the web and is still accessi-ble to anyone who wishes to find it. This forces students, as future profes-sionals, to make their profiles polished and manicured--hoping to portray an image of the perfect candidate for any employer. Often times, this is not a true picture of one’s actual lifestyle. This is not to say users have anything to hide or are bad people—they just want to look professional in the eye of their employer. This is extremely important as the image one portrays on Facebook could be the deciding factor in the decision between two potential employees for a firm. Face-book has become a jaded view of us as college students. It is more like a Linkedin--stating your prior work ex-perience and allowing others to get to know you through pictures.

Snapchat, on the other hand, allows users to share whatever they want. Whether it is sending a picture to friends after just waking up for 8am class with a caption "I hate Mondays" or sending a quick picture of what they had for lunch, Snapchat is limited to nothing. In fact, I often send a Snapchat to group members, asking what time our meetings are or when something is due. I even receive "snaps" from my mom in Chicago, sending me pictures of my dog asleep

Snapchat, the smartphone app that allows users to send a picture for a limited amount of time before it is forever gone, recently refused an offer to be purchased by Facebook for a whopping $3 billion (Reuters). Why would they turn down such a great deal? Facebook’s interest in Snapchat was rumored to be due to the acknowledgement that Facebook is seeing a decline in daily use among the young adult.

Much of Snapchat’s popularity is a result of the fact that a user can send a picture of whatever they want and after 10 seconds, the picture is gone. .

While young adults today need to show extreme caution and concern with their online image, Snapchat is a way to freely express yourself with-out the threat of potential future em-barrassment or an employer finding it.

on the couch.

Snapchat has totally revolutionized the way we communicate and interact. While texting is still popu-lar, it lacks the emo-tion of actually see-ing a friend’s face because texting is

just words on a screen. Snapchat al-lows those words to have context and meaning. I hear myself and friends saying "did you get that snap from so and so?" As opposed to "Did you get her text today about her test?" Snap-chat is a huge shift in our communica-tion with our peers, and I think the owners of Snapchat realize that.

Why did Snapchat refuse the offer from Facebook? Facebook’s original purpose was to be a social platform, a place to extend one’s identity in order to keep in touch with friends and family. Now, it is more often used as a place to portray what users want people to think their life is like and can be used against them. In my opin-ion, Snapchat did not want to go down that same path. I believe they realize that young adults love the idea that they don't have to worry about their online image being taint-ed and can just be themselves without worry. Grouping with Facebook would make that concept go away and add our "snaps" to our online image.

Colleen Costello, Double major in Infor-mation Technology, Operations & Supply Chain Management ‘14

SnapChat Rejects Facebook

Volume 7, Issue 2 Page 5

Over and over again, I would be coding some program in Web Apps before even learning the principles of coding in Visual Basics. I was trying to develop a database in Web Apps before fully grasping the mySQL query structure. Not only did I learn about being patient when programs would present errors over and over again, but I learned to manage my challenges. I would force myself to take a 30 minute break, turn off my computer, and go back to looking through the code once I was away from staring at the code. I also learned the importance of independ-ent learning and trying to find what the error is before asking others.

The challenges I faced within my IT curriculum have been extremely beneficial in learning about myself. These takeaways allowed me to transition from a stu-dent to my analyst role at Accenture. The IT

curriculum at Marquette challenges the student with similar and sometimes real life client-facing problems. I have run into similar challenges since I start-ed working tackling new problem that I have not had to solve before.

Accenture is one of the world’s lead-ing management consulting, technolo-gy services and sourcing companies. With provided services across almost all industries in 120 countries, the win-dow of opportunity is endless. As I learned about Accenture during my

year,shortly after studying abroad the prior semester. I registered for the class like all other juniors who needed to fulfill required courses in business. Working with databases and solving real organizational problems made me take a step back and realize the power of IT.

I got in touch with an IT faculty mem-ber and after a short discussion I knew that I was going to run with it. I interviewed and was hired in a busi-ness analyst internship role within the IT department at RW Baird to test and ask myself the question, “is this really something I want as a second major?” I was right. After working at Baird that summer going into senior year, my eyes widened and a light bulb finally went on. I found some-thing that blends together each and every marketing class that I enjoyed with technolo-gy.

Technology is not going away any-time soon and what better time than now to enter into a growing industry as a student. In my first semester of senior year, I piled on as many IT courses as possible and took Applica-tion Development using Visual Basic, Database with mySQL, and Web Ap-plication Development with javascript, PHP and mySQL. This overlap and prerequisites between the three clas-ses presented unexpected challenges for me.

(Continued from page 1)

job search, the more I was attracted to the fast-paced, innovative, and technology-driven role of a Systems Integration Consulting Analyst. The idea of making a decision on what I wanted to do for the rest of my life absolutely frightened me. In reality, I didn’t have to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Luckily, I found a company that wanted to help me build a career that I thrived in and enjoyed.

Since starting at Accenture, I have begun driving my career towards a specialty in Salesforce.com, a cloud-based customer relationship manage-ment system. Salesforce.com bridges my marketing and IT background. Everyday, I am using the concepts I learned through my marketing curricu-lum and welding that knowledge with the system development lifecycle and project management skills to effec-tively implement Salesforce.com into our client’s enterprise.

Thus far, my experience at Accenture and the transition from college to the working world has been exciting, challenging and an adventure to learn more about myself and the things I enjoy. I look forward to what is ahead and the end-less opportunities in front of me!

~Megan Geisen (2013), Systems Integration Consulting Analyst, Accenture

Accenture Consulting (cont’d)

Page 6 ITSO. . .GOOD

“Technology is not going

away anytime soon and what better time than now to enter into a growing industry as a

student.”

“I also learned the importance of independent learning …”

Bowling with Accenture

Volume 7, Issue 2 Page 7

The ITSO Club invited Accenture rep-resentatives to network with our stu-dents at a fun-filled night of bowling at the Annex. The event provided opportunities for our underclassmen who would be interested in consulting to learn more about opportunities at Accenture. The following were some of the feedback and pictures from the event.

I learned a lot about what it would be like to have an IT consulting job. I liked their presentation and thought they were really nice. It was good to hear Megan’s experience because

she switched to IT late in the game and its encouraging to know its possi-ble and she is pleased with her job.

~Maia Sotis, junior

I thought it was great - really enjoyed the fact that most of the consultants were recent alumni which made it easy to network and relate to them.

~Connor Connelly, junior

The presentation and bowling were both a great time. It was nice to gain a better understanding of consulting in general, and an idea of what life at Accenture is like. Bowling was a nice personal touch that gave you the opportunity to talk one-on-one with the consultants, but also to meet other fellow students in IT.

~Matthew Hammer, junior

It was helpful for me to explore what goes on in a consultant's life in a non-stress, casual atmosphere. I think be-cause of the casualness, the Accenture consultants seemed more relatable, less intimidating and reflected clearly the fact that they were former stu-dents too like me (unlike if they were dressed in a suit like at a career fair). We should definitely have more events like this.

~Aimanjamilah Abdul Rahman, junior

I loved the event last week at the An-nex. It was really nice to network in such a relaxed environment.

~Zachary Rutz, junior

Everyone was very friendly and you could tell they really enjoyed their jobs and the time/money the compa-ny invests in them. Bowling was very fun too and I liked how laid back it was.

Katie Engelking, junior

Thanks for organizing! Hopefully it helped the students get an under-standing of a potential career path at Accenture.

~Mary Zidar, Consultant, Accenture

Upcoming Events:

Executive Board (2013-2014) Katie Kemmerer: Co-President Tara McQuillan: Co-President Megan Hauser: Chief Editor Zhishu Geng: VP of Finance Amanda Conway: VP of Publicity Connor McNamara: VP of Programs Brian Sobon: VP of Membership

Suggestions: If you are interested in guest writing or have topics you would like to see in ITSO...Good, please email Megan Hauser at megan.hauser@mu.edu.

Thinking of joining ITSO? Sign up today! Just fill out the online applica-tion (see muitso.org) and bring it to the next ITSO meeting along with a $15 check made out to ITSO.

Recruiting Zone: This space is available for job or internship post-ings. Please contact Megan at megan.hauser@mu.edu for more information.

February 8th 2014 Ronald McDonald House Wauwatosa

February 11th, 2014 Java and Jobs 8:30-10AM. AMU

We’re on the Web!

muitso.wix.com/muitso

Announcements

Baby Announcements

Eileen Pounds (Kapolnek) (2009) and Stephen Pounds are the proud parents of Winona Elsie Pounds born August 20, 2013.

Angela Hunt (Halamka) (2007) and Matt Hunt are the proud parents of Aubrey Anne Hunt born May 13, 2013.

TBA Salesforce.com Presentation Julia Napolitano