A day in the life
I’m Sam and I’m a consulting analyst at dandolo
Prior to joining I studied biomedical engineering and worked for a medical company. I sought out consulting after realising becoming an engineer was not really for me, and I’m so lucky to have found dandolo. The people are supportive, the work is interesting and exciting, and there’s always something new to learn.
Here's what a typical day might look like:
8:40am
I’m riding into the office this morning – I just got a new bike, and I’ve been really enjoying the short ride to work, especially when it’s a sunny day. In the lift I check my calendar for the day ahead and then walk straight into a meeting room because I have a morning stand up scheduled with Joe and Harrison. We are currently working on a project to design a performance framework for a non-profit to help track progress against their strategy. It’s been a fun challenge because it’s a bit more “business-y” than my usual projects, and it’s giving me exposure to things I didn’t touch much in my engineering degree. The project timelines are pretty tight, so the stand ups are a great way to set priorities and ensure we are staying on course.
9:00am
Next up is Excel training. I used Excel a bit during uni, but this is the first time I’ve had proper training at work. Maddy has developed an interesting brief for us to work through in teams - estimating how many graduation hats and gowns would be needed if they introduced graduation ceremonies to early childhood education and care centres. It’s a cool training because it’s not only Excel, but we also have to make reasonable assumptions about the sector and service types, and present at the end. Needless to say, it gets competitive!
11:00am
After training I get back into the performance framework project. My focus for the morning is going through all the documents and data the client has shared with us to understand how they currently track and report performance. A big component of this type of work is separating the most meaningful information from the things that are less relevant. I grab one of the pods in the office so I can focus and spend the next couple of hours analysing what they are measuring now and where the gaps are, which I will then report back to Harrison.
1:00pm
Today I’m having lunch with the other Consulting Analysts - Indi, Monica and Gemma. Every couple of weeks we put a slot in the calendar just to catch up and check in. Sometimes we talk about work, but mostly we just hang out. Today we all grab Fishbowl and head to the park near the office to make the most of the sun.
2:00pm
After lunch I check in with Harrison about an upcoming client workshop for the performance framework project. We talk through what the session will look like, how we’ll run it, and what materials we need to prepare in advance. I like these workshops because it’s a chance to step back from the detail and test our thinking with the client.
3:00pm
I’ve got coaching with Harrison. At dandolo, everyone gets regular coaching, which is something I really value. One of my goals right now is to develop my “conceptual thinking” skills, which is consulting language for breaking down complex issues in a structured way to try and come up with a solution. Today, Harrison presented some prompts for us to work through, to see how I would approach designing a solution to a client problem. For me, coaching is time to stop and get some guidance on how to develop in areas that I want improve in.
4:00pm
Towards the end of the day, I join a debrief for a project that just wrapped up, mapping funding for health research in Australia. In consulting you often move quickly from one project to the next, so project debriefs are a good opportunity to pause and properly reflect before it’s all over. We go around and share what worked well and what we’d do differently next time, and draw out the key lessons and insights to share with the wider team.
5:30pm
Before I head home for the day, I check my calendar for tomorrow and write myself a few notes for things I need to get done. I say goodbye to whoever’s still in the office, and hop back on my bike. On the way home I head to the climbing gym for a bouldering session – a good way to clear my head after a full day.