Cloud Computing, Milkshakes and the Future of IT

by Asif Khan

Last summer, the CIO of a large law firm I had once worked with wanted to meet for lunch to discuss cloud computing. He was worried that the increasing use of “shadow IT” at his firm could lead to a serious security breach. He figured that if the IT organization could develop and demonstrate a cloud computing proof of concept, that could buy him some time to transition to a Service-Based IT model over the long term in order to mitigate the threat of his firm’s intellectual property being exposed.

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Working at Accenture: How Much Does A “Partner” Make?

by Asif Khan

Recently, the most popular search term that has landed people on this website relates to partner compensation at Accenture. This is a complicated subject but I think it is worth a discussion. I want to start with a few disclaimers though:  1) I am neither a Partner nor an HR compensation specialist, 2) Partners (and HR reps) don’t talk openly about compensation and 3) Compensation at Accenture (as in most companies) varies widely based on experience, geography and myriad other factors.

Also, keep in mind that I don’t intend to share anything confidential or proprietary. The following is based on publicly available information. But don’t worry. We will dive into some actual numbers. Let’s get started with some background.

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Working at Accenture: “Location Independence”

by Asif Khan

One of the coolest things about working at Accenture is that you can live anywhere AND work anywhere in the world…sometimes simultaneously. For example, one of my coworkers lives in Chicago and had the opportunity to work in Sydney for six months. Another lives in Seattle and spent two years in Paris. I recently had the opportunity to work on a project in Helsinki for three weeks–but I committed to another project with a shorter commute.

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Van Halen Hates Brown M&Ms??

by Asif Khan

I first saw Van Halen in concert when I was about 15. We’re talking about the real Van Halen! Not Van Hagar and definitely not the lame Van Halen with that singer from Extreme. We’re talking about David Lee Roth! Spandex! Kung fu kicks! Pyrotechnics! 20 minute guitar solos! The sweet smell of chronic all around me–but not from me because that would be illegal 😉 THAT Van Halen!

Working at Accenture: “Making Partner”

by Asif Khan

When Accenture first approached me about working here, I was not really interested. One of the main reasons was that I remembered several years ago a friend told me about the “Big Four” consulting firms’ dreaded “up or out” policy where you are stack-ranked each year against your peers: the top-ranked get promoted and the bottom-ranked get fired.

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Working at Accenture: “A Day in the Life”

by Asif Khan

I really liked my previous job as a Virtualization and Cloud Specialist at EMC. So when recruiters used to call me, I always politely declined stating I was very happy with my current job.

The call from Accenture was a little different: “we are not looking to recruit. We want to network with ‘high potential’ individuals for future opportunities…blah blah blah” What hooked me was when they said that they are looking for people with deep technology backgrounds who are ready to take their career to the next level and apply that knowledge to solving hard business problems.

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All You Need Is Love…and an iPad

A Love Letter to Steve Jobs and John Lennon

by Asif Khan

Today, Sunday October 9, 2011, is an auspicious day for us Beatle fanatics. It is John Lennon’s 71st birthday: millions of us every year celebrate the life of the man on this day by swimming in his music. Interestingly, today is also the day that Sir Paul McCartney is marrying for the third time. I hope he got a prenup this time and I wish him better luck than he had with #2…that last one was a doozy!