MISA Alumni Spotlight — Ali Nour

Did you always think that everything is planned and ready to go in life? Did you think you knew exactly what to study in, what you’re good at, and what job you’re going to work at? However, when that planned future becomes present, some things tend to change. Did it change for you? It changed for Ali.

My colleague and I had the chance to sit down with SJSU alumni, Ali Nour, who is currently working at Accenture as a Business and Technology Integration Architect Senior Analyst.

Going to a college in Silicon Valley changes your perspective for technology and innovation. Someone coming from a family of doctors and expected to follow the family path can never think of switching to a whole different major. When Ali joined SJSU and started to live in the Bay Area, it switched his perspective towards his career path. Ali continues to discuss this experience at SJSU, joining Accenture, his experience at the company, the different roles he got to work as, and the expansion of his skillset till now.

Jennifer: What made you realize you had a passion for technology, and how did that lead to your position at Accenture?

Ali: “I lived in San Diego first, and I had a family background for science. All of my siblings were doctors, so I knew that I wanted to be a dentist before I went to SJSU. When I came to SJSU, riding the light rail, you realize that you’re surrounded by all these technology companies like eBay, so I began to imagine myself as an employee at one of them. Since I found chemistry to be boring, I switched to MIS and realized that being an end user is a totally different thing than understanding the role that these kinds of technologies provide. It also opened up an umbrella of opportunities and different things to explore.

“… you’re surrounded by all these technology companies like eBay….”

I began attending a lot of career fairs, and I just kept sending in resumes. I met with a lot of companies, but I ended up at Accenture because I realized that I wanted to be a business consultant. At Accenture, I was able to explore different kinds of companies, roles, and workplace cultures. Accepting this position allowed me to explore my career options, skills, and work with different types of clients. It also lets me play different roles at each project.”

Jaspreet: What are some skills you had to use at Accenture?

Ali: “I joined Accenture less than two years ago and worked on many different projects. I played a different role for each project which allowed me to expand my skill set. Some of the projects I worked on were related to Covid and capturing its metrics on businesses. In these projects, I had to put my findings in reports and pivot tables on Excel. I also had to express ideas on LucidChart. I began to make a habit out of sharing information, allowing me to improve on my communication skills with my team and upper management. I also tried to implement my Excel skills on Tableau because I knew I could make more impactful reports to present to upper management, my team, and clients.

“I began to make a habit out of sharing information…”

Thanks to these skills, I was promoted to a senior analyst role. I never stopped learning and thinking about how I can make each step of the project more productive. I was always exploring different types of tools that can be used on projects as developments of software technology occur everyday. This attitude allowed me to also shift into being a scrum master at Accenture which allowed me to organize and manage other team members and communicate their progress to upper management.”

Jennifer: Can you tell us about any exciting projects that you’re currently involved in?

Ali: “Since I have joined Accenture, some of the most exciting projects I have done are short-term contract projects. The first one was working with Silicon Valley Bank as they were overwhelmed with the amount of applications for PPP by their customers. One of the biggest challenges was that I had no financial experience or background; it was a big learning curve, but I was able to quickly learn on the job.

“…I had no financial experience or background…”

The second project I worked on was a COVID relief project that lasted for 6 weeks. I worked closely with the reporting analytics team. I knew I wanted a project where I could continuously learn. Thanks to the Big Data class I took at SJSU, I realized how powerful data is and how companies often don’t know what to do with it. Under this new project with the reporting analytics team, I was able to learn new tools such as Salesforce and other CRM tools.”

Jaspreet: Can you tell us about how Accenture celebrates diversity and inclusion in their workplace?

Ali: “Like every other company, Accenture talks a lot about diversity and culture. However, one thing that Accenture does differently from other companies is that it provides measurable and achievable goals. One example of this is making the workplace 50% women by a specific time and date. Another way Accenture celebrated diversity and inclusion was by expanding its recruiting towards a mixture of skill sets and educational backgrounds.

Summary:

MIS is a field full of opportunities for anyone who is willing to challenge themselves to keep learning. Ali takes full advantage of the broad nature of MIS by taking on many different projects while also asking himself how he can keep growing as a professional. Thanks to his enthusiasm for learning and technology, Ali is able to expand his skillset and understanding of the diverse nature of MIS.

This article was brought to you by Jaspreet Kaur and Jennifer June Gili, members of the SJSU Alumni Committee.