Reminiscing on the Smurfit MBA; a path to who knows where?

It’s funny thinking back to this time of year 5 years ago when I was getting ready to start my MBA; or more accurately gearing up for Electric Picnic with the MBA more an uncomfortable thought in the very back of my mind that I would deal with when off site after the event from mid-September.

When I started on the journey I was a concert promoter by trade, and had been for the previous 9 years – all of my working life. Cut to 5 years later; I’m a global project manager for Accenture and looking at the stints in between – heading up corporate communications for Hewlett-Packard, programme managing the government JobBridge internship scheme with now-Tánaiste Joan Burton, marketing in Accenture to my current Project Management role.

If anyone had asked me where I saw myself in 5 years’ time, I wouldn’t have been able to guess where the journey might have taken me – and for me that’s the exciting thing about going down a new road. For me, the MBA was the enabler as it helped by virtue of contacts, confidence, knowledge and a combination of hard & soft skills which helped me to land where I am today. Now expecting my first baby in about 8 weeks’ time it’s the beginning of another new chapter, and it’s hard to say where the next 5 years will take me. I guess it’s all to play for!

Best of luck to everyone starting out… may you all get what you want out of it, and what you don’t even know you want yet!

Siobhan O’Dowd, Accenture Enterprise Enablement PMO Services Manager (EMBA 2011)