“It’s fantastic to be trusted”

Born in England, and living in Belgium since 2005, Daniel Wincott completed his master’s degree in Management with a three-month Accenture internship focused on Technology & Financial Services (Payments) at one of our clients in Brussels.

Depending on the day, my two main dreams as a child were to become a train driver or an astronaut due to my obsession with the London Underground and space at the time. I don’t regret not pursuing these dreams, but I do have fond memories of those days!

I’m now graduating in Management with a major in European Business at the Louvain School of Management. I was looking for an internship where I could really learn and contribute to a goal and Accenture made a good impression. I enjoyed the first conversations I had with Accenture people, and it seemed obvious right from the start that I was going to serve a purpose during my internship. There’s no guarantee that your role as an intern will allow you to this, but Accenture definitely delivered in this regard.

I didn’t know whether I had the right skillset to make an impact. But I quickly learned to trust my own ability to adapt to a new environment and learn a new role. What I enjoyed the most during my internship was being able to support a large team in a variety of different ways. I was encouraged to offer my help to any team member, and I performed tasks ranging from improving the client’s onboarding process (once I had experienced it myself) and testing the payment system’s response to specific test cases, to presenting the outcomes of the team’s work to key stakeholders. It’s fantastic to be trusted and I’m now much more confident about starting my career, regardless of which role I end up taking on. 

One thing I was not expecting at Accenture was the informal atmosphere. While a high level of professionalism was always expected, it was possible to have a relaxed chat with anyone, on any topic. Thanks to this openness, and despite my entire internship taking place in a virtual setting due to Covid-19, I managed to create real relationships, helped by a wide variety of online events with other interns and colleagues. Hopefully, I will meet them in person someday soon!

Life is too short to eat boring food! When I’m in a creative mood, I enjoy music and cooking (preferably a combination of the two). Given my study choice, I think Ursula von der Leyen would be a very interesting guest to invite to dinner. As a football fan, I’m a huge admirer of Marcus Rashford and his recent work off the field for children in the UK, so he’s definitely in. I would also love to meet a member of my family from a few generations ago. I’m not too sure how they would all get along, but they would probably all enjoy a typical English Sunday roast dinner cooked by me!

I think critical thinking is the key to solving many of the world’s current challenges. In my eyes, providing every individual with the tools to have an informed and tolerant view of the world would allow us to focus on what really matters. There are exciting challenges ahead and I’m looking forward to experiencing the changes that will occur in the coming years. The Covid-19 crisis did put our fragility into perspective, but also showed how people can innovate and respond in a good way to difficult situations. I think that the future is brighter than it seems, and I’m looking forward to seeing what it brings.

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