As the first feature of our Employee Spotlight, we have Arya Ladhawala, who is currently a 3rd-year Business Technology Management Co-op student at the Ted Rogers School of Management (Ryerson University). Arya joined our Professional Services team in the Spring of 2021 and continues to work with our consultants to bring better services and solutions to our clients. Read a summary of his work term experience with ProLytics Consulting Group below!
About Arya
Q: Arya, if you could pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
A: I would describe myself as determined. I want to succeed. I don’t know which industry or when that will happen, but I am determined and willing to work hard to achieve my goals.
Q: What is an interesting fact about you that our team doesn’t already know?
A: This is probably the case for a lot of people, but I am a die-hard Raptors fan! Aside from just loving basketball, I love how the Raptors operate as an organization. They believe in improvement, hard work and winning. I try to use that same mentality in my life as well.
Arya’s Experience in the Professional Services Team
Q: For those who don’t know what a consultant usually does, could you describe what the day-to-day of a Consulting Analyst looks like?
A: Sure I can go through a bit about how my experience was like. During my first week, it consisted of learning about the new technologies, sitting in on client meetings, attending training sessions, and learning about the software the team used.
After the initial stage of learning my role and tasks, my day-day routine was ever-changing. Some mornings I would be assigned to a project that was a priority for the week or the whole month. I was given certain tasks to focus on and complete for the project. With this, I would then dive into the project to get a better understanding of the client’s requests of what they required our team to complete. My tasks ranged from updating old templates to building out new reports, new templates, and workflows.
Overall, my day-to-day routine is always different and unexpected, but that’s what I enjoyed about being a Consulting Analyst as I was able to interact with different clients and learn about their organization’s financial processes.
Q: Since this is your 1st Co-op work term, how was your first co-op experience been like at ProLytics?
A: My overall experience has been great! I came into ProLytics not knowing anything about the industry or even how to navigate a corporate environment.
From the first day, everyone was so eager to help me as a second-year university student to being a member of the team. It took me a while to adjust, but I am thankful for the team, the patience they had with me and for also encouraging me throughout the learning and adjustment process.
Q: You know your whole co-op experience has been remote so far, do you think it has impacted your work or your life in any way?
A: Being remote was not something that I had envisioned when I entered the co-op program, but I am glad that I got to experience this unique opportunity.
In the beginning, working from home was challenging. I was still learning about the industry, finding my role on the team, and trying to help wherever I could. Once I knew how to navigate the software and became more comfortable with my role, remote work actually helped me become more versatile in the work environment. As my first co-op term, being remote is all that I know, but I know having a remote experience is going to help me in my future endeavours.
Q: What was your biggest accomplishment at ProLytics so far?
A: After my initial training in Vena, I was assigned to my first project. I had just finished the training and was feeling confident that I would be able to tackle the project. I vividly remember opening my first template and being overwhelmed, because I have never seen an excel file that big before!
I realized that I still had a lot to learn about templates and reports. After 2 months of learning, I was proud to say that I knew this project like the back of my hand. I knew how the template worked in conjunction with Vena and I knew how to solve issues if they were to arise in the future.
His Reflections & Last Few Words of Advice
Q: If you could give a few words of advice for any student or those looking into doing business consulting work, what advice would you give them?
A: The only constant in life is change. This advice really helped me stay calm through the lows and kept me grounded through the highs. This is especially true for co-op students. Being in a professional environment as a student can be challenging, but understanding that you will overcome the challenge is also important.
Join Our Team at ProLytics
ProLytics Consulting Group is a business and technology consulting firm that specializes in Enterprise Performance Management and Financial Business Intelligence & Analytics. Working alongside a team that is committed deliver value-added technology solutions, join us to help innovate and solve one-of-a-kind business challenges.
