I joined Baringa Partners at the start of 2008 from a consultancy specialising in energy regulation. Although most new joiners go straight into a client-based project, I actually spent my first couple of weeks researching my upcoming project from the Esher office, which gave me a good opportunity to meet a lot of my new colleagues early on in my Baringa Partners career. Also, as I was one of the few consultants without client commitments I was able to get involved with internal initiatives such as this year’s Great Places to Work submission. This kind of involvement gave me a good early overview of the company and let me work with other consultants and managers from across different projects.

The transition to my first Baringa Partners project - working with a major energy retailer to help them maximise the potential benefits of smart metering - was made easy by the other Baringa Partners people at the client, who were all very welcoming and went out of their way to make sure I was settling in well. I’ve have been lucky in that the first stages of my project have related closely to my experience in my previous job, so I haven’t been thrown straight in at the deep end! The role is developing gradually towards more unfamiliar work – gathering requirements from across the client’s business and working with software developers – which is perfect because it keeps the work new and interesting as well as developing my skills as a consultant.