Working after college

 By Colin D'Ambrosio

Ryan Ferrara was a graduating senior walking across the stage at Boston College on May 24, 2021 and a year later he was running through Boston so he won’t be late for his first day of work.

He was starting his new job at PWC a Big 4 accounting firm in Boston, the place he always wanted to be in college. While he was at Boston College majoring in accounting and finance he used to think about when this day would come, he said. He was stressed and nervous about the job. His first day was a long day that started off with a 25-minute drive to the train station in Attleboro from Rehoboth and then a 50-minute train ride. Ryan is from and still lives in Rehoboth, Massachusetts which is a long commute into Boston.

“The train was packed with people every row had three people per seat and the air conditioning wasn’t working,” he said. 

Just getting to the office he was so anxious he sweat through his work shirt as he dashed to the building, he said. 

“Running to work on your first day is never fun,” he said.

It was the most nervous he had ever been to be late for something, he said.

Going from being a full-time student with two or three classes a day to working a full-time job nine to five or longer was a big adjustment, he said. It taught him to get into a better routine and it created better habits, he said. He went from long college nights to early nights in bed. 

“Those days of staying up until 2 a.m. watching movies are long gone,” he said.

He now wakes up at 6:30 a.m. and goes to bed between 10-12 p.m. depending on if he still has work to complete, he said. He said the most exciting part of his job is that he is always learning new things. Not a lot of what he learned in college translates to the work he does at PWC. Obviously you need the foundation and the basics to understand what to do but since there is so much technology and software today he said he is discovering he needs additional skills. “Learning how to use the software and making sure you are comfortable is the most important thing especially when you are reviewing things such as clients financials and money,” he said.

Relationships are also key.

 “Building strong relationships with people on your team, people not on your team, clients, and also just random people is very important,” he said. 

Those relationships will take you a long way and when you are confused or lost it will help you, he said. It also helps with the adjustment to your new life. People on your teams are your age but there are also older members. The older members provide guidance because most have been through the same process and can help new hires get through the first bumps in the road, he said. He said his biggest task is analyzing financial data and then using that information to prepare a report for a client. 

“It is a very technical thing to do and it takes a lot of focus because you want to make sure that you are giving good advice to your client,” he said.

 “One thing he likes about the job is that it feels like you are making an impact,” he said.

Whether this is through helping out a client that is just one person or it is a company he feels his job makes a difference. 

“In audit, if you come across something wrong then it is your job to figure out how to fix it,” he said.