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Fujitsu

4.6
  • > 100,000 employees

Carlo Chan

Carlo studied Bachelor of Engineering Tech (Electronic) and is an Architecture and Consulting Graduate at Fujitsu.

6.30 AM

My day usually starts around 6:30 in the morning. I get up and dash straight to the bathroom before any of the flatmates get the chance to occupy it. I head downstairs and make my first decision of the day; oats or cereal for breakfast and if I’m lucky one of the flatmates will join and have a quick chat. I head back up grab my shirt that I have pre-ironed the night before and get ready (tip for anyone that is dealing with an ironed shirt is to get ready from the bottom up otherwise all the work you put into ironing your shirt will go to waste). On the bus, I like to read a book with my headphones on.

8.00 AM

I like to arrive at the office relatively early as it is “the calm before the storm” and I am able to have some time for myself to finish off work from the previous day or check emails and my schedule. The team arrive and we have a quick chat, I am currently shadowing a Solution Architect under the Cloud/Hybrid IT area and he may give me a few tasks for today. Today he needs some numbers to be submitted to Fujitsu Global regarding Azure Cloud Training. I jot that down on my list of things to accomplish, but before I start any work, I invite a fellow graduate for a coffee. My go-to is a mochaccino.

Carlo arriving early at work

Carlo on coffeebreak

9.30 AM

I am currently involved in an IoT project for a client for one of the councils here in New Zealand. One of the sales leads picked up on this project as a small scale initiative project. It could potentially give Fujitsu major marketing mileage as it deals with solving the problems of freedom camping. I and another graduate took on this opportunity and we are currently running the project with a Senior Account Architect overseeing the work that we are doing.

We have set up daily meetings to develop a design and statement of work in proving a concept. There’s a skype meeting later in the day with the Sales lead to give an update of where we are at. The other graduate and I, therefore, have a catch-up meeting now to prepare, summarize and discuss the initial design we have been developing for a couple of weeks. 

We use this time to create a slide deck to present to the Sales lead and go over the key details we need to mention and any assumptions that we may need to clarify for the progression of the design. Something you learn when you start at Fujitsu is to write up an agenda for meetings to ensure the time is being utilized to the max and that the meeting does not exceed the allocated time slot.

11.00 AM

I look back at my list of things to accomplish today and realize that I still have to complete the task that I had been given earlier of submitting numbers to Fujitsu Global regarding Azure Cloud Training. I create a spreadsheet with a table that automates the data to provide me the numbers and send an email to the Solution Architect for submission to Fujitsu Global.

12.00 PM

One of the benefits of being part of a graduate program is the other graduates and the community you form with them especially on lunch time. Every day at lunch we try to eat together and discuss topics that are happening both related to work and what we get up to during our spare time. Most days I bring lunch, heat it up and head up to our usual lunch spot on level 13 in the lunchroom.

We have a total of 10 grads in this year’s cohort so it is a large group and always have a good time during lunch. When there is an occasion like a birthday we would go out on the waterfront and pick a solid restaurant and eat out as a group

1.00 PM

Up next today is a partner strategy meeting with Microsoft. As part of our MSP Expert Partner status, Fujitsu has a close relationship with Microsoft and we have fortnightly meetings to discuss areas where we could use their assistance with our strategy to leverage both Microsoft and Fujitsu as a partnership in Azure Cloud. Since I am shadowing one of the Senior Solution Architects he has asked me to join this meeting to observe and absorb as much as I can from a partnership perspective. This meeting is vital to give an understanding of how the company does business with a major partner like Microsoft especially since in my role, I am under Partner Architecture and Fujitsu is more commonly recognized for the work it does for Partners in MSP.

2.00 PM

I have my meeting with the Sales lead to discuss the design myself and another graduate have been developing for the IoT Initiative project. We dial in via Skype as he is based in Christchurch.

The meeting went very well and he is prepared to book another meeting with the client CIO of the District Council for us to present our initial design to him and further discuss the environment in which we will be working with. After the call, my colleague and I discuss actions we need to accomplish that initiated from the meeting, before the next meeting with the CIO and delegate the tasks accordingly.

Carlo during a Skype meeting with the Sales team

3.30 PM

Time for learning! I have set aside an hour each day to learn and train myself in Azure and AWS courses. Every fortnight I have an informal 1 on 1 meeting with my manager who is based in Melbourne. The last meeting we had, he had assigned me the task of obtaining a certification in each quarter of the fiscal year with the goal of obtaining 3 certifications by the month of November. I am currently training to sit the AZ900 Fundamentals Exam and have just finished the course. One of the benefits of working at Fujitsu is the great management support they provide. My manager is willing to push me further and be a mentor for my professional development during the 18-month graduate programme.

4.30 PM

Time to wrap up and get ready before heading to the gym. I check any last-minute emails or messages that may have come through during the day. I pack all my stuff into a locker and grab my gym clothes.

Carlo on his locker getting ready for the gym

5.00 PM

The Fujitsu building in Wellington is conveniently located in the centre of town so everything is just walking distance away. I go to the gym on Willis Street, City Fitness, and generally, spend anywhere from an hour to 2 hours 3 days a week. After sitting all day in the office, it is important to have something active to do to keep fit and maintain a healthy balance of work and life.

Carlo heading out to the gym

7.30 PM

Finally, time to head home! Living in a flat we occasionally organize flat dinners where each of us prepares a dish and all have dinner together and have a good conversation about our day. This is one of the benefits from moving down to Wellington from Auckland from home to a flat, is that you are able to have time to socialise with friends even with such a busy schedule. Following the dinner, we often go up to the attic and put on a movie.

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