The Accounting diploma program at the BCIT School of Business + Media taught me to be quite agile and always ready for change, whether it’s your day-to-day or different tasks that are thrown at you, different tech that is thrown at you – you just don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like, no matter what job or industry you are in. Learning to be agile is a huge skill I learned at BCIT.
In the BCIT Accounting diploma, I think one of the things that really stood out to me was just the way it was structured. Lectures were in a larger group, but we had a lab with a set of about 30 or less people that you could bounce ideas off of and you get better attention from the instructor when you are in a smaller group. Having the smaller class sizes was definitely one of the things that attracted me into attending BCIT.
You had instructors who really, really cared about you. The instructors are invested in you, they put in the time with their office hours, they’re there to help you, and they want to see you succeed. They know who you are, they know your name, they’ll see you in the hallways and say hi to you – you are not just a student number.
I’ve discussed with so many of my friends that went to university on how BCIT is different from a regular university in a sense that the instructors actually care about you, you’re not just a number, they put the effort into you and I think they see the effort back from you, as well. Not to mention the hands-on training you get, it’s way more practical. You’re not going to be writing essays because you’re not going to be writing essays in the real world. You get way more practical training and you feel prepared going into the real world.
The best thing about the relationships I made at BCIT is that they still exist. I still talk to people in my set frequently and I’m still in connection with my Program Head and that has put me in a position where I go back to BCIT and still involved somewhat as an alumni and I don’t think that would have happened if I was at a regular university.
I chose BCIT ultimately because of the high employment rates that I knew of about BCIT grads. That was a huge thing for me because we all go to school to get a job in the end, so I didn’t want to go to school somewhere where I wasn’t going to be guaranteed a job. At the end of the day, that definitely benefited me, as I was successful in having a job after graduation, but I think also the style of learning and teaching that they do was way better than what I could have expected at a university.
Everything you’ve probably heard about BCIT is probably correct. It’s not easy, but is it worth it? Yes, 1,000% YES! It’s going to benefit you in the long run, you’ll feel way better and more secure when you’re in the real world and BCIT is recognized by every industry out there, everyone knows the name, they know what you’ve been through, and that in itself is huge to have on your resume. So, you don’t really need much more than that at the end of the day.
About Poonam’s job at Fortis BC
Every day is very different, in the morning I’ll start off with emails, as some people on my team start their day earlier than I do, so they’re getting through emails, I’ll catch up with them, we chat about what they’re working on, if they are having any issues, problem solving what they’re going through. And then usually I’ll spend time on projects that I might be working on, along with any typical month end, or quarter end, or even year end tasks depending on the time of the month.
Problem solving and time management is huge. For example, right now I am working on three different projects, I still have my regular day-to-day stuff and week-to-week stuff that I need to do, but I have these projects that are going on at the same time. So, I need to make progress on them, make sure that the people who are also helping on these projects are doing that as well. So, it’s more of general skills that I’ve learned at BCIT that I still use now. If I didn’t know time management, I probably would not be surviving right now.
One thing that I really love about my current job is that I can actually make change. I can suggest something and then I can actually make the change and do it, so I think it’s the appetite for change that Fortis has. It’s not just pitching an idea and that’s it, I can make the change and drive the change and do things. Obviously within reason, I’m not doing something absurd, but if there is something that I see wrong and I suggest a solution to my manager, she’ll let me take the lead on it and I can do things that I want to do. So, that’s what I really love is actually driving the change myself. Another thing that I love is that I actually work with people at Fortis who want to also see change. Bigger picture as an organization obviously we are making changes to combat things like climate change and all that, but even in our day-to-day finance operations we are looking to make change and make things better and more efficient – it’s definitely a huge win for me, I’d say.