When I started here, this job carried a certain sense of wonderment. The first time you leave the station and enter the glittering maze of high-rises it is very hard not to feel that. After so long believing I had screwed my life irreversibly, this gave me hope. Hope that no matter how awful the rest of my life might be, I had this job to cling to. A proper career with a clear path to earning real money, surrounded by talented people who had worked hard to end up in the same place as me. A fresh start.
The job involves auditing the financial statements of large companies. Pretty dull work. A haze of excels, heaps of documentation and constant meetings. Endless open plan office floors, rows of monitors showing matching spreadsheets, and the background chatter of people who think they're Jim from The Office. A hundred different tasks for a dozen different managers, always just behind where you need to be (work late tonight and we'll catch up for sure). And this for the rest of my life.
In short I am burnt out. January to February it was busy season, working until 9 or 10pm each night, taking an Uber home, then collapsing into bed only to blink and realise it is morning again already. Where you count yourself lucky if you avoid working on Sunday. The only thing that keeps me going in this period is the idea that its a temporary thing, just 2 months and then it is over. That and lacrossefu's smile. The sense of relief when you do finally finish is nice too. A real feeling of accomplishment you don't get very often. But of course it doesn't last.
After a week or so of barely working, I then transfer to my Spring engagement. A little team of 5 people meeting in a client office in Mayfair. The partner is absent, the manager is useless, and the in-charge is one of the most antisocial people I have ever met. The client's chief (only) accountant is an eccentric african man who could have a blogpost all to himself. As a result, instead of having a huge number of tasks like before, you have a small number that sit there waiting for literally anyone to provide the necessary information for progress to be made. It is an even more miserable experience than busy season, not least because this is the part of the year where you begin to realise the temporary period of stress isn't so temporary after all.
In summer I alternate between preparatory work on my main client and study. For your first 3 years you are earning a qualification alongside your work that allows you to become a chartered accountant - the big salary increase comes after this. I have completed 10 or so exams in total. This round is a set of 3 taking place across 2 days in mid June. For a few weeks before each set of exams you sit in a classroom going through huge textbooks on topics you will never encounter in your real work. On this occasion an email is sent round offering students to learn the materials at home due to Ramadan. I of course reply to this email taking them up on the offer.
So for the first time in the year I have time to myself, with 3 exams to learn the answers to. One of these is the advanced tax exam, which is famously difficult. The other two aren't too bad. I don't use this time very productively. First of all I really did need the rest. Second of all, I am naturally quite lazy. Before I know it the exam is just around the corner, and I have not even completed my first run through the materials let alone revision or question practice. I realise I have messed up badly, and it is too late to fix. But its not the end of the world. There is a guaranteed resit, after all. Just focus on the 2 easier exams and bomb the hard one.
