Accepted Consulting Offer after Years of Marketing Internships - Advice?

Hey all. Nice to finally be involved with this forum.

I just finished my undergraduate studies from a non-target school (think US top 30 school) and accepted an offer with Cognizant Business Consulting. For those not familiar, Cognizant is split into Cognizant Technology Solutions (CBS) and Cognizant Business Consulting (CBC). I'll be working in their strategy department.

Throughout my four years at college I held product marketing internships within "big" tech companies (think Amazon/Airbnb/Facebook/LinkedIn level). By my last semester senior year I had basically come to the conclusion that marketing wasn't for me. For those interested in more details, I'll just say that marketing and digital campaigns never became intellectually stimulating for me.

I was presented with the opportunity to sign on with CBC for a good salary (especially relative to marketing, even for prestigious tech companies): about 75k including the signing bonus. Consulting was never on my radar, but I'm excited now. I know Cognizant isn't MBB, but I'm excited for the shift and opportunities.

Browsing this forum, I realize there is so much to learn, especially regarding career progression and exit opportunities. I was wondering if you all could recommend any books/blogs/websites/communities to check that would help me succeed as a first year analyst. What skill sets and traits would be particularly valuable to develop? I wasn't planning on getting an MBA, but from the looks of it I'll have to if I want to advance eventually. Luckily my stats in college would make me a decent candidate (>3.5 GPAs, tech internships all 4 years, lots of ECs).

 

I'm interested to know this as well. I accepted my offer for Cognizant in fall of 2015 and will start working there this summer. I know it's gaining traction as a more legitimate consultancy but it's hard to find opinions right now on it's "rank" persay. If anybody with more experience in consulting has any advice about career progression within or from Cognizant or Cognizant's reputation, it would be appreciated.

 

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