“My Journey” Alicia O’Connor – MSc in Accounting 2008

“My Journey” Alicia O’Connor – MSc in Accounting 2008

My DCU journey began in 2004 when I undertook a B.A in Accounting & Finance. DCU was always my first choice given the course content and focus on your career prospects when you completed your studies.

From the very beginning, we were introduced to the Big 4/Top Tier Accountancy firms and so my career path was mapped out from an early stage. I completed a summer internship in 2006 with Ernst & Young (EY) which in turn led me to being sponsored by EY to do the M.B.S in Accounting and join their ICT Tax Department as a trainee in September 2008.

From the various Tax modules, I studied during the Degree and my internship experience, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in Corporate Tax. The Degree and Masters programmes prepared me well for the professional Accounting and Tax qualifications which I completed during my training contract with EY.

Fast forward to 2013, when an interesting opportunity to undertake a client secondment to the International Tax Team at VMware (www.vmware.com) arose and I relocated to Cork for a year. The secondment gave me a deep insight into International Tax concepts from the client’s perspective which I really enjoyed and although I learned a lot, I wasn’t ready to leave EY yet.

In September 2015, a further opportunity arose to return to VMware for another secondment stint. During this time, VMware was expanding rapidly, and the Tax Team was also growing due to the significant changes in the International Tax landscape, I was offered a permanent position in July 2016 as a Senior Manager.

I absolutely love my role in VMware which has expanded over the years. Today, I have responsibility for International Tax matters in the EMEA and LATAM regions with a team of 10 reporting to me based in Ireland and the UK. During my time in VMware, I have led many strategic tax projects and initiatives. The success of which led to my recent promotion to Senior Director. I look forward to continuing my career journey over the coming years, there will no doubt be plenty of exciting developments in the ever-changing global tax environment.

To that end, I feel like I owe a lot of my success to the time I spent at DCU both from an educational/professional perspective but also from a personal point of view. I have such fond memories of my years in DCU!