Job Responsibilities
50% of time was spent on planning and maintaining a $200M expense
budget. 50% of time was spent on doing cash flow analysis of
marketing initiatives, reporting, and ad hoc analysis.
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Job Requirements
I have a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.
Non-engineering classes included capital expenditure analysis,
basic accounting, three semesters of econ. Workload was
reasonable in engineering terms.
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Uppers
Before the ATT Wireless acquisition, Cellular One was a great place to work.
Management was highly competent. They had well-articulated goals, didn't waste
resources, and focused on operational execution. I learned a lot about finance
and telecom. Co-workers were smart and good to be around. We continually turned
in some of the best metrics in the country for efficiency, profitability, and
customer satisfaction.
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Downers
Post-acquisition, the senior managers left and our metrics
dropped to mediocre ATTWS levels. The job lost focus. My second-
level manager was located in Orange County and I only met her
once.
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Lifestyle
Work hours were excellent at forty hours/week or less. I only worked one or two
Saturdays. I only had one business trip in five years, which was fine with me
since I lived in San Francisco. Why leave?
The firm's holiday parties were pretty good. We usually booked a top museum and
a good band.
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Compensation
As a Senior Financial Analyst, I made about $62K/year. Every
year, I got a bonus worth about 10% of base. ATTWS stock options
were worthless. None of the finance staff took them seriously
since we knew how incompetent ATTWS managers were.
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Advice to Jobseekers
I hope that Cingular, ATTWS' manager, is better managed. ATTWS
had IPO'd had $30 and eventually got acquired at $15, a beautiful
example of value destruction.
Phone companies will be seeing continually shrinking margins due
to competition. Not sure how much growth in staff you can expect.
ATTWS already had a lot of fat.
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