1 Year After My EY-Exit
There are people who do silent exits. There are people who send mass-good bye emails. And then there's me. All are acceptable.
Welcome to the Friday Flight!
Just a nice collection of non crypto things.
On this day last year, I quit EY. I jokingly refer to it as the EY Exit. Looking back in the last 1 year, a lot of unpredictable and wonderful things have happened. Before I get to a classical “what have I been doing” for the last year, I want to share my last email I have ever sent to my fellow EY colleagues.
That’s right, today you get to see my Goodbye email.
Relevant Friday Flights
Taking a Career Break is the Best Thing I’ve Done (your next read ;) )
Finding Your Curiosity Through Others (for all the extra crispy)
I feel guilty being idle (for all the Asian Americans / Immigrants out there)
What I’m Up To
TL;DR: Work Travel Recovering.
The Things:
I’d like to believe I recovered from work travel. This includes catching the rest of my things up, and recovering my social energy.
If you have a cat that likes strings and biting the fringes of things, this is a great toy.
I presented at an internal audit conference about blockchain and audit. Here’s the first slide.
This is the level of pettiness I aspire to be - how to make $72k a year
Cha Cha’s is a criminally good place. Not to be mistaken for Cha for Tea, which is also a good place.
Werewolf by Night is a solid, experimental (for Disney), and succinct story telling experience.
I’ll be out of country for the next 2-3 weeks, but I have prepared specific content for those days. ;)
What I Reflected On
TL;DR: My post EY life, starting from the Goodbye.
Note:
Message has been edited and Abridged for Newsletter Format.
Missing 99% of photos including sreenshots in the wfh times due to size limits.
This went to 350+ specific people at EY. I only know this because a partner counted.
Added all the people I could remember who left before I did.
Cheers! - Allen Au Edition
[October 22, 2021]
Today marks the end of my career at EY. I joined in 2015, and it has been the best place for me to grow up. I have had the pleasure of meeting, collaborating, and developing all kinds of relationships at EY. EY is one career, but 10,000 jobs. I’ve had the pleasure to experience Technology Risk, Internal Audit, Financial Assurance, Innovation, DEI Advocacy with PAPN, and CSR in Mexico.
What can I say? I have the equivalent of career short-attention span.
I went to Cal State Long Beach and studied accounting. In my junior year of my undergraduate, I went through the same recruiting cycles students go to including Meet the Firms / Career Fairs. I wasn’t interested in a career at EY, let alone the Big 4.
I would actively avoid the Big 4, actually; but to be fair, Big 4 didn’t have a presence on my campus either. In reflecting back, I believe the biggest factor on why I didn’t commit more effort into a career in the Big 4 is I thought the aspiration was impossible, the reward not worth it, and that there wasn’t anything for me, and thus I would never get or seize an opportunity.
Have you ever rationalized something, but instead of “For the possibility that you could, you rationalized why you couldn’t and shouldn’t?”.
Well as you can see, it’s been well over 6 going on 7 years, and I can tell you – I’ve come a long way and have done a lot. In fact, I believe everything is possible now.
The credit goes to the EY community that fostered and raised me. I was able to develop a fantastic support network that will last a life time, and my experiences here have taught me how crucial fostering and growing support networks are. M
I would love to keep in touch with every single one of you. You know how hard it is to meet people out of college? Well imagine how hard it is to meet people outside of EY!
<All my contact info and LinkedIn>
I love talking about your ideas! Let’s make a dialogue out of it.
Yes you can bribe me with boba.
Top Six Lessons (one for each year of my career here, but also I needed a way to squeeze some Ted Lasso Quotes in here)
Be Curious, Not Judgmental – Of yourself, of others, of all things.
Don’t you dare settle for fine
A good mentor hopes you will move on. A great mentor knows you will.
Take vacation (I took 5-6 weeks per year)
If you say what’s on your mind, you could be selfish. But if you don’t share what’s on your mind, you are also selfish. Choose which to live by.
Your career is a lot more fun the more people you meet outside of your project team!
I want to spend my last communication to all of you here with Thank Yous.
[Added all the people that left before I did that I could remember, which wasn’t in the original good bye email. In many ways, I was the last one standing - perhaps too long].
Everyone from Long Beach - from Lorenzo M. and Edwin A. (….they hired me into EY), to Oscar G., and Kento A., to Colton W. (recruiting buddy but questionable sushi choice), to all the people that came with us for the ride (Shane H., Anthony R., Martin B., David V., Karina A., Yzabel B., Kevin G., Kevin M. Amanda V., and many more).
Erika M. - for showing me and instilling deep empathy for flexibility with working parents, and also for driving me up and down the 405 at 6 am and 3 p.m., and many more. Miss ya. Also I still have the t-shirt and great memories of the Milk Bar cake.
Hank S. - The only thing more brilliant than your brain and thoughts was your work ethic and sense of accountability. Inspirational, to say the least.
Patrick V, Raymond C, Sean Z., Laura G - Y’all remember the cake incident? LOL
Kazu N. - I remember your first day in the U.S.; I remember your last day in U.S., I also remember you in Japan. LOL. Good times.
Jenn G. - How dare you ask me to help you on PAPN and then end up meeting Jason through that.
Tarishi D. - for bringing out our quirky, fun selves, and the never ending hunt for better food places.
Kunlun C. - Shared experiences, even the ones we aren’t fond of, definitely brought us together. Also how did you leave before I did wtf.
David A. - You are like the first casualty. Can’t forget the laptop save.
Original Message
Adriana L., Blanca S, and Mayra T. – Strong individuals at EY that I had the privilege of working with in my formative years. I’m glad I got to learn many key lessons under you three early in my career. Looking back, my favorite moments are when all three of you are in the same room because I knew full well that that room was going to be a party, filled with joy and life. I will miss our banter.
Michelle G. – I’ve never physically met you, and one day that will change, but you have had a profound impact in shaping the environments that you touch, and I’m glad that I got to be piece of that. I will your uplifting leadership, and I will miss our banter.
Nitai P. – It never ceases to amaze how insightful you are every single time I speak to you, and this has been going on since before I graduated college. I am refreshed by our conversations, and its always a bright light in the week to speak to you.
Roger P. – My time in Innovation started at an IAP Happy Hour, and well the rest is history.
Scott P. – Man, who else will I talk the most random Global topics with? Thanks for telling me to focus in experiences since Day 1. That’s something that has stuck with me throughout my career.
Andy H. & Charlene H. – Matu Steak was sooo good - and on the real, you two are fantastic human beings! From when we first started interacting (all virtual) to our first in-person meet up! Great times.
Hiermona T. – I’ve known since before I joined EY, and you’ve been a consistent rock for me in my years since. I’m gonna miss our random conversations, and our constant ideation on how to support our people at EY.
David W. – why’d you hire me man. You know how hard it is to write this email?
Marlon P. - DOOD.
Maria J. G., Daye S., David D., Mike N., Carolina O., Ololade O., and Kaitlyn T.–I@EY. Thank you for the time, the trust, and the comedy. I will cherish the literal painting we did.
Salman M. – for starting the DEI conversations that needed to happen, and being the catalyst for not just me, but many of us.
Pelumi O. & Lizzy J., We’ve never met, but I’m glad to be able to call you friends. Our routine discussions on “it all” were things that carried me through the beginning of the pandemic. I still have a photo of both of you in my “living room”.
Gregg L., Mike N., Alli S., Salman M., - #onechipchallenge winners 2020.
Ishita S., Ben J., Larry D., Virgina H., & Chris L. – I am appreciative that we got to work together on what amounted to be one of the most difficult things we could be doing, and that we held our heads up even in the toughest moments and endured. How we managed is a happy hour story in itself!
Prena S., Francesca R., & Nikhil B. – We’ve had so many curveballs thrown at us that at this point, I believe a straight shot would be an anomaly. But here’s a secret. We can out team any challenge, and we most definitely did.
Emili P., – You started as an intern with me and now you’re here. I miss our 3:00 p.m. boba runs and the banter we had, but I’m glad that when I think of my time at EY, a great many of them were spent getting to know you.
Denise Z., – HOW IS IT WE CAN TALK FOR THAT LONG ABOUT THE SAME THING? haha
Michell H. - #CPC and #TMMC neverforget
Graeme C., – from food recs, to #RED. Haha be seeing you mate
Tanya T. - #CPC2016neverforget and also one of the most capable and achieving individuals.
Kersta G., – While the beginning of WFH2020 was challenging, I’m glad you were there to support it.
Alex N., & Suneet B.,– Thanks for letting me live that “Travel consultant” life and hopping timezones, ending up in Canada and NYC, and more.
Rachel Z. & Steven B., - #BombSquad2020. This will either age like wine or milk.
William M.,– Never gonna forget the time we said “screw it, let’s play Fall Guys” and we did.
Alex W. – Your level of technology building is so contagious, I went on hoping to emulate some of it.
Andy Y. – Miss your newsletters! Wanna get some Kogi? Haha! Great convos across the Pacific oceans.
Vishal B., & Raminder K., - We’ve never met, but I am sure as grateful to have worked with you two, and this was virtually before the pandemic.
Patrick N., Lena H., & Curtis M. – for the courage to lead, and to listen, and to platform others. Thank you. Seriously, thank you.
Prashant K., Sarah L, & Aaron O.Y. How you three could stand the torrent of thoughts coming out of me, combed with all of our thoughts collectively. Keep the PAPN going.
Samreen K., Erika L., Mary M. – For dealing with all of the initiatives and ideas I may or may not have had a hand in.
Andy P. – I am one of many that got quite excited when you became the OMP. I see the conviction and level of care you have for others in our office - I’m way too excited to see what happens in the next 5- 10 years
Adrian A., Mimi P., Derek L., Jeremy T., Sonny W – We had a lot of random conversations in this space. A LOT. How wonderful was that?
Jason S., – Thank you for showing up. We met virtually, collaborated virtually, and then started doing in-person collaborations, and it has been a pleasure to help drive the LA PAPN with you!
Mimi J. and Mia Z., – You two are a hilarious dynamic duo and I’m so glad to have met both of you, and to have collaborated with both of you.
Christal S., Ali M. Edwin A., Marlon P. – EOS!!! So many times. That’s like 100+ students impacted and brought into EY.
Victoria H., – From when I first met to where you are now, I have enjoyed watching you learn a lot about AAPI matters!
Jade D., – I will never get tired of having conversations with you on all the things.
Nia S., – The best thing that’s ever happened to me, and this was before even EY.
omg you were also in LAO! I was there 2018 - 2020 and we must have came across each other at some point. Well, small world, it's awesome to meet you outside of EY!