"Yes consulting has many flaws..."

Hardik January 6, 2013 at 6:32 am

This article helped me understand many nuances of the industry that I otherwise wouldn’t have understood.
Great article for a person who is contemplating on whether to jump into consulting as a career option.
Thank you!

Jack Fraser April 4, 2013 at 10:30 pm

Consulting is not interesting, tedious, and a waste of your education skills. I’ve seen many co-workers need therapy after such positions. Avoid at all costs.

Jason April 10, 2013 at 3:37 am

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!! Review of Consulting, all the more reasons why I plan to leave it. Airmiles, Hotel Points, Rental Car Points, Lavish Meals, and all the so called perks of consulting can be earned elsewhere! The only part left out was the “physical affects” of consulting, poor diet and exercise. The random projects and favortism are beyond irritating and you never meet your career potential. People forget that the average span is 3 years and the higher salary you recieve is used to influence your stay with the company. Life is waaaay better outside of consult, make your own moves professionally. Work for a variety of stable companies and you will get the same consulting experience, but even better, you will have your “personal life” and time for yourself.

Sandeep January 21, 2015 at 9:23 am

Thank you !! I currently work as a operational risk consultant with a Big 4.
What he wrote about work life balance and travelling is cent percent accurate.

tanvi k May 5, 2015 at 11:56 am

I was part of management consulting 2 years back and i faced exactly the same issues-- challenges are travel, work life balance, inappropriate staffing and billability issues. Generally projects are short, around 3-6months. So you always have un-certainity about your next assignment and work location. For sure, it is not a long term option. When you are in consulting, one has to know clearly ‘what next?’.

Mike June 27, 2015 at 8:54 am

Christine is a consulting shill. Consulting is NOT a good career path. People keep getting into it for money and the delusional idea that becoming a partner will mean success.

Tomm September 15, 2015 at 4:36 pm

Well great overview of consulting. I’m with Accenture mc for 2.5yrs and currently considering joining a client who happens to have an office in my hometown. Yes consulting has many flaws that made me almost quit it several times:
– you cannot have a healthy diet on the road. I was on the road 4-5 days a week
– regular excercising? forget about it
– having social life during the week? not doable, unless you consider team’s dinner to be your social life. Sometimes even Friday’s evenings are ruined
– say hello to waking up at some sick hour just to catch a flight to client’s city
– b/s projects that you have to do, as nobody gives a s.. if you like it or not. Charge or die
– ‘deliverables’ – what are we actually producing? b/s slides! you ponder ‘am I not too old for that?’
– ‘we need it for Monday morning’ – since on Monday morning you’re travelling you’ll do that during the weekend

But when it comes to leaving, boy it’s not easy:
– this job looks interesting in comparison with the roles of your peers, who do same old thing every single day
– ‘I’m in consulting’ sounds cool, people are jealous of your travel, regardless how much overrated it is
– you learn different stuff on these b/s project that you hate
– I have this romantic dream that somewhere behind the corner lurks ideal project that I will skip

My advice: get into consulting in your early 20s (23-25), leave around 30 and enjoy your new desk job that’s not available to your peers.