Work Life
If the pre-emptive sales pitch wasn’t a giveaway, let me put it very simply: your work life balance will likely suck. You’ll work longer hours and endure more stressful deadlines than your industry peers. During my tenure as a consultant, I spent about 70% of my time in city away from home. I knew the all of the quickest routes through SeaTac airport and some flight attendants knew me by name. I lost count of the number of inconvenient times I’d receive calls from friends asking me to hang out. My response if it wasn’t the weekend? “Sorry, I’m kind of in Florida right now…”
Despite what the sales pitch may tell you, I know from what I’ve personally witnessed that a consulting career can ruin your personal relationships. For many people this isn’t a dealbreaker, because they’re willing to forfeit their social lives for career advancement. But as you get older, the sacrifice you make undoubtedly becomes greater.
Travel
My most lavish travel experience had me staying at the Ritz Carlton and the W Hotel in the Bay Area. We played golf during a team outing and had amazing dinners at restaurants I would never get into by myself. The bill for our team dinners was usually higher than my monthly rent. On the flip side, I also had a project where I stayed at a Motel 6 for five weeks. My most lavish dinner was provided by the hotel vending machine.
The likelihood of getting staffed in a great location with great venues is just as good as being staffed in the middle of nowhere. I consider myself lucky to have wined and dined in New York and San Francisco as many consultants never get to experience the “good-life” of consulting travel.
Another thing to note is that just becoming a consultant doesn’t automatically give you first class service on airlines and hotels. You have to pay your dues first. You’ll spend numerous hours dealing with delayed flights, lost luggage, and loud, family travelers before United finally gives you a free cheese plate during your flight. (The perks aren’t what they used to be) And after you start counting all those hours spent in airports, cabs, and hotels, you’ll realize that they would’ve been better spent at home. Suffice it to say, the perks and the miles never make up for the time you surrender.
The Staffing Process
One of the things that surprised me about consulting was how little control you have over which projects you get staffed on. The staffing process, which had been sold to me as “endless variety,” seemed to be better characterized as “unfair randomness.” Hoping to get on that sexy, channel marketing strategy project and utilize your marketing degree? Well, if your partners are only selling Oracle implementations, that’s what you’ll be staffed on. The consulting world is driven by the demand from clients, not by the expertise of consulting personnel.
Also, while the idea of getting a variety of projects may seem appealing at first, the scenario can quickly wear out its welcome. It’s extremely stressful to get staffed on a project, in an area where you have no expertise, if you’re already billing hundreds of dollars for each hour of your time. Yes, ramping up in an entirely different industry and entirely different function is a good skill to learn. But you shouldn’t be doing it your entire career.
So who gets the cool projects? Many times, it’ll depend on who you know, not what you know. When politics come into play with the staffing process, it only makes things worse. That dream project you’re perfectly qualified for, the one that you know you’ll knock out of the ballpark, can easily slip away simply because the project partner doesn’t know you. Each staffing decision has the potential to make you feel like you’re going through the recruiting process all over again.
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