Consulting firm experiences
Posted by TranquilDev@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 12 comments
I was invited to do an online assessment from a recruiting firm and I believe the company they are hiring for is a consulting business. I've worked with consultants in the past on projects and had a fairly decent experience. But I work on project after project for the same company, same environment, it's all familiar and comfortable. I can pretty much come and go as I please, my dog stays in my home office and if she barks nobody cares, even if I'm on the phone with a co-worker.
However, I suspect that working with client after client on multiple projects at once would be an entirely different experience. I'm going entirely based on what I imagine the role would look like though and was hoping to get some feedback from those who've been in that position. Is it non-stop phone calls and project work or did you feel like you had some freedom?
seanpuppy@reddit
I worked 1 yr at a consulting firm as a data scientist, I disliked it for a lot of reasons, but the biggest issue for me as a lifelong nerd is they actively avoid doing anything the right way. Id get pushback for wanting to spend a day automating an important report and the bosses thought it was a waste of time.
circalight@reddit
Correct. Big consulting firms prioritize the easiest way to get a "project complete to the point we can justify billing" more than getting things done right.
signedupjusttodothis@reddit
Small ones too, and it's sometimes more existential for the smaller ones.
I worked two back to back "boutique" firms in the last two and a half years-first time back in consulting since the early 2010's with a larger firm, both had the same problem: over-committing to new clients, over-promising to existing ones, and then rush rush rush because another new client got signed. Both firms were absolutely awful at capacity planning, and the combined experience from both sent me running right back to industry.
Frequent_Bag9260@reddit
Consulting lifestyle is fun for about a year. After that it is truly hellish. You get to witness the monotony and boringness of corporate life over and over and over and over...
Aknottyman@reddit
When times get tough, the consultants are the first on the chopping block...
xX_Qu1ck5c0p3s_Xx@reddit
Been a consultant for 5 years. There are pluses and minuses, like any job.
Pluses
Remote-friendly, which grows in value every year as more of this industry swears off remote work. Everybody's hellbent on making me cook the planet with a commute! If you're going to be on multiple different clients across several years, it is not logistically feasible to put you in office every time.
You see a lot of different codebases, teams and ways of working. Sometimes that's good, sometimes bad (see below). But a good learning experience.
It forces you to have good communication skills. You're constantly meeting new people, getting up to speed, learning new business domains. People who can't get good requirements or convey what's been accomplished tend to struggle.
You get good at getting up to speed on new code. Do enough clients and you just get used to finding everything and putting up PRs within a few days.
It's easy to understand when your job's in danger. Consulting companies sell billable hours. Your employer wants to keep a few people on the bench to handle possible new clients, but not too many, because they still have to pay salaries. Your job is in danger if you have a long enough period with too many people on the bench. Simple as that.
Minuses
You don't get to pick your team. If there's some bit of work culture that's really important to you, the client probably doesn't have it. Like, you might be a testing purist and get put onto a client that just lowers the code coverage requirement every time CI fails. You have to pick your battles. My coworkers and I joke about "the zen of the consultant."
To expand on that, it's a requirement that you be able to handle challenging personalities. This is true of any job, but it goes double for consulting. Some people hire you because they just need another pair of hands, but some people hire you because their organization is profoundly dysfunctional. Our company actually trains and practices handling managers with unrealistic deadlines or impossible asks.
TranquilDev@reddit (OP)
I appreciate the response. I'm still up in the air on whether I want to go any further with this. Technically, I could do it, the pay sounds good, but mentally I don't know that I want to leave the comfort of what I know for the unknown.
SquiffSquiff@reddit
Bear in mind that I have worked in multiple different consultancy positions as an independent contractor in addition to being a permanent employee. Without exception, every recruitment process I've had with a consultancy was a sham and a waste of time- there was either no position being recruited to or they created some ridiculous requirement or objection on the grounds of which they could deem me unsuccessful. More than one tried the trick where they claimed that I wasn't quite good enough for the jobs that they had advertised, but by an amazing coincidence they conveniently had another one available at lower grade (and pay) that I was invited to accept instead (I didn't). I'm not pretending for a moment that permanent employers can't or don't do the same thing, but In my experience it's s lot rarer. There really seems to be something special about consultancies doing this.
At this point, if I was interviewing with any consultancy of any size in any location, unless I personally knew the hiring manager or the hiring manager's boss, I would consider it a waste of time.
TranquilDev@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep that in mind. I thought about going through the recruiting firms process just to get more details about the job and to see if I'd pass their assessment. I did a little research on the recruiting firm and they had a decent reputation but you have no idea who they are recruiting for and what their reputation is like. I wish I knew what the grass even looked like on the other side but without going through the process and possibly wasting my time there's no way to find out.
SquiffSquiff@reddit
Realistically, there's going to be some common factors to any consultancy position:
Some of the other factors will vary depending on whether they are a transformative consultancy or simply a body shop. Personally, I would think of it as multiple levels of insecurity and additional pressure compared to either being an independent contractor consultants or permanent employee in a regular business.
I wish you good luck in any event
MyBossIsOnReddit@reddit
Pretty much depends on who the client is. Expect to move to the client's location and be less flexible.
I used to consult for countries across the EU / EMEA. Spent 40% of my time outside of my home country at some point. Quickly gets less fun.
TranquilDev@reddit (OP)
That is kind of what I thought, however I think this role is entirely remote. The potential pay increase would be nice but I'd hate to get into that role and find out it's a nightmare or potential nightmare depending on the client. I'm thinking I'm happy right where I'm at for now.