Consultant Lifestyle - Reality, Pros and Cons
Discussion
I am potentially about to start a job as an "IT consultant" with a specific technology. I've been looking for something more demanding, challenging and that will offer better career development for me. This is partly selfish ambition, but I also have a young family that I want to provide for and this route will hopefully enable a better lifestyle for us all in the future.
However, I am also aware a consultant lifestyle can be very demanding and will mean time away from my family and less time to see my boys grow up.
From what I can tell there seems to be a fair few Pistonheaders in consultant or similar roles so I'm really looking for advice and real world experience from those are doing it. What is the reality of the lifestyle? Are there any unexpected pros or cons?
It is very likely that if I get a decent offer I would take it, but before I do I want to be fully aware of what I'm letting myself in for.
However, I am also aware a consultant lifestyle can be very demanding and will mean time away from my family and less time to see my boys grow up.
From what I can tell there seems to be a fair few Pistonheaders in consultant or similar roles so I'm really looking for advice and real world experience from those are doing it. What is the reality of the lifestyle? Are there any unexpected pros or cons?
It is very likely that if I get a decent offer I would take it, but before I do I want to be fully aware of what I'm letting myself in for.
I was a SAP consultant. I had to give it up because the urge to kill people was starting to override my general disdain for endusers and fellow consultants. Its a lifestyle that can get very boring very quickly, where you yearn for a week without being in some s
thole flyblown town just to feel vaguely alive.
Other than that if you get good perdiums you can buy lots of cool stuff, its like free money!
thole flyblown town just to feel vaguely alive.Other than that if you get good perdiums you can buy lots of cool stuff, its like free money!
I am an SAP consultant (get me 
)and have been working in consultancy for 13 years so far. Visions of throttling clients and colleagues fortunately are few and far between.
The travel can be a pain. Usually you will be on a client site and depending what IT stuff you are doing it could be in a random rented office in the middle of nowhere. It could also be be somewhere good. I have great memories of working in various cities with fun groups of guys and girls.
Some projects require 9am on Monday through to 5pm on Friday but they are getting less common.
If you are working away then generally plan around a very early start on Monday morning and a late return on a Thursday.
Camaraderie is usually good when you are working on projects and that helps when you are working away as social stuff often happens. Projects tend to be work hard/play hard and doing both can take it's toll. It used to be common to see junior consultants totally destroyed flying back to the UK after a week of long hours and the obligatory Thursday night out.
I started in the Industry fresh out of university so it's what I am used to. In my experience people who come into the industry as experienced hires are fine regarding relationships/families. There seems to be quite a high relationship turnover with grads but I'm not sure that travel is the cause of that.
Consulting is good for seeing a large range of clients. That will bring you into contact with some great organisations and some with really toxic cultures. With the latter you can at least be safe in the knowledge that you will be out of there.
)and have been working in consultancy for 13 years so far. Visions of throttling clients and colleagues fortunately are few and far between. The travel can be a pain. Usually you will be on a client site and depending what IT stuff you are doing it could be in a random rented office in the middle of nowhere. It could also be be somewhere good. I have great memories of working in various cities with fun groups of guys and girls.
Some projects require 9am on Monday through to 5pm on Friday but they are getting less common.
If you are working away then generally plan around a very early start on Monday morning and a late return on a Thursday.
Camaraderie is usually good when you are working on projects and that helps when you are working away as social stuff often happens. Projects tend to be work hard/play hard and doing both can take it's toll. It used to be common to see junior consultants totally destroyed flying back to the UK after a week of long hours and the obligatory Thursday night out.
I started in the Industry fresh out of university so it's what I am used to. In my experience people who come into the industry as experienced hires are fine regarding relationships/families. There seems to be quite a high relationship turnover with grads but I'm not sure that travel is the cause of that.
Consulting is good for seeing a large range of clients. That will bring you into contact with some great organisations and some with really toxic cultures. With the latter you can at least be safe in the knowledge that you will be out of there.
Edited by bga on Thursday 8th August 18:24
Edited by bga on Thursday 8th August 18:24
I am SAP consultant too. I've only been doing for 3 years but I quite like the travel even to crappy towns. I'm not married or have any kids so that's not a concern but it's better than going to the same office and desk for the next 40 years.
Pros: Different scenery, paid expenses (like dinner, mobile phone, car etc) makes saving easier, not repetitive
Cons: Long hours, sometimes very frustrating things to do.
It pays well but it can get boring. That's the reality.
Pros: Different scenery, paid expenses (like dinner, mobile phone, car etc) makes saving easier, not repetitive
Cons: Long hours, sometimes very frustrating things to do.
It pays well but it can get boring. That's the reality.
I am Financial engineer, or as what it should be is a financial developer specialising in capital markets and microsoft tech stack.
Consulting for me is like contracting with pros and cons of its own.
Cons : No massive salaries with me deciding on how I should be paid, though wages are good.
Pros : jobs are mainly in London/Europe, dont need to pay for flights or accommodation, I get paid sick leave, holidays, private health care, pension. Biggest pro for me is that I have already proved myself getting the consultancy job, therefore when Im sent on site to try and win the contract, the interview is generally 30-45 mins and only 1 interview.
In contracting the interview process can take months and be 5+ interviews at same company, if it wasnt for the money I would never have been contracting as I hate recruiters and their bullst, plus hate jumping through so many bloody hoops.
However now Im on site and taking over from someone else from our consultancy company, I find myself being at odds with their development skills and estimation skills, they have given some truly shocking estimates to the business I must abide by and the standard of code is quite frankly disgusting.
Since most jobs are in London, I generally dont have an issue as my property has great transport links so as long as its in the M25 I can be there and back in 35 mins door to door... I want to experience their european operations at some stage.
So big thumbs up from me.
Consulting for me is like contracting with pros and cons of its own.
Cons : No massive salaries with me deciding on how I should be paid, though wages are good.
Pros : jobs are mainly in London/Europe, dont need to pay for flights or accommodation, I get paid sick leave, holidays, private health care, pension. Biggest pro for me is that I have already proved myself getting the consultancy job, therefore when Im sent on site to try and win the contract, the interview is generally 30-45 mins and only 1 interview.
In contracting the interview process can take months and be 5+ interviews at same company, if it wasnt for the money I would never have been contracting as I hate recruiters and their bulls
t, plus hate jumping through so many bloody hoops.However now Im on site and taking over from someone else from our consultancy company, I find myself being at odds with their development skills and estimation skills, they have given some truly shocking estimates to the business I must abide by and the standard of code is quite frankly disgusting.
Since most jobs are in London, I generally dont have an issue as my property has great transport links so as long as its in the M25 I can be there and back in 35 mins door to door... I want to experience their european operations at some stage.
So big thumbs up from me.
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