Life as a ERP Consultant...
Discussion
Hi All,
Bit of background, I work with an ERP system in a company local to me that runs this software. A role as a Consultant has come up working for the company who make/support/develop the software.
Now, I'm 27 years old with a little girl who is 7 and recently married.
The role in question is for an HR & Payroll Consultant which means I would be attending client sites on a weekly basis
- probably Monday/Tuesday on one site and Wednesday/Thursday on another site.
- Site could be anywhere in the UK, although would make sense to send a local consultant to closer sites
- It would probably mean 3/4 days away per week, back home on a Friday to work on catching up
- Great Career prospects
- Private Healthcare
- Pension (8% Company)
- Car Allowance
- Very attractive salary and bonus scheme (I can basically double my salary easily)
- For my age, it's a great career and something I wanted to do late 30s but not given the opportunity to attend the interviews
The questions for you are...
1) Does anyone do this field of work? How do you find it?
2) Do you cope been away from home?
I have been told life of the road isn't fantastic, very easily bored but I have a good friend who does it and he enjoys it - but he has 2 grown up kids and married for a while. There is so many things to consider
Thanks
Bit of background, I work with an ERP system in a company local to me that runs this software. A role as a Consultant has come up working for the company who make/support/develop the software.
Now, I'm 27 years old with a little girl who is 7 and recently married.
The role in question is for an HR & Payroll Consultant which means I would be attending client sites on a weekly basis
- probably Monday/Tuesday on one site and Wednesday/Thursday on another site.
- Site could be anywhere in the UK, although would make sense to send a local consultant to closer sites
- It would probably mean 3/4 days away per week, back home on a Friday to work on catching up
- Great Career prospects
- Private Healthcare
- Pension (8% Company)
- Car Allowance
- Very attractive salary and bonus scheme (I can basically double my salary easily)
- For my age, it's a great career and something I wanted to do late 30s but not given the opportunity to attend the interviews
The questions for you are...
1) Does anyone do this field of work? How do you find it?
2) Do you cope been away from home?
I have been told life of the road isn't fantastic, very easily bored but I have a good friend who does it and he enjoys it - but he has 2 grown up kids and married for a while. There is so many things to consider
Thanks
Don't.
If it were just you and the wife - I would say fine. You will make better use of the time you have together,
But your daughter will grow up in front of your eyes.
And you will regret - the missed opportunities you could of had by being with her.
When kids grow up - they don't thing fondly of this gadget, or that toy or some other gift.
They do think about the time they spent with you.
Just my £0.02
Caveat - I spent most of my life working away from home. But we made the decision not to have kids for this reason.
Plus sides - I got to see a lot of the world that I would never have been able to.
Down sides - It can be lonely sat in a hotel for long periods of time.
If it were just you and the wife - I would say fine. You will make better use of the time you have together,
But your daughter will grow up in front of your eyes.
And you will regret - the missed opportunities you could of had by being with her.
When kids grow up - they don't thing fondly of this gadget, or that toy or some other gift.
They do think about the time they spent with you.
Just my £0.02
Caveat - I spent most of my life working away from home. But we made the decision not to have kids for this reason.
Plus sides - I got to see a lot of the world that I would never have been able to.
Down sides - It can be lonely sat in a hotel for long periods of time.
I'm an erp consultant (SAP) and have been since I left university. After 5/6 years of working for a Big4 firm and a systems integrator I joined a mate in starting up a consultancy.
You are doing the right thing in asking these questions. Life on the road can ve great fun when you are younger but quickly gets boring.
If you are visiting multiple clients in a week then they will want value out of your day rate so days onsite will be long, you'll be knackered when you do get home. I definitely wouldn't want to be working away long term. There are plenty of divorced consultants out there!
Its not all doom & gloom, the work is usually interesting & regular projects stop things getting boring. That experience also stands you in good stead for another perm role. A couple of years consulting gives a different type of experience (note, different not better) and people often use it as a stepping stone to other roles in industry.
One last thought, a good compromise can sometimes be found working in internal consultancy in an organisation doing a series if rollouts. The travel is usually a bit less arduous and the external consultants get to do the worst of it.
You are doing the right thing in asking these questions. Life on the road can ve great fun when you are younger but quickly gets boring.
If you are visiting multiple clients in a week then they will want value out of your day rate so days onsite will be long, you'll be knackered when you do get home. I definitely wouldn't want to be working away long term. There are plenty of divorced consultants out there!
Its not all doom & gloom, the work is usually interesting & regular projects stop things getting boring. That experience also stands you in good stead for another perm role. A couple of years consulting gives a different type of experience (note, different not better) and people often use it as a stepping stone to other roles in industry.
One last thought, a good compromise can sometimes be found working in internal consultancy in an organisation doing a series if rollouts. The travel is usually a bit less arduous and the external consultants get to do the worst of it.
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