There are many career paths that people take post education. I personally did not think deeply about this when I graduated and took the first job I got. My degree is in Computer Science (CS) and opinions are specific to that field.
Two common paths I see people taking in the CS field is either going into a Tech Consulting field (e.g Accenture, BCG, PwC) or join a Tech company (FAANG companies). There are also people who go into “IT Department” of non tech companies in Insurance, Automotive and other industries. I am combining the tech and non-tech companies for this post– there are some differences in terms of opportunities and potential between these, however that warrants a post of it’s own.
I spent 10 years in the tech consulting industry before switching to become an employee of a FAANG company. While I enjoyed my time in Consulting (didn’t know any better) and I am quite content with how it has worked out, I think it is always a good idea for people entering the workforce to make conscious choices.
- Consulting exposes you to different business areas and challenges. Anyone who wants to dive deeper into the these areas has the opportunity and develop subject matter expertise.
- As a consultant, you are considered a short timer and not an ‘Owner’.
- Consultants are expected to bring the breadth of knowledge. Ability to analyze and recommend Build versus Buy, expertise in multiple programming languages and tools are some common expectations. This allows consultants to go broad, learn multiple languages/tools and develop good presentation skills.
- Consultants are sometimes used to drive change within a company. Long time employees are not comfortable driving change with their peers. They use consultants to dive deep and lean on them for change recommendations and rolling them out widely. Being in these situations, as a consultant you can develop skills to ask really good questions on the process, outcomes and roadmap planning.
- Being an owner on the other hand (as an employee) has the advantage of being there for the longer term. Naturally, you will develop deep knowledge of the space, the customer problems and are empowered to take action (i.e you don’t need permission from anyone).
- As an employee, there are multiple career paths you can take. If you start as an entry level Engineer, after a few years, you can chose to continue growing (laterally and vertically) in the Engineer track or choose a different track of product, program, operations or a general manager. In consulting, the tracks are quite limited, at some point everyone becomes a sales person.
- *extreme bias flag* Ties back to the career track. I don’t know any consultants who are well known for their technical contributions in the Industry. Most of the names you hear are from startups or the big tech companies. If your career path is to be a technical luminary or to be a Distinguished Engineer, I would not recommend going into consulting and definitely not staying there for a long period.
There is no one size fits all in career choices. The decision is for you to make depending on your circumstances and what you want to do. Hope the above points provide some insights into consulting versus being an employee.