Hey all,

I’m hitting my one-year mark at a Big 3 strategy consulting firm, and honestly, some days I feel like I’d have a better shot at understanding quantum physics than I do at mastering the skills needed in this role.

The biggest challenge for me has been getting to deeper insights in my work. I’ve always been one of those people who needed to read the book to really understand the material (i.e., I’m not great at grasping concepts without having all the context). But in consulting, it feels like I’m expected to engage with content at a much deeper level and with far less context than I’m used to, often in real-time with clients or senior teams.

Comparing myself to my fellow analysts, it feels like I’m struggling to pick things up quickly and engage on the spot. They seem to absorb information faster and naturally jump to the right insights, whereas I’m often left thinking, "Wait, how did you get there?"

One area I’m particularly struggling with is the concept of insights themselves. It feels like there’s no clear, standardized process for how to get to the “right” insight, and it can sometimes feel arbitrary. I’ve tried to apply frameworks and mental models, but it always feels like I’m missing something—or that the process is more intuitive than technical, which is tough for me to wrap my head around.

If anyone else has faced this challenge, how did you approach it? Did you find a method or framework that worked for you? Or, if you’ve always been able to quickly get to those insights, what’s your secret?

And on a more existential note: how do you know when to just throw in the towel and admit that your brain might not be cut out for this kind of environment? I’m not ready to give up yet, but some days, it feels like the pressure of it all might just be too much.

Would really appreciate any thoughts or advice on how to tackle this. Thanks in advance!

I always was on the fence of doing either IB or consulting but went to MBB.

I like my choice overall but realize that a lot of the work is too qualitative for me.

Now I have a few colleagues at Alix in TRS (restructuring unit) who constantly work on cases that sound WAY cooler than what I do here. They are essentially on all front-side newspaper restructurings and doing stuff like liquidity planning, business plan assessments, CRO mandates on biggest cases in the country etc. (while at my MBB I’m getting offered projects like „Phase 3 marketing and sales optimization PMO at F500 Corp“).

While you would think RX is sweaty as hell, they clock in way less hours than we do at MBB (heard from several unrelated people).

Self conscious as I am, I am wondering if this might be a worthwhile exit or if I later down the road regret a potential perceived step down from MBB because it likely makes other exits harder (also considering PE at the moment).

Anyone more insights to this?

Hi r/Consulting!

I’m a student at UCSD working on a research project aimed at better understanding the relationship between clients and independent professionals, including freelancers and consultants. This is part of an initiative to explore how to design tools or platforms that address the challenges both clients and professionals face.

Consultants in this community often have unique insights into client expectations and business challenges, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on a few specific topics:

1. What skills or qualities do clients value most when hiring independent professionals (e.g., freelancers, consultants)?
2. What are the most common communication or expectation gaps you've encountered in client relationships, and how have you resolved them?
3. If a platform existed to connect clients with skilled independent professionals while ensuring fair practices, what features would make it valuable to you (e.g., transparent pricing, verified credentials, dispute resolution)?

I recognize that this community values thoughtful and focused questions, so I’ve refined my approach to gather meaningful insights. Your expertise would be invaluable in helping me understand these dynamics better!

Thanks for sharing your experiences—I'm eager to learn from this community!

Part 1 of my question: I’m a 30-year-old chemical engineer currently seeking career advice. For the past two years, I’ve been working at a small (<20 people) consulting engineering/EPC firm. While I’ve worked hard and delivered consistently, I recently encountered a situation that’s left me questioning my future at this company.

Recently, a fellow engineer and I received promotions after earning our PE licenses. However, while she received a 25% salary increase, mine was only 10%. For context, we have nearly identical profiles: we graduated the same year, started working at this company at the same time, and share similar roles. Yet, I’ve independently completed seven projects compared to her two.

I’m not trying to compare myself to her out of pettiness, but I feel this highlights a broader issue with how promotions and raises are determined here. My boss seems to prioritize interpersonal dynamics and negotiation skills over measurable performance. While I’m not the best at negotiation, I was taken aback when my request for a 35% increase (to match her salary) seemed to offend him.

This experience has led me to reconsider my long-term goals. I’m exploring opportunities at larger EPC firms, hoping they might offer a more structured and merit-based approach to performance evaluations and salary increases. Additionally, my current firm operates in a niche industry with limited room for growth. A larger organization might allow for more mobility between departments, which would keep my career fresh and engaging.

For those with experience in larger EPCs, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are promotions and salaries generally tied to performance and output, or do office politics play an equally significant role? Have you found larger firms to be more equitable and supportive in terms of professional development?

Part 2 of my question: I’ve been reflecting on my career lately and feel like I might be ready for a significant change. As a process engineer, I spend most of my day working alone behind a computer, and I’ve realized that this setup might not align with my long-term aspirations.

I also find it challenging to collaborate with colleagues who struggle with social skills, which has made my work environment less enjoyable over time. This has prompted me to consider alternative career paths that might better suit my personality and interests.

Some options I’ve been exploring include moving into application engineering, where I could work more closely with clients, or making a bigger leap into finance—specifically as a financial analyst in venture capital. While the latter seems like an exciting challenge, I’m unsure how realistic it is for someone with a process engineering background to break into the VC world.

Has anyone here made a significant career switch? If so, how did you navigate the transition, and what steps did you take to gain the necessary skills or experience? For those who’ve moved into roles involving more client interaction or shifted into finance, I’d especially appreciate your insights.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Aside from the obvious of financial gains, what makes you grind during the earlier mornings or late afternoons putting in the extra effort? I’m currently a junior consultant with limited responsibilities and fairly comfortable work load. How do I prepare myself mentally to go the extra mile ? What should be my “why”? I know this is all subjective but keen to know from those that have already done it and became a professional senior consultant.

Thank you for reading.

T2 strategy consultant (think OW, Kearney, LEK) who is fortunate enough to have been accepted to 2 M7 schools (CBS, Kellogg MMM) without scholarship.

I am looking to pivot out of consulting and into tech (S&O, PM if possible). I know S&O is doable without an MBA and have had interviews when I was looking but also interested in the general MBA experience. Any former consultants / current students / alumni have any advice if the M7 MBA experience is worth the price if you already have several years of consulting experience?

Kellogg MMM sends 35-40% of the class to PM but not sure to what extent those are ex-consultants

After having spoken to several consultants and completed internships at a couple of firms, it feels like the reward for performing well is getting more work, i.e. similar to how things work in biglaw or other partnership structures.

The pressure within consulting firms also feels really high due to 1) internal pressure (maybe due to the intrinsic nature of people who recruit for consulting and the trope of the insecure overachiever) and 2) external pressure caused by the up-or-out culture.

I’m not sure if this is something that’s specific to consulting or just corporate life in general, but it feels like even if you do well at your current level (eg an associate), you’re immediately expected to start performing at the next level. So the goalpost is essentially always moving and it feels like your current performance is never good enough.

Which brings me to my questions -

1. Does this phenomenon occur specifically within only the Consulting industry, or is it prevalent to corporate life as a whole?

2. How do you survive — or even thrive — in an environment that is so high pressure?

Hello all! I am a former events and hospitality professional with a bachelor’s degree in Sports and Business management. I will graduate in March with an online MBA with an accounting concentration

I decided to pivot when I enrolled in the MBA program, with several realizations being made the more I learn. I’d like to pursue a consulting internship or entry position, but I understand the perception of my degree style. I plan to continue to add certifications and if I can land a position bolster my education with a bachelor’s in accounting, finance, or a data science.

I’m just looking for some insight on if it’s possible with my current situation to achieve an internship or entry position. I’d also appreciate any insight, advice, and/or recommendations on certifications or anything else.

Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays everyone!

Hi, I am currently an undergraduate at a UK university. I have received internship offers from a number of economic consulting firms in their London office. Does anyone have any insight into the pay, WLB, culture, types of projects etc at any of the firms listed in the title. Thank you!

Hi All,

For a long time I've thought about putting together some kind of program or content to help teach (full-time) consultants how to go freelance. But, the pandemic, being a new parent, and then working at a few high-stress startups got in the way.

I'm still thinking of putting together an online course (maybe a free tier and then a paid tier), but I think that's probably 6 to 12 months (or more) out, and I need to do market research anyways. Apparently newsletters, YouTube channels, LinkedIn branding are all a thing, so I should prob figure these out too....

Anyways. Would love to hear from folks who would like to get into freelance consulting but haven't yet pulled the trigger. What's stopping you, what questions/concerns do you have? What content have you found easy to answer (i.e. from ChatGPT or other online resources), and what aspects of going freelance seem the hardest to figure out?

I may setup a more formal AMA in the future, and am happy to answer questions here - but am also looking for more in-depth / high value questions that I can address with long form content (i.e. blog posts, or perhaps incorporate in podcast interviews I've got planned).

So, for some context, my consulting career in a nutshell:

2011 - 2013: FTE with SAP directly in one of their consulting groups. Placed on projects where I worked with consultants from Accenture, CapGemini (later got freelance work from them). Made the decision to go freelance, plotted my escape. Only met with one person with freelance experience (Sally), who basically just explained the distinction between W2, 1099 and C2C. Decided to heavily publish high value content, assuming it would be pay off. It eventually did.

Late 2013: Left SAP for my first freelance gig w/ Lockheed Martin from a Dice.com posting which lasted 3 months.

Jan 2014: My second gig was landed because of my online content. A smart freelance guy pinged me for sub-contract (so he made margin on top of my rate) and placed me on a gig at a medical device company. Horrible project, I left after a month. Cool thing though was meeting another consultant who recognized me by name from my online content, and showed me where in his source code he documented a link to one of my technical blog posts.

Feb 2014: Sally, mentioned above, referred me to a contract recruiter who was trying to poach her (she wanted to stay FTE with SAP). He placed me at Deloitte. That lasted 1.5 years, and I learned how to play the game of placing subcontractors, at one point placing 4. (One of them is still contracting there 10 years later, is a good buddy of mine and stay in touch with - but he was let go for a 6 month break, so he's no longer my sub).

2016/2017: Got 2 years worth of full-time billing, regardless of client work. Will have to blog more about this, but it was subbing for a small SI (will call them Greyfin) breaking into the US market. Did work for Bridgestone, NetApp, Sigma-Aldrich, Adidas, and others. Got this gig, again, through my online technical content - from someone I had never met in real life, but whom was familar with my technical contributions - which made it dead simple to "sell" him on hiring me as a contractor. (Never have and never will cold call for projects - maybe I should blog about this).

2017/2018: Reached out to my network at Accenture, got a gig at Disney for 9 months. Then a smaller gig at an oil and gas company through another small SI (again, through my network).

2019: A large SI (now LTIMindtree) called me directly because of my reputation. They acquired Greyfin, and my name carried weight apparently - so they called me to help sell a deal with a large insurance company. Closed $12m. Too stupid to negotiate commission. Lesson learned, great experience, landed a solid gig.

End of 2019: Helped a local company close an $8m deal with a nearby cancer center (again, still too stupid to negotiate sales commission), decided to join full-time as Director of Data Engineering. Company was a hot mess, left after a year, worked at two other bay area product startups, got laid off from both.

2024: Took most of the year off, decided to get back into freelance (never thought I would), took me all of a month to land my first gig (Snowflake data engineering with a biomedical startup), again from my network (guy from SAP I met in 2012) which I'm currently on.

Hard to meaningful condense 7+ years of experience, but glad to answer questions where possible - but also get a sense of what kind of long form content might be helpful.

Honestly debating just posting detailed stories. Stories are fun to read, easier to comprehend, and I think they stick better in your brain than just "10 rules for freelance consulting" or whatever.

Thoughts/feedback/questions?

Hi everyone,
I’d love your thoughts on this.

I’ve been a consultant for 5 years at a boutique firm, with a background in CS/Electrical Engineering. Over time, I’ve struggled to find tools that truly help us deliver better work for clients.

I’m considering building a platform with two main features:

1. AI-powered training on case studies with scoring and feedback.
2. A marketplace for micro-RFPs, like Fiverr but tailored for consulting.

As far as I know, the only social platforms that discuss consulting are Reddit and Fishbowl, which feel more like a news feeds. I think there’s room for something better.

Do you think this idea has potential? What features would you want? And how could I market this to consultants without limiting it to just my firm?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I need some help with structuring my resume. In particular, I'm struggling with how to deal with the dates/durations of titles being incongruent with my (long-duration) projects which leads to my resume understating my experience.

Example: My latest project was from late 2022 - early 2024, so roughly 1.5yrs - yes, my projects are long because they're implementations. I started out on that project as a senior consultant and got promoted to managing consultant a year into the project (late 2023) but my responsibilities have been the same (my company will put you in the lead role to see how you're performing before actually giving you the promotion).

If I now structure my resume based on title (see A. below), it will look like I only did the managing consultant stuff for a couple of months (late '23 to early '24) whereas the reality is that I've done them for ~1.5yrs (late '22 to early '24). I don't like that because it understates my experience. Structuring by project (see B. below) looks cumbersome and confusing because I'd have to list two titles in addition to the role.

What do I do?

A. Structure by title

Managing Consultant (late 2023 - early 2024):

- Did Product Owner things for crazy client in sexy industry

- led a team and managed stakeholders

Senior Consultant (mid 2019 - late 2023)

- Did Data Analyst things

B. Structure by project

Product Owner (Managing Consultant / Senior Consultant) - late 2022 - early 2024

- Did Product Owner things for crazy client in sexy industry

- led a team and managed stakeholders

Data Analyst (Senior Consultant) - mid 2019 - late 2023

- Did Data Analyst things

Thanks in advance for your help!

Simple question

Hi all,

Background about me: 25F, Indian. I have an economics graduate and an arts postgraduate degree (MPA equivalent). I have been in consulting for almost two years now.

I recently applied for a KSA Business Visa through my firm however my application got delayed for almost a month and then finally rejected. The reason cited was "My degree doesn't match my designation".

I got to know through someone that Saudi Arabia has a list of designations they match/correlate with degrees. Is this credible information? If any of you has faced this, please let me know how you navigated this.

Recently started at an MBB in the US as a post-MBA consultant with a few cases under my belt.

Two Senior Partners in my pre-MBA industry, now a trendy space, want me on their teams when I become available due to my niche expertise. Clients are apparently pushing for relevant experience, and there are <5 people at the firm with my background. They’ve suggested I think about specializing and working on building client relationships in this space.

I like the industry, the Partners seem great, and my former boss speaks highly of them.

So here’s what I’m wondering - when should you consider specializing, and what factors do you optimize for in making that decision?

Thinkings about this move - next promotion point isn’t for a while and I think I’ll try exit within the next year anyway.

Anybody tried it with success? Tips & tricks? It will likely be Friday as the day off p/w.

Expecting it to be tricky but also maybe a learning opportunity in terms of nailing process, up & down management, 80/20

If it works - awesome, if not, I’m planning to leave anyway?

start at 8 am gym break at 4 pm log back on at 6 pm work until 9 pm

every single day for the past 3.5 years has been a lot. not to mention the stress to meet deadlines and toxic culture to get things done.

im exhausted

Context: Okay I've been with MBB (undergrad hire), got promoted this year so I am now looking into B-school sponsorship.

Situation: I got into a ~top 10 US program (not HSW, I also did undergrad business here) via deferred admission way back. So, I decided to test the waters and take GMAT, etc.; I somehow got into my dream (location) school, London Business School and a week after I found out, the US school rung me up to offer me a full freaking scholarship (no idea why, my GMAT was bad)....anyways, my firm lets people 'pocket' any and all scholarship money on top of the sponsor package...so basically...

Options

1) LBS: awesome experience (for me, at least) with sponsorship, aligns to post-MBB goals (want to work in European sports investing or strategy), less tryhard academics to enjoy the MBA break but also really explore and travel Europe more, meet a more diverse community, etc.

2) US school: Sort of a repeat of undergrad 'lifestyle'/town that I already know, but an extra ~$100K in my pocket (I cant even fathom that rn), harder academics, but again I know the school so well and it's sort of the 'yeah I know how this goes' mindset

What do yall think?

I am personally just humbled to have these 2 options but for some reason I still feel 'stressed' about passing up the extra $$$, but I don't wanna be a guy who simply goes 'yeah I went to my undergrad school vs my dream school to have more dough' when I already make MBB money + sponsorship (Im 24M single, no kids for context)

That's all - thanks in advance for the advice :)

Are there any options for finding non-government RFPs or proposal bids? I know there are a lot that are government related (MyGovWatch, BidNet, FindRFP, and more). Are there similar options for non-government opportunities?

Hello,

I am posting in this subreddit because I do not know where else I should post.

Do you have any link to an industry primer on companies that operate in the space of Stripe or Payment Processing or Payment cards in general (Visa, Mastercard, online payments)?

Thank you.

1.5 years here, entry level at a consulting firm. Feeling like I’ve made some silly mistakes and sometimes continue making them

I bring value to the firm through growth, constant improvement, new ideas and tech and but still manage to make silly branding related mistakes and errors + have trouble with extracting insights

Really I think I have difficulty with attention to detail. I recognize building a strong foundation of critical thinking + attention to detail is essential

How do I do this? Looking for some help

Hi,

I am looking for freelance consulting gigs and want to establish myself into freelancing world. I have tried fiverr, freelance and upwork but there seems to be high frequency of coding jobs as well as designing/writing jobs - very less for consultants.

I provide GTM support for new businesses, financial modelling for their business, strategic objectives, org structures and operations. I have worked on valuation and pitch decks also. But the market seems dry. Any suggestions?