Pros/Cons of Working at Big R&D Consulting Firm?

pagalvin asks: "I'm being recruited for an 'R&D Architect' position at a Big 4 consulting firm in the U.S. Does the community care to share its experience working as 'overhead' in a large organization that is most famous for its consultants working 60 hour weeks and billing 'til the fat lady sings? In such places, do non-billable R&D types get any respect? Is there a a long-term career path that sticks with the technology track?"

Comments

R&D = Redundant & Dispensable

[Dr_Art]

You will have a higher risk of being cut since your work is not core to the business. You will be both admired and hated by the non-R&D folks. You will work on cool stuff and have lots of fun. You'll likely have lower pay and advancement opportunities since your compensation is getting to work on cool stuff and having lots of fun. You will have a higher chance of using Nerf(TM) toys at work. You probably don't have a girlfriend. You will have a conversation about Sci-Fi at least once a week. You will feel that you would be more appreciated and arguably at lower risk (other than company viability...) if you work for a small startup tech company rather than doing R&D in the IT universe.

The important thing is to follow your heart and do what you are passionate about. If you do that, everything else you want will likely follow. Well, maybe not the girlfriend... :-)

Re:From my experience

[srmalloy]

My father retired from the Navy and went to work for one of the government contractors in the area; he wound up going through seven jobs in six years, because every time that a contract ended, the company would lay off all but the top three or four managers from the project, and he'd have to find another employer. After that, he decided to go back to work for the Navy as a civil servant (amusingly, winding up working about fifty yards from where I worked (having gotten hired as a civil servant for the Navy when I got out of college), and eventually retired from civil service. Working for a company that depends on government contracts for its operations is a chancy business until you've got enough experience that you're on the high end of the pile when the cuts go in when the contract ends.