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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?"
My last corporate job was with an R&D position at a major telco. When things were going well respect was high and so were the perks, however when things werent going so well the pressure was on, it was like they felt that 12 hours days and increased on-call duties would make us suddenly overcome problems caused by red tape and over-zealous marketing clowns than actual hardware and software problems. In the end when budget cuts and layoffs came, the engineers were the first to go while the managers and marketing team stayed on, service suffered the existing product became harder and harder for the lower level engineers to support and eventually the entire service was dropped. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Would I stick around again as long as I did? Hell No!
I learned in my 5 years there than I have in any other position, it was challenging and personally rewarding, looked impressive on a resume. Besides the cool tech stuff I learned, I learned to pay close attention to what is going on outside the job at hand. Pay attention to what customers are being told, or what they tell you they are being told. Cover your ass, if something isnt going to work, speak up even if you worry it will cost you your job since if your right and let it go eventually it will cost you your job anyway. Endurance and Dedication are admirable traits in a human being but are usually taken for granted in a corporate enviroment. Putting in the extra hours once in a while is great but do it to often and it will become expected of you. The way most companies see it your reward for hard work is getting to have a job the next day, remember that and any kudos that come your way after success will be unexpected surprises. Get out while you still enjoy it, if you keep going until burnout you will find yourself unmotivated to get back into that arena again.
This is actually an insightful comment, if you read between the words, as it were. . .
For this is EXACTLY the type of responses you should expect from your fellow employees at this type of firm, at least until you have earned a serious amount of respect, and that ain't easy.
Good luck!
Which sounds the most like you?
a) I like to do things right the first time
b) I like to dive right in with a trial solution, then continuously improve that solution until it becomes best of breed
c) If the customer says it works for him/her, then that's good enough for me.
d) If the customer says it works for him/her, we should sell them on our premium service offerings, which are interesting because they generate higher fees.
If you chose (a), you might not be well suited for a consulting firm.
If you chose (b), there might be a fit, but it remains to be seen.
If you chose (c), you're probably a good fit.
If you chose (d), take the job immediately.
See this as a jumping point to a smaller company where you WILL get respect. In the big 4, you aren't focusing on technology. Our R&D are more focused on industry issues, rather than technology. Some of our largest apps still use .Net 1.0. And we have no need to go 2.0. Basically, do it for the pay, do it for the experience. Then move on. It takes a certain type of person to work for a big 4. It is your life. Are you ready for it?