Question about technology consulting

What’s good, y’all. The email below is from a software engineer who is planning on applying to business school and wants to pursue technology consulting as a career. He asks several questions that I’ve answered on here before (so I refer him to those old entries accordingly), but there were some new points that I thought would be valuable to post here.

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AR wrote:

“Hi Marquis,
First of all, thanks a lot for putting up valuable information on post MBA career choices especially consulting. Its a good source with a lot of information for people like me who are considering an MBA or switching careers. One suggestion though…Can you please add tags to your blog entries so that it is easier to browse through the archive?
Now coming to my queries. I am a software engineer working at one of the biggest IT firms in India. I have a two years work experience in which I have worked as a developer for one year and am currently in a role which involves more of analysis than coding. I’m also leading a team of 15 at offshore which comprises of a mix of software engineers and BPO employees. I have realised that I’m enjoying analysis and problem solving more than coding and am considering a career switch..the obvious choice is consulting and currently see technology consulting as a preferred function. I haven taken up GMAT and will apply for Fall 2009 to 7-8 schools in the US which are in the top 30.
I would like to know what type of work is involved in technology consulting and within the function what are the different career choices that one has. Also which role a three years work ex coupled with an MBA degree will I get upon graduation -a Business Analyst or an Associate? I have gone through some material on sites like Vault and I’ve seen articles on how the shelf life of a job in a consulting firm is about 2-3 years and after that consultants tend to specialize in specific fields or set up their own boutiques. Is this a reality or is it just hyped? In case of the former, what sort of a career path does one see post consulting?
Thanks for your advice and hope you keep up with the great job that you are doing.
– AR
p.s. I almost forgot…which regions on the globe are currently “hot” with respect to consulting and esp tech consulting.”
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My response:

AR,

Thanks for checking out my blog and seeing it as a good resource. Before diving into my response, I’ve got to ask whether you were kidding about putting tags into my blog entries…you were kidding, right? I only ask because I’ve written over 300 entries over the past four years and it would take me forever and a day to put tags in all of them. It’s a good idea and would have been perfect if I’d done it at the beginning, but now I’m going to have to let it ride…hahahaha!

It sounds like you’ve got a similar background to where I started out, but you were able to lead a big team of folks only two years into your career. I spent my first few years trying to get to that point and wasn’t able to do that, so you should be proud of that feat. And, given your liking for problem solving and analysis, consulting would likely be a good fit for you as long as you don’t mind being away from the implementation side of things as you are currently used to.

Now, let’s get into your questions…you asked them in a back-to-back block, so I’m going to split them up and handle them one-by-one:

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I would like to know what type of work is involved in technology consulting and within the function what are the different career choices that one has.

–> I believe that I’ve answer this same question in detail in one of my past entries, so I’m only going to give a quick summary here as a response. In general, technology consulting involves two big buckets of work:

1. IT Strategy – This work involves taking a high-level look at the client’s business and figuring out how to advance some aspect of it through Information Technology. Back in the day, technology consulting firms had the market for IT strategy work locked down, but, in the past few years, the traditional strategy consulting firms have been moving more into this area. An example of IT Strategy work would be helping a client leverage Technology systems to increase the efficiency of its supply chain. The career options here would be similar to what one would find in a traditional Strategy Consulting firm (i.e. Business Analyst, Consultant/Associate, Manager, etc.)

2. Technology implementation – This is the usual systems integration and software configuration/installation work that one would associate with technology consulting. Some examples of this type of work would be rolling-out an SAP implementation or some other type of ERP system. Often, technology consulting firms will leverage their IT strategy work to build up their technology implementation business by offering an end-to-end solution for their clients (i.e. helping the client set up the systems that the Strategy folks recommended for them). Some career choices in this area are System Integration Specialist, Software Developer, Database Administrator, Project Manager, Technical Lead, Business Analyst, and Requirements Manager.

I described the above with pretty broad brush-strokes, so I may have left out some details or missed a couple of points. I’d suggest doing a Google search to get a more in-depth description for the type of work involved and the possible career options.

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Also which role a three years work ex coupled with an MBA degree will I get upon graduation -a Business Analyst or an Associate?

–> In most cases, that sort of background would have you funneled toward an Associate role. You would have to talk to the recruiting staff of the firms you apply to for more details on how you would be slotted for one of those roles though.

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I have gone through some material on sites like Vault and I’ve seen articles on how the shelf life of a job in a consulting firm is about 2-3 years and after that consultants tend to specialize in specific fields or set up their own boutiques. Is this a reality or is it just hyped?

–> I’ve also heard that the average tenure of someone who goes into Consulting after grad school is in the 2-3 year range and, although I don’t have any hard facts to back it up, that estimate sounds good to me. The lifestyle as a consultant isn’t easy with the travel and hours, so I can see why some people would do it early on to enhance their skillset and then move on to another opportunity. Once you decide to leave Consulting, there are tons of directions that you could turn.

Once upon a time, I used to hear about tons of people starting their own boutique firms, but, in reality, that seems to be a very difficult thing to do, especially considering the 2-3 year tenure assumption we’ve made above. Just think about all that would go into launching a boutique:

– Developing an expertise in a specific area
– Convincing clients that you are a better option than getting a more established firm
– Setting up the back-office for your company
– Getting access to the resources to complete the actual client work
– Do the business development necessary to get even more clients

If one were to leave a consulting firm as a Partner, this might be a legitimate option, but, barring that, an industry job or some other form of entrepreneurship might be a better exit option.

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In case of the former, what sort of a career path does one see post consulting?

–> This is a VERY broad question and there are literally millions of answers to it. Much of the answer depends on the type of work done during a person’s time in consulting and the industry that he/she enters afterward. One natural post-consulting career path is to transition into a Corporate Strategy group at an industry firm. Many large and small firms have an internal consulting group to handle their strategy work and they are HUGE recruiters of people from strategy consulting backgrounds. Other former consultants move over to financial services (investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, etc) because those industries value the analytical skills that one builds as a consultant. Another common career destination is into Product Management at companies in a wide range of industries (Tech, Consumer Products, etc) because the end-to-end business skills that one develops lend themselves well to that sort of job.

I could go on and on listing possible careers, but that wouldn’t necessarily be useful. Instead, meet some other consultants and ask this same question to get an idea of the options that others are considering. You’d be surprised at the wide range of directions that folks believe to be good options for their careers after leaving Consulting.

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And, as for your P.S. question about which geographical areas are ‘hot’ for consulting, I’d say that there are consulting hot spots all over the world. The major consulting firms have offices on most continents and there are boutique firms all over the place too. Instead of picking a possible home based on where consulting is hot, you should figure out where you want to live and then look for consulting opportunities there. If you’re trying to end up in a major city, chances are that you’ll be able to find several job opportunities in the industry.

Take care and good luck with your B-school applications.

-Marquis