Is "tech consulting" a dead end?

If that's your only option, take it.

Implementation and tech work is actually really huge and will set you up for big $$. Might be boring, but its significantly in demand. Every company needs assistance with their ERP systems so just something to think about...

hey man, I didn't get my dream job out of school but the place I got into did a large implementation of an ERP system and I'm now trying to transition into this field now so keep that in mind.

Basically they take a bunch of fresh grads for this and send them to an academy type thing to get certified into whatever system you're going to be implementing so experience isn't a deal breaker.

After, you're basically doing a whole lot of problem solving, making sure things work, ironing out kinks in both software and business processes, etc. It's actually pretty interesting work tbh. Once you're an experienced consultant you can make mid 6 figures if you work for a big integrator or if you establish good connections and go independent you can make 200k + or whatever

Like most consulting there will be a lot of travel/on site work, similar to IB, you are judged on the amount of implementations under your belt.

Overall not a bad career choice but it won't get you a job at facebook since you're not really programming at all and the work is unrelated. It is what you make of it, if you're good at sales etc actually doing the bids and selling the implementation work is highly lucrative.

Depends on when your career goals I think. If you're good at the selling aspect, you can rise very high. Current National Managing Partner at my firm was a technology guy.

You're very unlikely to be able to lateral directly from a career in tech consulting to a tech company like Google. IT consulting and consumer tech are apples and oranges.

But is it a dead end? No. I'm not super well-versed in tech consulting exit opps, but I've met a solid handful of people who went to top 15 B-schools after doing systems integration work at Accenture/Deloitte/etc. And when I say Top 15, think places like Darden, McCombs, Ross, Anderson. All very good business schools that open doors into a wide variety of different industries.

Thanks so much for the help everyone, it sounds like I should definitely give this more consideration than I initially had. Again, it's not ideal, but it sounds like it's got better opportunities than I initially expected

I'd like to reiterate and concur with UFOinsider...

It's a job, if you have nothing better, take it and don't look back. Go in with a good attitude and really care for what you're providing and care for your fellow peers/superiors and you never know what new doors may open up.

How about Technology Strategy as a service line? Will that open up more opportunities and be looked upon favorably by B-schools?

Yeah, the problem is, I'm pretty sure this isn't strategy, but more just implementation...

Well, it's a good question. In my view, at some point companies are going to realize that they could just pay 4-5 guys $300k/year each (half conditionally) to go and build all these things off open source/latest technologies. The cost goes from millions to thousands or tens of thousands. There are top 100 websites (like Instagram) who had dev teams in the single digits for everything.

This being said, because of the ecosystem and the disconnect between the user and the so called "stakeholders" (like tech consultants), I doubt this will ever happen, and Oracle and the like will continue to charge fortunes for things that cost very little (there's a bank I know who pays in the $10ks per terabyte per year for basic storage thanks to their CTO having had a nice meal with sales people from the "solution provider", which drives its devs nuts).

I used to think CTOs knew what they were doing, then started going to CTO conferences, and realized none of them had any technical experience, nor much of an idea in many cases how to hire smart people, who have a 100x impact on productivity over average people (versus, say, accounting where the delta is only 2-3x). And most importantly, they benefit from this whole pyramid scheme by having ginormous teams to manage the inevitable spaghetti code that results from using these systems, and enormous budgets to cope with the consulting fees and corporately restricted ecosystem (e.g. go find a command line tool for linux for Oracle on the free/evaluation version). As you know, in the corporate world it's not what you do, but how many people you manage that matters.

I did a full migration of an Oracle data mart to something more shall we say, modern, cheaper and faster, it took 2 weeks with 2 guys. The business has millions of customers.

This presents you with an opportunity: if you go learn what the smart people learn, like functional programming, Linux/open source based solutions and really understand the ideas behind the relational model, for example, you can set yourself up for some super value addition later down the road. Then join a smaller place, experiment with what you know, hire smart people, and progress from there upwards.

Alternatively, join Oracle consulting teams, and pray that people like me fail just like we did in the 1980s.

I'm from a tech consulting background, its fun and exciting and quite challenging at the same time. Since you said that its a prop software company - you need to be able to essentially see how the technology you are selling works for the customer- and then - map the customers' processes into your tech software- thats where the business angle of the technology comes in. You need to be able to handle word really well, because you will be required to create use cases and write down Business Requirement Documents (BRDs). If you are good at understanding processes and then mapping it to a particular framework -then this is good fun!

Hope this helps and good luck!

Read madan80's comment... I think you're confusing the term implementation as a service versus what Tech Strategy consultants actually do...? For example, Deloitte Consulting's Technology practice:

http://www.deloitte.com/us/consulting/technology#&panel1-1

does a lot of implementation work. If you dont believe me, check here:

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Services/consulting/technology-co…

"The Technology Strategy & Architecture (TS&A) practice advises clients in areas ranging from strategy development to the implementation of defined tactical responses to help realize business value and service excellence from their IT investments."

TBH most of the work is implementation. The client already kind of knows what they want and they're bringing you in to help achieve that. Hope this helps

In my view, it's pretty simple:

1) Is it a good job in terms of pay and security? = Yes

2) Is it business strategy and big picture? = No

Personally, I don't think its a good choice to do strategy work without solid operational experience, in any industry.

The best bet is to take this job, crush it and then go to a good B-school to open up other options.

I agree with YGH- if you have nothing else on the table, definitely worth getting into. One of my close friends worked at a cloud consulting firm out of school for 1 year and was recruited by another firm for $100k+ all-in comp. Shorter hours than MBB consulting as well, but it's implementation vs. strategy. That said, IMO it's better to have a job with the option to switch than no job at all. Continue to network, today you can email anyone.

Big 4s do a lot of IT risk, security, audit, etc. which can be ehh.

Business consulting is a very similar path to Business Analysis. I'd say that it is an option that people often overlook. It is very far from a dead end especially if you are able to obtain experience on different implementation projects, which will allow you to have a wide array of skills by the end you would hope. The pay is decent too. The exit ops can lead you to the management consultant side if you want. A lot of banking technologies are starting to be updated after remaining the same for up to 20 - 30 years in some instances. This means there will be a lot of work for you. Additionally at the end of the day if your goal is to work for Google or a technology company this path may potentially lead you there if you are able to gain coding knowledge on the side. At the end of the day what is important in "start-up" companies and medium sized technology companies is the execution of the implementation of the technologies they are developing. If you are able to learn how to do this efficiently or learn how to be part of a team that is able to do this efficiently you can really create value in a wide variety of companies.

Any ways I hope this helps.

It is not a dead end to answer your question.

Thanks guys you have all been incredibly helpful. Even though I've lurked/used these boards for about 2 years, I've rarely seen a thread that is this informative and supportive.

Thank you all and I appreciate any other advice and experiences people are willing to share.

What did you end up deciding?