Ask Me Anything - Federal Consulting at a Tier Two Firm
In light of the posts I've seen here and there regarding federal consulting, I figured I'd give a shot at a Q&A We all know that commercial consulting has all the glamour, but federal consulting *can* be just as glamorous. I say *can*, because it is very easy, in my experience, to get trapped in pretty drudgery federal consulting.
Background on me:
I've been a consultant in the federal space for 6 years, the first 4 years at a boutique firm and the last two years at a Big 4, all in the technology space. Prior to consulting, I was a financial analyst at a hospital for a couple of years. Consulting for the government, I've bounced all around across agencies and project roles. I have extensive experience in project/program management, risk management, IT strategy, organization strategy (can't really call it corporate strategy in this context...), business and systems analysis, business transformation, business process mapping/re-engineering/transformation, test management, and financial analysis.
I was a liberal arts major at a complete non target, then got a part time MBA at a likewise complete non target (both are state schools in the south) while I was at my first consulting firm.
I'm currently in the process of leaving my Big 4 and moving back to the boutique space, still in the federal sector.
Ask away! I will answer any and all general and specific questions, although questions that require too specific answers will result in a reply via PM.
Personally, I haven't seen anyone make that transition. That being said, it should be a fairly reasonable process. The biggest hurdle would be networking and getting a partner/director/principal on the commercial side willing to sponsor the switch. At the end of the day, it comes down to one leader being willing to give up your revenue and take that hit to his pocketbook.
That being said, my current engagement is about 60% federal/40% commercial practitioners. I've got a good working relationship with my commercial counterparts and their leadership, so if I wanted to make the switch, I think I'd have a decent shot.
I wanted to circle back on my response to this. There are a TON of federal boutiques, I'd guess way more than commercial boutiques out there. They range from mid size business with ~1000 employees down to hyper-specialized firms with only a handful of employees. Some focus on particular areas (government financial management, for example), while others are basically just smaller versions of the big firms and have more of a generalist focus. Some are more focused on pure consulting work, others are purely staff augmentation focused.
In the federal space, if you're looking at a boutique, take a hard look at it. There are several areas (besides the actual project work and your role) I'd especially investigate if I were to look at a federal boutique again:
What kind of work do they do? Especially for smaller firms, it's hard to easily understand if they do true consulting work or are a butts in the seat staff aug firm, and they'll likely tell you they are consultants, whether or not that's what they actually do.
What's the outlook for the firm? Past projects, what their current book of business is, what the outlook is. No one can know for certain, but if all their projects are nearing the end of their POPs and they don't have new work lined up, that's a big warning flag.
What is the clearance situation? Most federal jobs require a clearance of some sort, and if you already have one, make sure the boutique can hold your clearance for you.
What is the career path? Some boutiques have rigid models like the big firms, others don't have career models at all, and you keep the same title the entire time while just (hopefully) advancing in pay and responsibilities.
Do they know what they're doing? A lot of times, boutiques (usually the really small ones) are formed by SMEs who are experts in the work they do, but don't have a good grasp of how to actually run a business and/or don't hire a good admin team, and that can negate much of the satisfaction you get from working on a good project.
I got burned by the small boutique (