I am in the midst of a professional crisis. 25 yo, 2 careers, worked in a T2 strategy consulting firm for 1.5 years, now in Gartner for about 1 year, and I am thinking in trying MBB in 0.5-1 years (I will have been 2 years in current role). My questions here are:

-Is this a smart career move?
-Should I aim for the consultant/associate role altogether (would have 3-3.5 yoe by the time I apply)
-Thoughts on aiming for a top MBA / sponsorship after a couple of years at MBB 2nd level?

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My target is an S&O job in either FAAMG or top streaming companies. I want all of the above: good money, good WLB, exciting work. But I don’t know if I should go from consulting to industry at 3 yoe or 5 yoe, that’s the point.

funny

Not at all, just realize the journey isn’t always a straight path. Your comment came off as entitled in my opinion. Im only 28 for what its worth

OP - my career path and goals were very similar to yours so hopefully I can share some perspective. I was at Gartner on the internal side for 2 years post T2 consulting gig, but went to a T20 MBA with scholarships, and got a FAAAMG offer but ultimately went a slightly different direction.

Realistically with the MBA you would be able to go either pathway towards MBB or FAAMG and you would have time and space to explore. Additionally the other question is if you are OK trading an extra year or two of work for a promotion for additional WLB. All that said, it sounds like what you really want may be at odds with the prestige chase, so I would encourage you to do some self reflection and find what really makes you happy. Also feel free to DM if you want to chat further since our backgrounds are similar

likehelpful

This is the comment.

Usually prestige, unless some SE gigs, means much more hours worked

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This kind of question is hard to answer because none of us know what your career goals are. What industry do you want to be in, if any? Are you optimizing for money, WLB, location, a certain type of work, or what?

Fwiw, you’ve done plenty of consulting already. If you want to continue being a consultant, then by all means, go to MBB. Otherwise, why not consider applying directly to whatever industry you care about now?

As for the MBA, why do you want it? What are your goals? Are you trying to network, party, switch industries, or something else entirely?

Tl;dr there is no possible way for anybody on this app to give you useful advice without way more context than you probably care to give

Crisis?

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t going from T2 to Gartner a downgrade? Especially if you eventually want to be at MBB?

See my other response, but my background mirrors yours pretty closely. Feel free to reach out for more actionable advice

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