I'm a M and my counsellor suggested I look into moving to the specialist track due to my tech expertise. Any downsides to this? salary, career, growth etc.

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Hmm interesting. How specialized are you? The pro is: not a lot of sales or managed revenue metrics target, potentially shorter projects because you are an SME. Not a heavy emphasis on up or out culture. The cons include: very different expectations. You'll be expected to be an expert and publish and all that. Difficult to move up. You are headed towards salary director track and not equity principal track. A few have switched but it's not easy to get into sales mentality. Sometimes even if you are on specialist track you may end up on projects where you are treated as a manager. The firm has not really defined the roles and responsibilities of those on the specialist track so may be hard to navigate. That's all I know I am afraid.

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D2 is right. Specialist is basically specialized expertise in a certain technology or area. There is definitely a sales target, but MR is not assessed because, as a SME, you're not expected to lead entire programs of work.

And when you get to Director... You're actually a Competency Director, which is different from an Engagement Director on PPD track - the difference being, you're essentially supposed to lead a whole bunch of people who deliver an offering that is your area of expertise. And have $X sales in that area.

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Fairy positive that the target for sales and managed revenue for specialist master is $0 except for S&O. So don't know what D1 is talking about. Specialist Masters path go from Master to Leader to Director so I am pretty sure I am right on that too. Listen to D1 is you want.

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D1 is incorrect, specialist track leads to Director only, PPD track can be either

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Wow. Lots of misinformation here ^. Talk with someone that knows. Targets are publicly published. Directors are on the PPD path, not specialist. SMs and PPDs are very familiar with how to partner and leverage those within the specialist track.

Exactly. Talk to someone that knows.

Thanks for the info. I'll do some more research and also ask folks who are already on this track. What I fail to see is an incentive to switch. Is one track better than the other in any shape or form? I mean why switch at all? I could be a M and still be more technical and do architectural work.

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