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Nice to see a different perspective on commercial consulting. I’ve worked with both private and public sector clients and there are always pros and cons to both and the feeling of fulfillment has varied and almost rather personal.
But I will say this, I’ve found that despite the slower pace and bureaucracy it takes to get strategy buy-in and even implementation in the feds/public sector, if successful, the work you’ve done tends to have longevity because of the due process you and the client ultimately have to go through in rolling things out. I’ve found for some private sector/commercial clients, they just chase the new “trend” every other year and when they do, it’s almost like the work you did for them prior was just a wash.
And to your point, projects with feds/public sector are typically directly or indirectly benefiting the public/citizens vs. in private/commercial where it is mostly on the basis of savings or profit generation.
Depends on the agency and project. Lots of federal work ends up being stag augmentation, but there is definitely some interesting advisory and strategy work going on at agencies. Best advice is to read a company's public sector case studies and see if they are hiring on those teams.
Even on staff aug work, if you are contributing to a mission you support, it can be very fulfilling. Clients can be obnoxious, but that’s the case no matter where you work or what you’re doing.
I have colleagues who are doing work that is shaping our country’s future. I also know people who are literally just butts-in-seats, billing the contract. It varies immensely. But WLB across the board is better.
Pace of work is definitely slower for most roles so I enjoy the fed WLB (was on a commercial project once and I will NEVER do it again). You will still be moving boxes around on a slide but if doing that for a federal agency would make you feel better about what you do then go for it.
Depends on the project. The one I’m on now is hard capped at 40, though realistically I do like 5 hours of work per week. There’s just not that much to do. I’ve been on other fed projects where I was occasionally working past midnight though. Not the norm but it varies a lot
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I wouldn't do it. It's far harder to move from there to where you are now than the reverse. Plus, fed is its own beast and requires a ton very specialized business development expertise and drudgery to make real money (or highly cleared cyber/software engineering that will pay less than the commercial equivalent and require forfeiting numerous civil and privacy rights).
Before telling OP that generalized opinion, it may be worth noting down what type of consulting they do, if their firm allows one to work on both private and public sector clients, what their outlook on an “exit” strategy looks like, etc. The whole notion of it being difficult in switching between public and commercial consulting only applies to certain firms/location/practice area.