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Any INTP? Y’all doing well in your career?
Give us Chris Wallace back
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Why did you leave? If you go back, your WLB will be worse. Industry exits are expected to be more operational, as in industry, you’re running the business. Depends on what you’re looking for - if you want WLB, stay in industry. If you don’t care about WLB and want to do more strategy, consulting it is.
@OP — I left strat consulting 4 years and have felt the same. I’ve worked at 2 different bigtech (one very large and one medium size) — still the same.
I too have felt my career has stagnated and less intellectually stimulated.
I’m not sure what the right next move is, but I do know for certain almost all S&O jobs in industry are the same.
I’m not even sure if Prod Mgmt is better. It’s still very operational (making sure teams know what to focus on, managing them to deliver, driving consensus with very different ppl like eng/design, etc) and very in the weeds (your scope is a sub-feature, unless you’re senior looking at a broader product or portfolio of products).
We’re spoiled in strat consulting because it’s typically strategic work and at a high level.. at the cost of WLB (which I didn’t mind).
What’s your strategy to boomerang back?
I would say industry strategy or consulting side or Product Management within Tech. Not as Strategic as MBB but definitely not operational and monotonous. Pays okayish but leads to some wholesome customer interactions and still contributing to white papers, product strategy/roadmap and often leading cutting edge products/projects
lol def not product management unless you're technical
Yep - definitely a long shot but keeping the door open to some internal mobility programs for a rotational gig into Product Mgmt / Product Dev / etc, or taking a level down to change tracks.
Was just talking to my boss after dinner and he said “why’d you leave” and I honestly told him cause you guys tricked me
Would you go back to an MBB
Realistically big tech PM is also a lot of execution and operations, as the strategy is dictated from the top. You could also try marketing, where you do customer segmentation and marketing strategy work. It’s also easier to break into from pure S&O side and a solid path to PnL ownership.
It perhaps depends on what makes you happy. Think about what kind of pains encourage you to quit MBBs and that might remind you of what not to go back for.
Take me with you pls
Work it into the annual planning
Yup. Same experience. Connected w/ old peers in big tech and it’s the mostly the same. You either move up quickly and lead bigger teams because you picked a good leader to advise and support or get stuck in the middle doing operational work.
That’s why you gotta negotiate the hell out of the offer if you get the exit opp. You never know once you join. I’m just cruising to nowhere but at least I have a good WLB and TC. It has crossed my mind to go back to consulting.
Yeah, what are you complaining about again?
The question is in the post; not a complaint but an ask for any folks with similar experiences transitioning from consulting.
I appreciate your valuable input.
Hoping to do the same as you in a few months! 😁