Related Posts
Am I the only one who is happy I got into IT?
Additional Posts in Consulting
You know you're a consultant when....
I miss when I was an intern and got paid for ORT
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.




Rising Star
No. Easiest is the level below manager, where you are only responsible for one stream. It gets harder as you move up. My boss (senior partner) does not sleep due to managing a global portfolio.
Pro
As a Director for the past 5 years, I can say with confidence that Director is the worst role.
Wait till you hit senior director
The job changes from execution to sales and coordination, but your skills didn’t, so you have to evolve. Ironically this works well for under performers, so you get incompetent leadership who operate like parasites like ours
Senior Manager since it's the intersection of managing sales and delivery. You're accountable for everything but have limited ownership of anything.
"Mid-manager" is the worst - where you're split between client delivery and business development. You can't "pick a lane" whereas when you're a consultant you 100% deliver and when you're a leader you 100% business develop (understanding there's operational aspects to overseeing your team deliver). All firms have different levels at "mid management" from manager to director so that's why the title might shift. This also has to do with what you want to do, some people may not want to do sales/bd, in which case they might say they hate being moved up, but I think that's more subjective.
It only gets harder i think
Rising Star
I thought manager was peak awful. Everyone hates you: Partners are mad you’re not going faster, consultants are mad at you because you’re pushing them, and clients are mad at you because you’re holding the line on scope. I thought the client development stuff was a nice balance with delivery and that starts kicking in after manager, and builds more as a partner. Partner is hard but you have more flexibility in schedule and work topics.
Depends. For me it was analyst. I was experienced in a previous industry where I was always leading projects. So to go backwards was tough.
It shouldn't get easier as you move up, but Senior Manager is a common pain point because you get stuck there for years without making the big bucks while still needing to deliver and sell.
It just keeps getting tougher, even as a partner. However, the financial renumeration makes it worth continuing.
It’s weird how the majority of responses boil down to ‘my role’