My typical day working for a Big 5 firm: 7:00 - drive to client in Redlands 8:00 - arrive in Redlands 8:42 - client arrives for 8:00 meeting 8:51 - client leaves for emergency 8:52 - review project with programmer - still 18 months behind 9:15 - daily email to 6 bosses about dire status 9:38 - take call from boss #4 - debate "strategic direction" 10:20 - coffee, snack, & bitch session with lead programmer 10:45 - dri…
10:45 - drive to client in Century City
12:20 - arrive in Century City, everyone at lunch already
From what little I know of LA, that drive time sounds pretty short.
I remember when I was at university in the UK (a Top 10 one, and Top 5 for Computer Science). One of my graduating friends got hired by Accenture. When he told on of the (well-respected) professors, the professor literally laughed in his face.
ok so this is in Asia, i can't say how we operate in the bigger offices: i feel that Accenture's one of the few companies that can provide you with maximum exposure and experience in the shortest amount of time...there are ups and downs but on the whole if you work well, you'll see great results...
My typical day working for a Big 5 firm: 7:00 - drive to client in Redlands 8:00 - arrive in Redlands 8:42 - client arrives for 8:00 meeting 8:51 - client leaves for emergency 8:52 - review project with programmer - still 18 months behind 9:15 - daily email to 6 bosses about dire status 9:38 - take call from boss #4 - debate "strategic direction" 10:20 - coffee, snack, & bitch session with lead programmer 10:45 - dri…
That was one of the reasons why i politely declined when i was asked if i was interested in a interview for the consulting branch. A place where people with zero experience are hired, trained in a few weeks and them sent to some client as a "consultant"? No, thanks...
This is what I love about consulting companies. They get the contract by talking up their experience with the client's business, but once the deal is signed they just scoop a bunch of warm bodies off the street to do the actual work.
Not a single one of the projects I worked on or was directly aware of, in 4 years, ever used a subcontractor.
That's anecdotal evidence, but it should clarify that though it no doubt happens (and happened more before there was a Solutions Workforce), it's by no means the norm to hire subcontractors to "do the real work".
I can vouch for this. I never worked for any of the big 4, but worked with them on many occasions, when I was a consultant with a much smaller firm ( 200 when I left). Consulting really is a great way to learn the ins and outs of business while earning a good salary and getting to travel. Combine it with writing lots of code and its a fantastic real-world education for a multitude of endeavors.
When you put it that way, it sounds exciting.
Sometimes I wish the world had forced me to go and do other things in between my undergrad and my PhD. Once you're on an academic career track it's hard to take a few years off to do something else.
No, theyre only interested in hiring billable people. They're not interested in creating talent or nurturing competencies, they provide numbers (or better, warm bodies to fill the client's chairs) and often subcontract to smaller consultancies when truly competent people are needed on some project.
The subcontracting thing alone should be enough to never have anything to do with a company that does it, but usually the clients don't even know/suspect. Edit: What about the downvotes? is subcontracting a good thing for the client (or for the small consultancies, that could become completely dependent on the contracts from the big players) or something that should be encouraged?
I'd blame the person and not the company myself if it were not for a) Witnessing the havoc Accenture consulting unleashed upon a couple of businesses personally b) Knowing, albeit superficially, a load of people who currently work or had worked at Accenture. With the exception of one they're the poster jerks nobody likes.
Perhaps the culture is different in other countries. This was in Accenture UK. Edit: I hate to suggest it, but perhaps there's also a bit of a perceptive bias going on, in both directions. I look for the good in people, and I found plenty of awesome people in Accenture. If you expect Accenture people to be arrogant idiots, probably every Accenture person you meet will look like just that.
Perhaps this is also internal vs. external insight. It seems like from swombat's and other commenters who have worked there, the consensus is that there are many talented people who work at Accenture (and other big consultancy firms). However as an outsider, when looking at some of the work by these types of firms, you generally don't gain a sense of confidence in the people working there.
This is what I love about consulting companies. They get the contract by talking up their experience with the client's business, but once the deal is signed they just scoop a bunch of warm bodies off the street to do the actual work.
Not a single one of the projects I worked on or was directly aware of, in 4 years, ever used a subcontractor. That's anecdotal evidence, but it should clarify that though it no doubt happens (and happened more before there was a Solutions Workforce), it's by no means the norm to hire subcontractors to "do the real work".
I'm not talking about subcontractors. Most consultancies, including Accenture in my limited personal experience with them, staff up with new hires (preferably cheap new grads) whenever they get a new contract. When business slows down enough that people are lingering on the bench, they get fired. They are essentially high-end temp agencies.