Accenture

• Work and projects frequently change. This could be a con for some, but then you shouldn't be in consulting.
• When travel was a thing, I viewed it as a perk most of the time (free vacations with the points). However, it can absolutely be a hassle. It probably depends on your stage in life.
• I've worked with a lot of very smart, very polished people, which has helped me grow.
• There are tons of opportunities to grow your skillsets through training, certifications, and continuing education.
• Lots of PTO (5 weeks at manager level).
• You'll work with some seriously interesting or big-name companies. Pretty much all of the Fortune 500 uses Accenture.

• Career growth is luck of the draw, meaning you have to be available for the right role on the right project at the right time. Case in point: I had 4 review cycles of glowing reviews, with many people supporting promotion (360-degree reviews), however it was never good enough because the role wasn't quite right, or the project was with the wrong group, or some other movement of the goalposts.

• Compared to the Bay Area tech companies that I was helping, the compensation is not competitive. In 4 years, my base salary increased by a measly $10k, and the bonus is not something to count on being sizable ($5-10k on average). All you can do is laugh when you see the bill rates they charge for your time versus the salary you're paid.

• No surprise, but burnout is a real thing in the consulting world. Bad sales deals translate to crazy deadlines, travel, and working with offshore teams will eventually take its toll on you. Guaranteed.

• Don't hit the bench. I would go 9 months staffed 100%, and within 2 weeks, I would start feeling the pressure to accept any billable role, which of course perpetuates the issue of not being in the right role to justify promotion.

• Promotions are a double-edged sword - it gets hard to be staffed as you move up since you become more expensive.

I came from the consulting world before joining, so none of this was a huge surprise. However, I did think Accenture would be better.

Despite working my tail off for years, it was just never quite enough to get to the next level. While the Career Counselor program is good in theory (and many times in practice, at least for advice), it leaves a void of responsibility when there are issues (HR, comp, etc.).

In my experience, if you go to Accenture right out of college, then you will move up far quicker than if you join as an experienced hire.

I learned a lot and met many people I'm still friends with today, but the culture of "it's on you to be billable" is one that needs serious attention. Employees shouldn't be punished when they take ill-suited (or more junior) roles just to get off the bench with a lack of opportunities.

Accenture does a lot of things well as an org, they really do. The company operates with a high level of integrity and is on the cutting edge of a lot of work. Many of the issues I mentioned are fixable, and leadership has the means to figure it out... if they want to.