My Biggest Issue with Technology Consulting: A Big Reason Why I Left Accenture

[@ChristineWong]

Did this shock anyone? Deter you from consulting? It happens, but I hope this one scenario doesn’t completely remove consulting as a career path because you’ll gain and learn so much more beyond this!

[@Rhy-vd6dg]

This doesn’t surprise me working at Accenture myself. I wish you could have connected with the Cloud First Product group - but yeah your view on consulting depends on your roles and clients. You build great skills that make you stand out at any other non consulting employer throughout, so it’s always a value add. Best of luck!

[@ChristineWong]

I actually was in the process of a transfer to Accenture Digital for product management, but the Google job offer came first and I know I can always go back to Accenture! I definitely appreciate all of the lessons, growth, and opportunities I received in every single project, but sometimes it’s just luck with what you get with project-based work and I wanted everyone to be aware of that with consulting!

[@sallyjohnson9504]

I left Accenture in December last year. Best decision I ever made. I have my own business in real estate. Definitely agree with your video.

[@ChristineWong]

Congratulations! I’m happy for you!

[@absolute3112]

Watching your videos, actually LIKED/SUBSCRIBED because Im seeing you dealing with what Im dealing with this now. They make you (as we would say in my old job) the 'Queen of the Trash Can', (meaning have you doing unsexy/unglamorous 'clean up' work.. that will have you pigeonholed into a title that will 'dead end' your career. Im sssssssssssssssso glad I saw this today.

[@ChristineWong]

I’m glad! But also not glad that we both had unfortunate experiences, but hope everyone reading this or watching this video knows when to leave a work environment when it’s no longer helpful to their career!

[@absolute3112]

@@ChristineWong Yeah its really been a blow to my self esteem. BUT Ill always move on to better... thats my nature. Great content, and thank you very much for ur honesty

[@ChristineWong]

@@absolute3112 we will eventually pick up better than where we started! Good luck on your future endeavors!

[@brentm8161]

I remember project! Someone can get lost in transactional work. I’m glad to see you are doing well. I’ve learned some things from you.

[@ChristineWong]

Yeah transactional work sometimes just doesn't feel as fulfilling because you become a cog in the wheel!

[@AZSecondCity]

Hated tech consulting for the past few months (specifically Workday Fin as well). Most likely because of my project but I also didn’t want to be pigeonholed as I’m coming up on 3 years experience. Just got my offer to join a strategy consulting firm this week. 🙂

[@ChristineWong]

Amazing! I wish you all the best on this new step in your journey!

[@Vmonster]

Can I ask how you were able to make that transition? I’m going into tech consulting and I really want to shift to mgmt / strategy consulting because it feels more suited to my ability. How did you make your experience in tech consulting relevant to strategy consulting, in other words, how did you connect?

[@arvinsenglishph4925]

You're such a brave.. I'm glad that you put that out. That's true there's always no prefect company mo matter how much good we are..

[@ChristineWong]

Thank you! I don’t think it’s even smart or healthy to expect a perfect company because everyone changes over time and your needs and desires change over time. Some people actually love support work and value different things (like work life balance and stability), but I wanted career advancement and challenge!

[@axl2531]

Heard this is common from my peers in the Workday Fin space. Extremely limited project selection and lack of visibility. I was originally put in this portfolio as well but did everything to transfer it out.

[@ChristineWong]

Yeah sometimes you’re lucky and get on some cool projects but there is still a high chance on getting stuck! Looks like I’m not alone! I’m glad you were able to get out!

[@adeng7230]

Same here, planning to resign with ACN after 2 months

[@ChristineWong]

Awww, that’s unfortunate. You had a similar experience to me? I hope you are able to find a better opportunity after this!

[@adeng7230]

@@ChristineWong suffering with anxiety from work is not a good sign either, we are talented but we can't waste time proving it.

[@mayakrishnamurthy]

Thank you for all your insight into working tech consulting! I’m joining Accenture Interactive after graduation - are you able to speak to the differences between the tech side of Accenture and the digital / product design side?

[@ChristineWong]

I unfortunately cannot because I haven’t had exposure to Digital but from what I personally know, tech is more focused on implementations and digital is more marketing, UX, design, and innovation based work.

[@mayakrishnamurthy]

@@ChristineWong thank you!!

[@ChristineWong]

You’re welcome! I would reach out to people in those areas to see what it really is like! I was in Tech and I did Workday software implementations.

[@danieledirenzo9709]

Tomorrow im going to sign in for accenture. Are they going to put me in some sort of support system even though i applied as a developer?

[@ChristineWong]

For support system so you mean in a support network of people or do you mean IT support style work? Usually it’s on a need basis but being a developer goes far in a lot of organization so if you network and market your skills, you can easily find great projects!

[@kchloe2508]

same thing why i left cognizant technology to join global firm (client side). Guess we are all just stuck at some point trying to get out of the norm.

[@ChristineWong]

I’m glad you were able to leave and get out of it! Looks like consulting firms have some ways to go to manage attrition.

[@DundeMan]

How do I improve my business English for writing reports etc in Accenture any tips will be helpful. I’m struggling a lot with that.

[@ChristineWong]

Have you considered English classes or an English coach?

[@Erik-nw8cn]

I’m unsure whether I should accept my Accenture offer. For me it seems like that only Accenture strategy is a high level consulting positions that involve traveling to meet the c-suite of their clients, while their other divisions seem to be just implementers of specific technologies. Would you confirm that?

[@ChristineWong]

I wouldn’t overgeneralize, but I would reach out to the people in your exact role already at the firm to see what you would be doing and see if that’s what you would like! There’s a huge variety of roles and projects and it’s not super segmented like that as they overlap a ton.

[@Erik-nw8cn]

@@ChristineWong thanks for replying, yeah I’ll try it. At least in Germany it seems like that. Don’t know if it’s worth it going to a lower tier consultancy for a more interesting role (m&a advisory) or to a world-wide known one.

[@ChristineWong]

@@Erik-nw8cn I have not!

[@WilliamRandomUploads]

Damn really a shitty position to be in. Glad you left :)

[@ChristineWong]

Thank you! It happens. It doesn’t happen to only people at Accenture but sometimes you’re just on an unlucky project and this applies for any consulting firm!

[@iamserda]

First, Congrats on the new position at Google! That's amazing! Second, thank you for being transparent and sharing your experience in consulting and at ACN! I started in late Jan, looked you up, and couldn't find your name Teams. So I came here, and BOOM, you had already left like 2-3 days prior. I took too long to reach out, lol. I should have reached out while I was in TAS training. You were correct about the office in NYC, the views are astonishing!

[@ChristineWong]

I know! The office is amazing and I miss the views! My boyfriend might bring me in as a guest once in a while so we may still cross paths haha. But honestly he wants to go to my office instead! 😂😂😂

[@iamserda]

​@@ChristineWong I am with your bf on this, I would want to see the Google office too. My wife has been there twice because she has a friend on the G Maps team. She described it as a "Playground for Adults" with endless snack options.🤣. Once again, congrats!

[@ChristineWong]

It really is! It’s actually easy to gain weight from all the food and snacks but it’s easy to work it off from how massive the buildings are and how vast the campuses are (most are, not all) so you can easily walk over 10K steps. That was the case for me! There’s a lot of cool activities and benefits simply going to the office and it made RTO so much more worth it!

[@mqasim2476]

Firms want to make you billable. You're not doing anything being on the bench for the firm or any client. Covid limited what people could do for a while. Sometimes, it gives you the opportunity to learn things that implementations don't. Glad you found your best route to take.

[@ChristineWong]

I completely agree and in some ways, I actually do agree that if a firm has to decide between billable unglamorous work and laying off employees, I would rather do the billable unglamorous work! That was the case for a lot at Accenture during the pandemic. As long as it is temporary haha. In my case, I was told that my field was going to particularly “explode in growth” and I did see that somewhat happen but I was not chosen for those projects because my current client liked me and project leadership thought it would be better for me to stay than to be considered for those projects. In this case, they took client satisfaction over employee satisfaction here. To a certain extent, I can see why but investing in employee satisfaction also leads to higher retention but unfortunately that just didn’t happen.

[@mqasim2476]

@@ChristineWong Being in consulting is highly competitive. Managers and Senior managers have to sell more in addition to retaining existing clients. Needless to say there is some politics that come into play. Consultants are also expected to be in tune with what's happening back in the office such as do extra by participating in new clients proposals. Workday is a good tool to know as it is used by many clients. One thing to get around the feeling of being stuck in mundane tasks is to learn newer technologies (such as AI) and not think you're stuck with one firm. Roam around and create your own path. Just need to know your interests, strengths and where you can shine.

[@ChristineWong]

@mqasim2476 amazing insights! Thanks for sharing!

[@cristinapopa127]

How much time did you stay at Accenture?

[@ChristineWong]

I was there for 3-4 years!

[@abmo6228]

As long as you didn't burn any bridges, you can always come back to Accenture =)

[@ChristineWong]

Exactly! I didn’t see Accenture as a bad breakup but rather a see you later because I had an amazing time and loved the people, it was just certain nuances of my role and business unit that provided the situation I was in.

[@gravekeeper4601]

Accenture is still slave driving company. Good to gain experience for your first time but get out as soon as you can.

[@ChristineWong]

I actually think Accenture is very good compared to other consulting firms based off of the other people I know from other firms, but staying in consulting is not something most people like to do long term because of the nature of the work. Everyone’s experience is different, my fiance is still at Accenture and he enjoys it!

[@kyleolson9636]

All big consulting firms are slabe drivers. I agree Accenture is among the better ones.

[@ChristineWong]

By definition, our jobs are basically to serve others 😹

[@absolute3112]

..and FYI 'its not about luck' in being put in support role There's reasoning behind it.

[@priyakrishna5802]

What reason do you think it is?

[@ChristineWong]

Unfortunately sometimes it is. In our Workday Fins practice, there’s usually only 1-2 new projects seeking for staffing at a time. In our case, leadership saw support and implementations equally, it’s all about preference on if you like the work. Some people I knew actually wanted support work because it’s very good work life balance, no travel, and easy. I just did not like support work at the time but was willing to give it a try because timelines didn’t match up with implementation projects at the time.

[@vuongdinh747]

It did not

[@jessies16]

Jessica L. Smith

[@rghosh044]

This is the same reason why I left Google and joined Accenture as an Architect 😅

[@ChristineWong]

😹😹😹 What were you doing at Google specifically?

[@rghosh044]

@@ChristineWong I was a Cloud TSE there!

[@ChristineWong]

@@rghosh044 ​ @Rohan Ghosh Hahha, I can see how that could transition to an Architect role at Accenture!

[@rghosh044]

@@ChristineWong 😁😁

[@teamvalor6561]

To be Honest, it's because of poor micro management in Accenture and moreover the senior management and leadership is doing nothing and moreover the Accenture is full of Bribe givers and take job . Even if they don't have experience in PMO then also they are getting opportunity I don't know how do they match the talent

[@ChristineWong]

Haha a poor consulting experience always comes from poorly scoped work and promising unreasonable deadlines, but I do think this is the case at many consulting firms and not just Accenture though. I’ve worked with some delivery-focused consultants turned PMOs and they did very well because they actually understand the work!

[@teamvalor6561]

@@ChristineWong Because one my if friend is working in Accenture and was saying that it’s because of nobody wanted to speak up when gets retaliation. Some of the projects they seemed like hiring based on favouritism irrespective of their skills and this is hilarious 😂

[@ChristineWong]

@@teamvalor6561 unfortunately it is the reality for many 😿

[@teamvalor6561]

I request everyone to share their experience in LinkedIn that why did you leave experience so that they will also get to know

[@ChristineWong]

Personally for me, I don’t think my LinkedIn platform is the place for me to do that but I feel more comfortable doing it on KZbin as it is a personal channel of mine vs. a professional profile seen by everyone including recruiters and colleagues. I still post the video on LinkedIn, though, at the time of release.