"...I decided to end it all. The prospect of wasting my youth (and the rest of my life) doing something utterly meaningless that makes no positive tangible difference to anyone’s life was certainly not appealing." - The AnalystConsulting chews people up. The travel, the uncertainty about work, the lack of control over your career, the sacrifice of your personal life, the eating out 4 days a week on an expense account, the distance from actually seeing something done, the relentless pressure to get promoted or be fired... all of it just wrecks people's lives. It's no surprise that the industry has a 20% annual churn rate; the half life of a consulting career is just 3 years.
I've chosen to share this blog with some friends and co-workers over the past year. I've come to regret that decision somewhat, because I feel the need now to be more circumspect in comments about my work. I've had to filter what I've wanted to write, with what I could write. My frustrations with my firm, with the projects that I feel are a waste of my client's money, with the exertions of effort for dead-end marketing or intellectual capital initiatives - I've had to store them up inside me, where they've burned me up and increased my bitterness.
But this week something has changed; I realized that I am not alone. I am not the one eyed man in the valley of the blind. Others see the faults that I do, have the same frustrations and sense of injustices. I am not crazy. I am not a wimp. I am not a whiner. I am just one of many hardworking people, seeking a rewarding career, and finding that the current experience falls short of that goal.
Somehow, that realization that other see the same reality that I do fills me a brighter measure of satisfaction. For that, my colleagues, I thank you.
Filed under the tag Consulting, not Bitterness.
