I'm an IT consultant, and the theory of why the consulting side of things exist is to support products and product support subscriptions. Its a bit different than other forms of "consulting", so my views may be a bit off.

That is a lot of problems and opportunities to work through. "Senior level consulting" would be an amazing way to be exposed to lots of real world problems in whatever field. There are a lot of people "with 15 years experience in X", and this often means "1 year experience in X, 15 times". Your next job hunt would have very different opportunities available with that on your resume.

"Senior" is often appended to consulting titles to get rate bumps and credibility, and you are thrown to the wolves and expected to perform at that level. But as long as it lasts they will pay you at that level.

"Small private company" could mean a company run by reasonable people where you could shine and expand your influence outside of the consulting side of things. It could provide a way to transition over to product design, (at least partially, and less dealing with customers), or sales, or whatever. Or to a startup, if that is your jam. It also might mean a family run business, run by lucky people who are... morons. You'll never get promoted because you aren't family. You'll never get invited to those interesting meetings because you went to a different frat.

"Crazy hours" are relative. Working 10 hours a day, and getting paid for it, but having the weekends, holidays, and vacations totally your own (because the clients don't work weekends, and they are respectful of your vacation time) may be great. OTOH, 40 hour a week entry level work might include OT and shifts and weekends and being called in. 50 or 60 predictable hours a week may be easier and less stressful than 40-60 random hours a week.

If you work until 7:30 every day, you can always schedule a date for 8PM. If you work until the ticket queue is empty, you can't ever schedule a date.

A lot of good points above. I’ve worked 50h a week and after 2 months was about ready to crack.

I’ve also worked 50h a week for 6 months and been fine. All depends on the stress levels for those hours.

In my experience, most jobs never have completely empty queue (unless you are near the bottom and being spit fed chunks of work). Especially as you go up in a company it’s all about picking the key parts or tasks to work in and knowing when to stop.

I did not literally mean an empty queue. My point is that its different. An in-house staff may be expected to work late to get things done. (and so might a consultant). But if the consulting project is more long term, experimental, lab based, when it is time to go home, it is time to go home.

Sorry, you're stressed, well, I'd consider A, and unless it's perfect I would quit and travel for 6 months.
​​​​​​
or

Take B, have an easy 2-3 year job, then look to get back into high gear.


That being said my work was crazy stupid busy the last 12 months and then come January I started working from home and doing "normal" hours without needing to switch jobs. Amazing for me as I just had a second baby. Timing was basically perfect.

I cannot emphasize how strongly I would encourage you to take Job #A . It is much more than just the money, but experience at a senior leader level while you are relatively young will pay significant dividends later on in your career. Don't look at it as just forgone money for the next few years by going to Job #B , but take a look at the salary differential for the next 30 years of your working life. Perhaps balance Job A with a bit of self funded travel to take off the stress, but I would encourage you to put your pedal to the metal.

I concur with Team A: "lean in". Every job can be hard. An easy job can be hard because it is unfulfilling. If you have the intellect to have the offer A, the appeal of "a life" (i.e., ample down time) may start to become tedious. It can be very hard getting back "inside". Ask anyone that has taken mat leave. Even male classmates of mine told me they'd been put on the mommy track even without taking leave, just by not seeming ambitious.
(My own experience is of making ambitious leaps for less and less pay and more and more hours several times through my life, so perhaps I'm doing it wrong! )
If the small company turns out to go out of business or be an uncoordinated startup that doesn't take your advice, you've had X months or years of higher level experience on your resume when you look at your options at that time. This isn't a life sentence. It's just what you do next.

+1 I was a public company CFO at age 26, and it made an enormous difference on my career progression. People care a lot less about your age when you've got high ranking roles on your resume, and it allows you to be much more upfront on your requirements (I'd note that being male and white also greatly contribute to this). As an example, despite being a CA with under 10 years experience, when I talk with firms now, it's assumed that partnership is a requirement to entry, not something we'll talk about in a few years.

I have many friends who went into C-suite in their 20s.
This is not some rare occurrence anymore.

Some are startups. Some are public.

And yes, it's all in the name, for the most part, and unfortunately.

I know many people (not my friends) who either get promoted to upper echelons but are at best, "figureheads". I see this at my clients often. Just because you are at X (or C) level does not make one competent.

That's the "Peter Principle". Getting promoted to the level of your incompetence.

Some (many??) would say I am living proof of that principle....

FYI, I was a CFO of a public company in my late 30's/early 40's. Vowed I would never again put myself through that agony!!

I forgot to mention that in some cases the C-suite terms doled out at some companies are used incorrectly.

But yes, the Peter Principle.

The nice thing with today's "parity" in the workforce, it gives me continued optimism

The first client I ever audited as a CA student remembered me 3.5 years later when he needed a new CFO and called me up. Spent a great 5 years with them, including 2 IFRS conversions and managing $500M+ in litigation, and was recruited to refinance my current company, and was then promoted to CEO when I did that well. Now in the process of selling my current company and will likely end up back in public practice.

The advice I give the auditors every year (who always ask the same question you did) is: Focus on your clients and you'll find a lot of open doors, but if you focus on keeping your boss happy you'll only find one. That I kept my clients happy was skill; that it paid off so early was luck.