dordal

Wow. Oh man, wow. What a life. 1993gt40, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that post sums up why I'm glad I didn't go into consulting.

For me (and probably for many of us), the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I have a few friends that are involved in consulting-related work, and they are always flying around first class, working on interesting projects for major companies, and getting paid awesome money to boot. It seems like it would be so cool (hence my jealousy), but I have to remind myself what you reminded me of: you're on the road all the time; its hard to maintain friendships/relationships, and the folks you work with at a client site really will never become your friends, because you are an outsider. So it isn't exactly an 'ideal' life....

Glad to hear you're coming through the Bay Area. I'd offer to join the party, but I'm in Seattle for Thanksgiving. Send me a PM next time you come by -- particularly if you get another Jag. :-)

onlysuites

i know it must be hard and you must not have a life. But i would still love to do all that flying about.

I have become a PE and a GE the previous year to that by funding my own air travel just for the sake of flying. I know i must be mad!!

But to do all that flying in F and have someone else paying for it must be great.

prncess674

Wow, are you sure you aren't living MY LIFE!!!! It is comforting to realize there are others who are doing the same dance I am. In the last 5 years I haven't been on a project anywhere near my home town (New Orleans). The ability maintain relationships in your hometown is so hard. I basically have 4 close friends left in New Orleans. They are the only ones who really understand that just because I am jaunting around the globe doesn't mean I have forsaken them. They just understand that this is the lifestyle that fits me.

Bummer about losing your girlfriend. It sucks. Dating is probably the worst part of the consultant lifestyle. You have few options.

• you can date other consultants on the project, which is never good for your career and can be stressful doing all that tip toeing around
• you can date people in your project city, but then trying to explain that even if things go great you will be gone in 6 months pretty much throws a wet blanket on things going much further or
• you can date people from back home, this is hard too when you try telling them you are only home at most 2 days a week.

This aspect of the job has been the hardest pill to swallow.

Pickles

Or you can date someone who works for your client. Plenty of those at your worksite, so enjoy!

prncess674

If you want to lose your job, you could do that. It's bad enough trying to date another consultant but dating the client is strictly prohibited. We have had to remove consultants from projects once the relationship goes bad. That is not a pretty site.

underpressure

you need to hook up with Queen of Sky from quirksville. She is on the DL board.

You could go hang out at Hippy Hollow.

Pickles

Go ahead, live a little. The worst that can happen is that you lose your job. And if you don't like your job (like the OP seems not to), you've got nothing to lose but your chains. My experience has been that if you are halfway decent, they'd rather (in that order) caution you, reprimand you, or re-assign you. I've seen firings (up-or-outs, they are called in the more genteel circles) for incompetence or general inability to progress in the job before for something as juicy as sleeping with the client. Besides, not like it is against the law, and it would seem rather hard to prove cause for that, if consensual. It would be also difficult to claim harassment, since the position of power is held by the client (who can fire you from the project for that).

In the scheme of things you can get nailed for, sleeping with your client is probably below revealing confidential information or doing intentional harm to your client's business.

bocaEXP

The reason you are 26 and doing that is because no one older is willing to! LOL. I imagine if you look up the ladder there arent many 30 somethings left. At the same age I was doing the same thing, traveling 100% advising major companies about things I really didnt know anything about. (but how could I only a few years out of undergrad?) Less then 10% of the people I used to work with still do anything similar and most of them have worked out some less then 50% travel deal. I got out because I was starting to wonder why I had a condo in South Beach and yet spent all my time in New Jersey in some town where all the restaurants closed at 9 and I was getting off work at 10. Sure I spent my weekends in fun places and did some crazy things, but it eventually got tiring. The upside is it gave me a wide breadth of experience both personally and professionally and allowed me to eventually get my own business off the ground.

However, now I am back at the traveling game, this time as a communter, but I do it on my on time and choose to spend a week at home whenever I want because now I am the boss. Still its much more stressful when you have a family because you leave your spouse with the child and / or nanny and they are usually stressed out by the time the trip ends. Coming home does not usually mean relaxing and unwinding but instead having a baby plopped in your lap.

Enjoy it now though while you are young and free. Spend those miles to go international and do fun things with friends. In 5 years you probably wont want to do it as much and if you are still at it, it wont be as fun because most of your travel buddies will be married or out of that type of business. However, the experience you gain will server you well whether you stick with consulting or not. There are lots of former consultants out there running businesses that love to hire consultants. :-)

1993gt40

So when are you going to let me take you to dinner? And in what city would you like it in?

I think you hit the nail on the head, this a lifestyle that suits me. I ABSOLUTELY love the work I do. Turning over deliverables, turning companies around, chaos of fast paced-Go Go Go project work and, working with the greatest people of the highest quality keep me going. I could not imagine doing anything else, but there is a trade off.

And your right, dating is always a problem. I try to avoid others in my firm (pen and company ink kind of thing). Dating from my client location happens from time to time but ultimately they are uncomfortable with the longer term impact of the whole mess. And I dont date at home very much mostly because I am cramming a weeks worth of stuff I would have otherwise done at home into the 2 days I'm there. I spend a lot of time maximizing time with friends which does not lend itself to meeting new people most of the time. And I agree, this is the worst part, some days there is nothing more that I want than that stability, but it happens that way sometimes.

missydarlin

Aren't you both going to be in Las Vegas this weekend?

prncess674

actually Missy I was thinking the same thing but based on another thread it seems that my fellow road warrior is well "hitting the road" on Friday. I unfortunately wouldn't be in Las Vegas till Friday afternoon. Perhaps another day!

1993gt40

ORDGuy and I were talking about going to Rain on Friday, and somewhere else Sat. SO, maybe LAS is in the cards for this weekend. I'm not much into clubs but it may be more fun than driving for 5 days.

prncess674

Hmmm, this could be interesting. Prncess674 already had plans to hang with ORDguy in Las Vegas. FYI, the plan was Ghostbar and N9NE steakhouse on Friday and RAIN on Saturday. Technically I had decided not to go to Vegas but I still have a ticket.

Thinking hard....

flyboyHNL

1993gt40, i am finally posting to your thread. I wanted to when you first started it, but haven't had the time, no I'm home more than two days a week. Obviously, I am in HNL. A couple of years ago I got hired as the Regional Sales Manager for a t-shirt company based in PHX. I of course was based in HNL as this was my territory. Well, as soon as I got hired, I was told about this major program for one of the discount chains (name withheld to protect the innocent) that was about to start. One of the requirements, weekly vendor service. That was me, until I could hire for each of the stores on Kauai, Maui and in KOA. So, air pass in hand (that's like a bus pass, make a reservation, show it at check in and receive your boarding pass), I did Kauai, Maui and KOA once a week (day trips, leave in the AM, home in the PM) for two months and spent the other two days a week in HNL managing the office. Fun huh? If I couldn't make it for a service during the week, I would go on the weekends. The best was, HNL-KOA-HNL during the day, home for a shower and to pack and then a red-eye to LAX that night, to work the next day. The purchase of two monthly commuter passes on HA got me 20K miles per month and i was instantly upgraded to Platinum status after the second month. I don't miss it...well, ok sometimes. Have a great Thanksgiving!

TokyoCanuk

This is a great thread.

I can totally relate to much of what is said here. My background: at 21 youngest senior associate ever in the history of my firm (accounting) and jet setting all over the place doing IT (audit) consulting.

Now I will be 26 next month but my home is Canada but the office is Tokyo, try that on for size :P hahah

As for the stories and having good times, i wouldnt trade it for hte world. But now that im getting older (sigh) I too wish for somthign a little bit more mellow.

The whole relationship thing is one of the reasons partly, more so the lack of it.