Pros
In terms of career advancement, this depends on your particular practice or MD team. If the practice or MD has a lot of projects in the pipeline, then you can expect to advance rapidly in terms of promotions and pay raises. However, if projects are lacking within your group, then your utilization number will suffer, which in this case you will not proceed very far, particularly on the bench, and risk removal from the company. Travel opportunities are excellent, again depending on your practice. Normally, with the exception of public services, you will be expected to travel a lot, particularly within the U.S. or even internationally. For public services, employees tend to be staffed locally on multi-year projects, with normal 9 to 5 jobs, so there is a more probable work-life balance with no travel requirements. For the rest, work-life balance can be challenging, since there is an expectation of working over 40 hours a week, and sometimes on the weekends. There is a mandatory training program at the Yale School of Management in New Haven, CT taught by Yale professors, which is very excellent. There is also a clear career path with designated levels; however, promotions are another question.
Cons
That the company is in financial distress would be an understatement. It has reported losses every year, with earlier accounting problems, lots of debts with negative equity, and regular layoffs. Because of this, bonuses and raises, as well as career advancement, are limited, and sometimes non-existent. Depending how the practice is doing, promotions can be arbitrary and non-existent. Management can be incompetent on projects. For example, the problems at Hawaii Telcom, as reported in the press, are a typical example. How you staffed on a project depends on your own personal networking. However you can be limited exclusively to projects within your practice, as a MD may be reluctant to have you staffed elsewhere. In this case, you may have to transfer outside your practice. Many times you are encouraged to post your resume and search for opportunities on an internal job site "Career Connect", but it is considered a joke, and nobody I know has been staffed through it.
