This is a three-part series. If this is your first time reading this, please read Parts 1 and 2 of the blog series referenced below.
What Aspects Are the Same or Negligible?
There are many aspects that are actually the same regardless of tech vs. the Big Four.
1) Work/Life Balance: What is the work-life balance? Regardless of tech or Big Four, the answer is the same. It depends. You can correlate Big Four busy seasons to a launch of a tech product or a cyber security assessment with over 10 cloud services. They are both intense times highlighted with deliverables and emphasized with scrutinized status reporting to higher-ups. Specifically for my field, the penchant for over-achievement right out the gate yields to over-promises and unrealistic commitments. No one is telling you that you have to work 10 hours a day. However, if you didn't do your research and you unfortunately committed to finish a 6 month project in 3 months, then your workload has significantly increased. Especially, if you didn't anticipate random problems falling in your lap throughout the day. Now I stumbled the first few months because I didn't level-set my own ambition, but once I realized I needed to pace myself, I now work less collective hours in a month than I have in my entire career. However, that can be attributed to other factors like experience, some efficiencies I've picked up over time, and occasionally, just saying "No" (that can be it's own blog post).
2) Capacity for Organizational Change is Not Title Driven: There is no limit on the impact and the amount of change you can make within the Big Four or tech. The path might be a little more clear in the tech world since innovation is a consistent driver and strongly encouraged, but there is still many hoops that you would have to jump through. A common misconception is that you have to be at a certain level in order to implement change. That's simply not true. There were many examples of people in junior levels in both industries that were able to drive impact and much-needed change in the entire firm. Textures and Hues is the brain child of a junior level product manager at Amazon that wrote a really effective doc. EY Connect Day is an annual event where the entire firm takes off to volunteer at a local organization. The entire event is consistently ran and managed by Staff in each office. It takes understanding what resources you have at your disposal (i.e. affinity networks, innovation centers, Idea Contests, etc.), being data-driven, persuasive, and persistent.
3) Internal Conferences and Events are better than Industry Events: There is nothing like an EY Regional Event or an Amazon internal conference. They are always impactful, you strengthen your network, you bond with colleagues on a night out, and if you're not stumbling into a class hungover the next day, you learn a lot!
4) Politics - This is Corporate America (cue the twist on the Childish Gambino music)! That means there is always an invisible hand that governs career trajectory, respectability politics, opportunities, periodic reviews and promotions no matter if you're in Big Four or in Tech. The key is understanding the forces at play, and how they can contribute or hinder your career. Politics are inescapable.
If You're Preparing to Make a Transition to Tech from Big Four, How Should You Prepare?
The most common advice I give to interested personnel attempting to make the transition, is to understand exactly what you're looking for. It can't just be to work at a tech company. What value add are you going to bring? What experiences are you looking for? What are you really passionate about? Those are the questions you really have to answer for yourself and it might take some soul-searching. You might have to focus on your passion for a few years and make a decision to base your brand and your niche expertise around that. There are often not a one-to-one role that translates easily from consulting to tech, but there are many avenues to enter if you have a passion. For me, that was project managing some of the most unique, ambiguous, and difficult engagements that EY had to offer at the time. Examples of other passions that have led former Big Four colleagues to tech are control automation, mergers and acquisitions, or niche recruiting. It takes a lot of focus and to be honest, you might end up doing things or going down an untested path that's unfamiliar from your Big Four colleagues.
If you are able to land an interview, you have to do your research and prepare. A LOT. The vernacular itself can be daunting (like Amazon's 14 leadership principles). It is not easy to get into tech and you can't think you can just "wing" it. For Amazon, alone, it is well documented the interviewing process and Amazon itself doesn't mind telling you the secret sauce to success. But that's because it's HARD AS HELL. Some of the best people that I thought would be a shoe-in didn't make it through the interview rounds. They didn't choke on their interview. It's because Amazon often doesn't NEED to hire anyone desperately and they have a lot of people to choose from. They're looking for the perfect fit. Understand that it could take three or four different rounds with three or four different positions to land a job. Ultimately, there is nothing wrong with you if you are striving to get into tech and the process is harder than you imagined or if you get rejected. The process is designed to be difficult. Thus, listen to the recruiter, talk to connections in the field, and get as much information as you can. You might have to take the day off just the day before to cram (especially if it's a technical interview). For more comprehensive details about the interview process, look no further than Principal Product Manager, Nick Matthews LinkedIn Article "Interviewing at AWS: Advice and tips from 250 Interviews". It's mighty long, but I have not found a better or more thorough guide to this day than what Nick provides. I would suggest the following for other tech companies' recruiting process:
"How to Get Through Google's Interview Process" by Workship
"How to Pass the Facebook Interview" by Byte by Byte
"How to Prepare for the Twitter Interview" by Pathwise
"I'm Microsoft's Head of Talent: Here's How to Get Hired" by Fast Company
Understand that titles are not exactly the same from consulting to the tech industry. Some of the personnel in industry with the title of "Manager" actually have more breadth and influence than many partners in consulting (and make just as much money). Thus, don't shy away from the role. You really have to understand if the scope, organizational structure, pay band, and resources available to the role before deciding that it's not compatible or a step down from what you're doing in consulting.
Expect that you might start off with nothing but the role, the responsibility, a glass of water and hope. For those at a manager level and above in the consulting world, success is often noted by how big your teams are. Senior Managers are not strangers to managing 15-30 person teams across all layers in Big Four. In tech, you might start off with you, yourself, and Cheryl (that's your secret code name for the sassy voice in your head). The reason is that tech doesn't HAVE to hire more people unless there is a new problem to solve or a new challenge. You might come in and fill a role, but oftentimes the reason why tech grows so fast is that the person that was in that position doesn't have time to tackle the additional challenge and a role was created based on that net new responsibility. That's where you come in. It's now your job to determine what you need to effectively do your role, leverage the resources accordingly, and potentially hire who you need to supplement that. All in all, there is no guarantee that a ready-made, fully funded, adequately manned program is waiting for you on the other end. You're expected to provide the strategy, not show up and do the status quo.
You will have to level set that the learning curve is steep. It's not an impossible climb, but on average, it'll take you 3 - 6 months to adjust. This is not about the role, it's about the culture, the new challenges, and the influence that any role in tech has to tackle. Even if it's the same subject matter as what you did in Big Four, it's a completely different industry that will require the development of new or foreign skillsets.
Lastly, check your ego at the door. Crossing between consulting companies has it's own challenges. Crossing into tech is no joke! At Amazon, you never leave Day 1. This means there are new challenges, new fires, and someone is always asking "How Do We Improve This?" Tech is also more blunt than the Big Four and to the point. There's a benefit to the casual but if you don't have thick skin (or at least develop it over a short period of time), the expectations, the pressure, and the stream-less criticism can wear on you. The biggest thing to learn is that you MUST recognize that people are not critiquing you, they're critiquing the process. Pressure inevitably makes diamonds and the goal is to make your project better not to demonize or patronize you. Additionally, as stated previously, long-lasting and effective change doesn't come because you say so. Believe me, people get mad alone if someone tries to come into a meeting and "wing it". It's about the data and the well-written argument that backs it up and not necessarily all about the clout of the person delivering the message.
Which Do I Prefer?
There are some stark contrasts between the two, but some clear similarities. Ultimately, you're never in a bad spot if you choose either of these environments long term. But you don't have to make a hard decision. A career is a collection of experiences, projects and tasks and it doesn't matter if you're in Big Four or in Tech, the experience is valuable. People go back and forth all the time!
Thus, if you were to ask me, I would say that I still can't answer! It's complicated! At Amazon, I'm working with some of the smartest people that I've ever met in life and solving problems that have direct impact on the industry and the news. The things that I've been able to do so far in a year and a half at Amazon are unreal. However, I grew up at EY. I have eight years of colleagues that were friends that have become family. They've seen me get married, have a child, and have been side by side in the trenches with me. I still talk to EY people to this day and seek their advice (calling out Angel Contreras again!). Even pre-COVID, while I was jet-setting for Amazon (still can't believe I was in Seattle, Dublin and Singapore in the same year), I would say that I still miss my EY family every single day.
So what do I prefer? Only, time will tell what my answer will be. But I will say that I'm very happy with my journey and the transition and I don't regret a thing.
I hope this blog series provides a lot of clarity of the two environments! I'm not an absolute authority, but I hope this detail from my personal experiences and point of view ends up being helpful in the long run!
Happy hunting and career planning, everyone!
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