I am a recently graduated engineer working in engineering, however I am not sure if I want to stay in it. I like the idea of a varied work load (and the extra money) and was wondering how easy it was to switch over? Also is it better to start in consultancy or gain some more management experience first before moving over?

I left chem eng. after 6 months to join accenture as a junior analyst. It is a VERY different career path - I doubt staying on in engineering would have prepared me better for consulting. However, that said, I can never go back to engineering as it's so different. My advise - only consider moving over to consulting if you are 100% sure you dont want to be an engineer.

What area of engineering are you working? Construction, Aerospace...Engineering offers vast project diversity which consultancy may not offer. If you want variety in engineering this has to be driven by you else you will be pigeon holed into a specialist area. Engineering you can get involved from concept right through to delivery for a major project e.g. engine build for next gen fighter. Consultancies on the other hand do offer variety of clients but you will be doing excel/presentation all day, every day. Although engineering offers the variety, the downside is salary relative to what Consultancies can offer. As ex-engineer has mentioned already, the mindset in each is very different, so be prepared.