Thought it'd be useful to have a comparison thread alongside the Spot Salary Survey. So...How long have you been in consulting, and how happy are you with it?5 years, 2 diff consultancies. I am happy.

2 consultancies7 years @ big 4Bewilderingly, utterly, totally disillusioned and depressed with the whole thing.

4+ years in consultancythen 2+ in industrywas unhappy in consultancy, now unhappy in industryi guess i am not cut out to be a wage slave.

2 years in, ranging from very very happy to depressed (this highly correlates with staffing). Think it will be great once I can focus on 'my' area.

My spots are very happy due to my great diet of late night pizza and lack of sun light......

13 years in consulting (yeah I'm a dinosaur)-7 years in large consultancies: totally disillusioned by poor quality of projects and lack of professionalism. Basically IT charlatans, arrogant pricks calling themselves "management consultants", industry experts or even better "operational strategists" (that's my favourite one)- 6 years as a freelancer and totally enjoying it: choose only projects I'm interested in (90% strategy and international projects) and earn (much) more

anon - how do you find your freelance projects?

mostly through the contract-corner on this site. You need to pay an annual fee to see the ads, but its worth it.

2 consultancies, 7 glorious years, 1 marriage, 2 pets (now deceased) and am still trying to figure out what I'm a consultant in and where/when I've ever added any "value".Apart from that the job is just plain depressing

3 years, big consultancy: still haven't figured out if 'real business consultancy' actually existsSaddled with a dilemma: move to industry (corporate finance) or stay in consultingBesides the dilemma, overall level of happiness quite ok

how do I find my freelance projects?- 50% by simply answering the phone- 50% by directly contacting potential customers I'd like to work for, mostly end customers but also consultanciescontrary to the other anon who replied before I don't rely on ads (posted here or elsewhere). First because I don't have a typical profile and second because direct contact gives me more freedom