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Anyone working in tech consulting?
I work as a designer/frontend developer. I was wondering if anyone has any experience consulting here. I've been approach by a recruiter from Avanade. After some discussions with the rec… Hi everyone,
I work as a designer/frontend developer. I was wondering if anyone has any experience consulting here. I've been approach by a recruiter from Avanade. After some discussions with the recruiter and their HR department, it seems like they have good work-life balance, but I want to get some opinions from others who are currently in that line of work. How is consulting for tech like in Japan? Is the work life balance solely based on what projects you're on? How often are you changing projects?
honestly the billable culture is the real beast here. even if Avanade is decent, you'll prob get staffed on a client project where they expect you to log 40+ hours on client work plus internal training or proposals. i've seen people burn out because they're doing 60 hour weeks between client and internal stuff, not because the client demands it but because the partner wants to keep utilization high
if you're coming from a more pure design or dev role, be ready for a lot of stakeholder management and meetings. the consulting side means you're not just coding, you're explaining why you're doing what you're doing in Japanese to a room of senior managers who might not get tech. that part can be exhausting if your Japanese isn't business fluent
project switches are every 6-12 months but some people get stuck on the same account for years if they're good. the variety is real but it also means you're constantly ramping up on new stacks and new client politics. if you want stability, consulting is not that
i've worked with a few ex-avanade folks at a smaller shop in nakameguro. the main thing they all said was the bench time is real but if you're good at networking internally you can avoid the boring internal stuff. one guy spent three months on a sharepoint migration for a trading company and said it was soul-crushing, but another got onto a cool dynamics 365 project for a foreign pharma firm and loved it. the microsoft stack is the game here, so if you want to do more creative frontend you might be better off at a boutique agency like one in harajuku or a digital studio in minamiaoyama. just ask the recruiter for a specific client name and team structure before signing, vague answers mean they're hiding something
honestly the consulting scene here is pretty specific to each firm. i did a stint at a smaller digital agency that did consulting work and the biggest thing i noticed is the client management takes up way more time than the actual tech work. you'll prob spend 30% of your week in meetings explaining why something is a good idea in japanese business speak
for avanade specifically, i know they have a decent reputation but the microsoft stack focus means you might get pigeonholed into .net/azure stuff if that matters to you. the work life balance thing is real but its more about the japanese client culture where face time matters. even if your work is done, some clients expect you to stay until the manager leaves
one thing nobody mentioned yet is the pay structure. consulting here often has a lower base salary with bonus tied to utilization rate. so if you take time off or have slow periods between projects, your bonus takes a hit. thats the hidden stressor that gets people burned out
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Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.