Avantages
The challenges of working for a design consultancy are both invigorating and daunting, but the team has been very successful in turning the daunting to the invigorating. Make no mistake about it, this place is about "team", and the team includes the client. We gain more insights and professional development experience in two years than many get in two decades. It's a fast-paced and high performance environment where an individual can excel and really flex her/his education and experience. There are opportunities to work in many locations that include not only our current five offices (Chicago (my home), Boston, San Jose, Shanghai, Hong Kong), but also to co-locate at client locations. Seattle, San Diego or Shenzhen anyone? Benefits are better than most places in general and better than design firms overall.
Inconvénients
If you come in with the expectation that this is a 9-5 job, you will be disappointed, unless the 9-5 was not what you were looking for. You can definitely get lost in the pace, but the fact is, you won't notice. Some systems are wonky, but IT is on it.