Ask a consultant: Why did you start consulting?

What have been some of the most important steps in your career journey? Why consulting?

For five years I’d been working in an advertising agency. I worked as a project manager inside the digital team. I helped our clients with digital projects like contests, banner & e-mail campaigns. During a big web project, I realised I wanted to focus more on the UX of products and services. Since then, I was the User Experience Expert at BBDO. I read a lot and studied the principles of UX so that I could be the voice of the end-user inside the company.

After a few years, I felt like I wasn’t being challenged anymore. I was always working on the same type of projects, and I needed an extra push to develop my skill set.

What made you want to work with Ariad?

Since it was time for a new challenge, I decided to take a call with a recruiter from Ariad who contacted me via LinkedIn. I got triggered by the fact that Ariad consultants get to work for top clients while keeping a good work/life balance. Ariad tries to find those missions that suit my skill set and where I’ll get the chance to develop myself.

I really appreciated the personal and friendly way the people at Ariad approached me. I got a lot of insight into the consultancy world before joining Ariad. This gave me the confidence that Ariad was a place that I wanted to work at.

What would you say is the main benefit of working as a consultant?

For now, I think the biggest upside of working as a consultant is the diversity in clients and assignments you’ll be able to work on. When you’re working full time at a permanent employer, your day to day job might get repetitive. As a consultant that’s never the case.

What is exciting in your field today?

I’m reading a lot about design systems these days. It’s a great mindset to adopt if you want to deliver consistency throughout multiple digital channels like websites and mobile applications.

What are the major challenges in your field?

Having worked in the advertising industry, my experience tells me it’s difficult to get buy-in from top management around digital transformation and the need for User Experience in general for companies.

Learn more about what it means to work as a consultant, and how to get started by downloading our guide.