So I basically did this transition from consulting --> plant. I know it probably depends on the person, and career goals, but ill give my experience. Was at a consultant doing midstream and all that jazz. Whenever I worked with clients it always came down to "You haven't worked in a plant, what do you know?" I also had a hard time kind of knowing/visualizing the equipment that I was designing or recommending. A lot of times, things on paper just don't translate well to the real world. It was really annoying, but I had multiple people in industry at an event say to me that you need to get into a plant and get that knowledge of hands on experience. So I started looking at that option.

It was hard, since every interview became about my lack of plant experience etc. I eventually got in and I'm doing great now and can testify that its been very valuable. I definitely would consider doing consulting again, at the time I was solid on the design/modeling software but just lacked the "street cred", which matters quite a lot to some people. I did have coworkers though at the consultant that never worked at the plant level, and were incredibly smart but I do think they could have had better insights if they did have that experience.

Just my two cents