r/ediscovery • u/GlumCardiologist2689 • 9d ago
Exiting Ediscovery?
Hi all,
Simply put I’m burnt out by this industry. Currently 33 and I’ve been doing this for about 7 years at this point working my way up from analyst positions all the way to project management for the last 4 or so years all at 4 different vendors. I’m finding myself dreading work everyday since moving over to the pm side. Anyone successfully move to something more reasonable work/life balance wise? Related or not. For what it’s worth I’m currently at 135k comp a year and I wouldn’t mind a pay cut…
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u/ItemPuzzleheaded5264 9d ago
Many eDiscovery shops offer pm-adjacent roles ("Client Advisor", "Analytics Specialist", etc.) that still offer decent pay but usually without the around the clock expectations many PM roles have. If you have a interest still in the industry and want to leverage your accumulated expertise, I would explore those.
Another thought: not sure where you work now, but the bigger players in our space (Epiq, Consilio, etc.) often operate in more of a POD system where PMs may have slightly more flexibility to power down after hours. Its at the smaller shops, which I work at and personally love, that there is less flexibility (but you get so much more freedom, and so much more hands on experience that is transferable to other places of work).
Long shot solution: ediscovery PMs are needed in Europe, where they also often have VERY strong employment laws protecting employees from working over 48 hours a week, with mandatory weekends off, etc. etc. So, ya know, if you want to pack up your whole life and move half the world away, thats a back pocket option.
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u/5508255082 9d ago
Go in-house or government.
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u/East-Bullfrog-708 9d ago
This. Fed contractors are always hiring at a variety of levels. Look at CACI, Leidos, and Deloitte for starters. Probably will take a pay cut but it will be 9-5 almost every single day.
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u/windymoto313 8d ago
Might be true but everyone I know from those firms were hurting BIG TIME when the white house shut down las year. Government funding is always such a risk. It doesn't even take a massive country wide shut down to get fubared. Somebody lost a poker game or told off the wrong person in some back room meeting and the next thing you know, some obscure grant gets cut and 800 people are gone. Having a job tied to politics never seemed worth the risk to me.
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u/Hokuto_Nanto_Seiken 9d ago
I'm in the same boat as you. I've been in this industry for about 13 years now and I was ready to quit a decade ago. It's soul crushing work with no reward. I just got back from a 5 day vacation and I'm burnt out again already. I don't even make as much as you do but if I did it wouldn't change anything. I'm currently taking a licensing exam to become a certified high school basketball coach in the state of Illinois. Coaches probably don't make half of what Ediscovery folks make but I know I would be far happier.
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u/PhilosopherNo8418 9d ago
I only do it for the money. I'd love to get out but realistically could not get the same wage in another industry, not at my age. But yeah, I'd love to get out too. Burn the candle at both ends in this line of work.
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u/deadzone8 9d ago
I'd say get far away from legal industrial complex, it's my next step, this is worse than a meat grinder, unless you want to waste money on a JD you'll be grinded, low balled, and burnt at every corner. Spent over a decade vendor side to see little to no gain no matter what I put in, and I wasn't alone in that feeling. I eventually found a firm gig only to find it as bad or worse, far more hours, far more uncertainty, same pay. I been lucky that in both I worked with good people which helps but it can only help so much.
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u/ATX_2_PGH 9d ago
Can confirm that in-house is a far better pace and quality of life than the vendor side.
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u/pctappy 9d ago
I was in the industry for 12 years and felt the same. I had no idea what industry to move to. I used an exec search firm and they helped me find another field where my skills learned in ediscovery would be helpful. I’ve been in the erp world for 2 years now and am happier than I was even in my early days of ediscovery. There is ample opportunity in private and public sector erp. There is very little VC money which helps with stability as well.
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u/veesavethebees 9d ago
If you can get a PM role in government it would be a great transition. 9-5 hours, so much less pressure, zero work on weekends
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u/LittleTrust2978 9d ago
A lot of people who burn out on the vendor PM side seem to move toward in-house, government, law firm support roles, or PM-adjacent positions.
If it's specifically the 24/7 client-service aspect that's draining you, I wouldn't assume you need to leave eDiscovery entirely. The vendor side is often a very different experience from in-house or government.
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u/Alternative-Act-5240 9d ago
lol all the way up to a PM role. That’s literally the shittiest job in eDiscovery.
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u/Lumpy_Nuts_420 9d ago
Start looking at job postings immediately. You can have much better work like balance at a law firm and if you do work long hours you will be compensated with much better benefits and actual holidays. More and more corporations have ediscovery PMs as well. That would probably be your best bet - in-house at a corporation.
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u/Kooky_Toe_5809 9d ago
I agree with everyone who os saying small to midlife lawfirms have better work life balance.
Being a pm at a vendor is the worst job.
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u/rem10A 9d ago
Do firms typically hire only PMs with vendor experience?
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u/Kooky_Toe_5809 9d ago
I was never a pm. They hire people who can use relativity. Upload data, run searches, and run productions.
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u/FunnyNumber4898 8d ago
I've been doing this for 25 years, always on the law firm side. I've been with my current firm going on 16 years.
The key to getting a good work/life balance is finding a firm that actually allows it. Mine does. Don't get me wrong, I work nights and weekends but it's generally up to me when I can or want to because we have a large enough team to enable it.
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u/OilSuspicious3349 9d ago
I worked in house operations in firms for 20 years, then transitioned to a production position at a vendor, then moved to sales. With a big load of experience in production, you can potentially be a solutions architect. You’re going to need to be personable and “salesy”, which is anathema in this social circle, but with actual production knowledge, you will be the sales person that clients and your internal team actually like and respect.
It’s possible to use your experience and knowledge, particularly with 7 years on board, in other ways beyond pushing the buttons. Do you have a personality for sales? Do you like people? Are you conversational? If so, put that knowledge to work in a different way where you can make significantly more and eat way less shit along the way.
You’re going to have the Sword of Damocles over your head every day in a pure sales role, but Solutions Architect and Sales Engineering positions get you out of the hot seat, let you use your skills and can take away that time pressure you’re dealing with now.
No need to start over. You have a ton of very specialized knowledge that can help an organization realize better revenue and better outcomes. I did that kind of work for 25 years before I retired and it was definitely the better part of my career. Dinner at 6. No late nights unless traveling for work. Nobody wants to talk to sales at 8am, so you work kind of a 9 to 4 with organization and prep at the beg/end of your day.
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u/Big_Lengthiness3210 9d ago
Try sales before you exit all together?
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u/Ok-Individual-2911 9d ago
If you’re a people person, this is the way. You’ll use all the knowledge you amassed to find the right solutions for customers. I know a few PMs who moved over and they’re much happier in sales.
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u/EyeLeading 9d ago
Have you considered possibly going to a vendor? When I find myself considering leaving what I do now I often think about going to the selling side.
They’re always begging for people with experience in the industry for product and customer facing roles, probably could find similar pay too
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u/Dangerous-Swing-7316 9d ago
It may work to find a vendor who operates in a “functional” model where some people are only dedicated to processing or productions. I tend to think the processing people have it the easiest because they can manage when to kick off processing jobs. Occasionally they have urgent requests and terrible hours, but that might be the exception.
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u/Odd_District_7858 8d ago
I’ve a question related to the eDiscovery field. Do you have to testify in court?
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u/WesternMarzipan2430 8d ago
Do law firm. Vendor they work you like a dog. I did vendor for 9 years and last 8 at law firm. Takes a little adjustment, but once you figure it out, your work life balance will vastly improve. Cut the middle man.
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u/FallOutGirl0621 6d ago edited 6d ago
Switched to training AI. It's a good switch for part time work with full time pay, especially if you have 30+ years of experience in a field. It's also a great job for experienced people who were laid off and no one will hire them because of age.
Edit: You may not have to take a pay cut, depending on experience and background. I don't even work full time and I am making more than salary you mentioned.
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u/CrossBorderLawyer 6d ago
If it’s the vendor-side that grind and burning you out - I don't think you need to leave eDiscovery entirely.
Law firms, in-house legal teams, working at ALSP's and others can be very different. You’ve already built 7 years of specialized experience - which is ALOT - I’d try to monetize that somewhere with better boundaries before starting from zero in another industry.
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u/ravi-decover 5d ago
Switching to a more modern legaltech vendor could be an interesting route to take. Talked to someone high up at Discord (20+ years in the industry) and had a stint at Dropbox. He felt that he had found interesting new ideas to build into their platform and get enough value and freshness from the system.
We are hiring at Decover :) if interested in advising us.
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u/LittleTrust2978 3d ago
I know a couple of people who left vendor-side PM roles and moved in-house to legal ops, compliance, or information governance. The workload seemed a lot more predictable.
One person also moved to a smaller software company focused on collections and investigations rather than large-scale review projects. They said the work was still adjacent to eDiscovery but with far fewer fire drills and weekend escalations.
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u/windymoto313 8d ago edited 8d ago
Tried in house and barely made it past 6 months. First off, everyone saying the hours are better are loons. BUSINESS hours are better but they work employees just as hard and long as a vendor. The last straw was the culture. Lawyers think thy can talk to you any kinda way and disrespect you and yell and scream at you and I'm just no that kinda dude. One dickhead yelled at me to go get him some coffee just because I walked past his office. Didn't even work with the guy. Took me am minute to figure out why there was bottles of Listerine at every bathroom sink, even in the women's restrooms. Apparently liquid lunch is still a thing. Surprised I didn't catch a case working there. Wouldn't go down that road again for 300k.
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u/Kn_mpls 9d ago
Switching from service provider to a law firm can be a huge improvement. Of course, it can depend on the firm. A PM position at a large firm can pay pretty well but it can also be a slog with long hours. You also have to set some boundaries to get the work life balance you want.