In my career I have flip flopped in and out of agency life (in-house then agency, back to in-house and back to agency, etc) and I can honestly say that I have grown more as a design professional in my time working in-house and consulting. At least in my area, many of the agencies have the "Churn and Burn" mentality; get work in, do as fast as you can, bill a metric ton of hours, and move on. I've always contemplated about what it would be like at a large international agency like Pentagram, Huge or Ogilvy...but when I think of the impact and attention I have to focus on one or just a few clients, I find that I have more freedom and greater control building the brand and products they need.
The only way I would go back is if I start my own agency, and even then it would be different from the standard model in my area.
I'm 90% sure I would never go back.
In my career I have flip flopped in and out of agency life (in-house then agency, back to in-house and back to agency, etc) and I can honestly say that I have grown more as a design professional in my time working in-house and consulting. At least in my area, many of the agencies have the "Churn and Burn" mentality; get work in, do as fast as you can, bill a metric ton of hours, and move on. I've always contemplated about what it would be like at a large international agency like Pentagram, Huge or Ogilvy...but when I think of the impact and attention I have to focus on one or just a few clients, I find that I have more freedom and greater control building the brand and products they need.
The only way I would go back is if I start my own agency, and even then it would be different from the standard model in my area.