[seanmcdirmid]

Design consultancy allows the designer to work on multiple projects concurrently or in succession, avoiding burn out and getting more broad experience (important for their career). In house designers usually are assigned to the same product for a long period of time, though you'd think larger companies could avoid this by moving to an internal agency model.

My wife is just moving from being in-house to an agency, but these are in huge demand for beijing.