Re: Question for the Consultants

[Robert Portvliet <robert.portvliet () gmail com>]

Consulting cons: The travel. When you're on the road for a month and you've
got another month (or more) on the road in front of you, it gets old fast, I
don't know how the guys/gals who have families do it. Of course, you're home
on the weekends, but it's still rough being gone all week. Plus, living on
the road has other unintended consequences. It's advisable to spend an hour
in the exercise room at the hotel each night, eating at restaurants all the
time tends to put the pounds on you. A lot of times, you are out on the road
alone, so if you don't mind eating alone and hanging by yourself you're
cool. (This actually works out as a plus sometimes, you can get work done on
your personal projects at night).

Consulting pro's: The work is fun, challenging and keeps you sharp, you get
to work with some skilled hackers and the money is good. If you're a
pentester, you get to pit your wits against a new environment almost every
week. So, in my opinion, the actual work is very enjoyable and when you are
not on the road you (or at least myself and most folks I know) work from
home.

Finally, (this is neither pro, nor con, just a fact) you must always be
'on'. What I mean is, you are billable, you are at a customer site for a
finite amount of time and they are paying (usually, a lot) for you to be
there. So. there are no 'slow days' like when you work for one employer. You
have to go at it hard and there is always a dead line.

There's others on this list that have been in the game far longer than I
have, so maybe they want to chime in, but the long and short is make sure
it's the life for you, because it is a lifestyle change.




On Jan 26, 2011 1:26 PM, "Kevin Shaw" <kevin.lee.shaw () gmail com> wrote:
> I don't consider the travel a con.. but as a 1099 for basically 1
employer,
> I get some say in my travel arrangements. I want to get more employers to
> expand a little and have more hours.
> On Jan 26, 2011 1:05 PM, "scott burkhart" <burkhart.scott () gmail com>
wrote:
> > Looking for some feedback regarding working for a single company
(standard
> > 9-5 gig, no travel) versus being a consultant.
> >
> > Throughout my IT career (15 yrs) I have always worked for a single
> employer
> > but always found the idea of being a consultant appealing, although I
> really
> > have no real idea of what to expect. I am at a point where I am seriously
> > considering leaving my stable, boring, single-employer job but would like
> to
> > hear some feedback on others' experiences in the consulting world.
> >
> > I am contemplating going to work for a consulting firm, would not be
> working
> > for myself so the whole bookkeeping/contact management issue is null.
> >
> > I have tried to create a pros/cons list to help decide, probably a skewed
> > view from my perspective.
> >
> > Working for single employer:
> >
> > Pro:
> > Intimate familiarity with systems in use at employer.
> > Stable/predictable working environment, no travel.
> > Working with the same team members for years at a time(could be a con as
> > well)
> >
> > Con:
> > Limited exposure to new technologies and incidents.
> > Office politics.
> >
> > Working as a consultant: ??
> >
> > Pro:
> > Exposure to broad range of technologies and incidents.
> >
> > Con:
> > Constant travel
> >
> > Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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