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How to Become an IT Expert Companies Seek Out and Pay Well (Video)
This video is an interview with Matt Heusser, who makes a good living as an independent IT consultant. He says many other people who are currently pounding out code or performing other routine computer-oriented tasks can become independent, too. He's not selling a course or anything here, just passing on some advice to fellow Slashdot readers. He's written up some of this advice in a series of four articles: Getting People to Throw Money At You; How to become IT Talent; That Last Step to Become ‘Talent’ In IT; and The Schwan’s Solution. He also gave a speech last November titled Building your reputation through creative disobedience. (The link is to a 50 minute video of that speech.) Anyway, we figure quite a few Slashdot readers are at least as smart as Matt and may want to take some career steps similar to the ones he has taken. In today's video, he gives you some ideas about how to stop being an IT worker and how to become IT talent instead.
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... wait, what?
While there might be a rare chance for someone to do well as a consultant, such a life does not do well for the greater part. Temporary work is done at the expense of the worker.
Permanency does have its benefits that outweigh any increases in pay(which are undone by costs related to being a single person vs a respectably sized company).
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
do things others are unwilling to do in IT = Impossible dead lines , hack jobs that just lead to big issues down the road, going behind the back of the higher up, working under the table, braking the law and so on.
PHD is over kill for most IT jobs and one can be a trun off to HR as you come off as needing a very high pay.
IT needs more hand on learning not years in the class room and more tech schools.
independent some times have a hard time getting payed and you may at time play a lot of phone tag and some time even need to sue to get paid.
I learned from Wally.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
.... A lot of "I'm so awesome because I've figured out this obvious thing all on my own" and not much "here's how you can be awesome too"...
I did short term 'gigs' as an IT guy back in the early 90's... I was getting $150/hr back then resurrecting SunOS filesystems, setting up backup regimens, installing new disks, NIS, plotters, firewalls, blah blah blah... The problem with it is, while the money is great, it's rarely for a full 40 hour week because someone wants you to come over tuesday at 9:30 to upgrade a disk in some computer... You haven't started bright and early and it should take you a couple hours unless something goes wrong, so you can't book something else until maybe late afternoon the same day... Suddenly you find you've made $300 that day, or maybe $600 if you're lucky... Lots of 1-2hr billable days... Sometimes you score and get a couple of 15 hour weeks... You're still making chump change and you're generating a lot of small invoices... Sure, it's 20 years later so your billable rate has gone up but your cost of living has as well... You're good so you get a lot of word-of-mouth new clients and if you don't piss off any of the existing ones, you should be able to be fairly busy; but there's still a limit to what you can reasonably do in a single day...
Cut forward, and I picked up some 1-3 month 'gigs'... Good money. But suddenly you've lost your big handful of faithful clients because you're stuck servicing one client for 3 months so your other clients have lined up other people to do their small work... Now you've got to line up your next gig after you've finished the present one... It's rare to go from gig to gig so you end up sitting around for a month, maybe picking up a few short day things at $200/hr... You're still not breaking 6 figures... (again, this is now the late 90s early 2000's)...
Now I've got a 5 year contract gig at an embedded linux shop doing board bringups, bsp's, drivers, et'al... This has been super lucrative, super easy, relatively interesting, and I get to go home at the end of the day not thinking about work....
(AC because I don't feel like going through password retrieval)
It's not a job, it's not employment, it's business. I sincerely doubt HR even know he's done work there.
I'm a contractor, I go in to solve their problems, US $90 an hour, when I'm done, I'm done. The Invoice is in the post.
I never have to interface with HR, I'm not looking for Health Insurance, Gym membership or any of that stuff, leave that too the employees.
If I had a PhD then it would probably go quite a way for me, might not get a potential employee too far, but then that's not what PhDs are for!
That's how you get ahead in IT (and every other career). Always be learning and keeping busy. If you spend a lot of time at work on Facebook, some young 20 something is going to replace you. Soon.
Repeat until you understand: 'There is no such thing as permanent employment.'
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
PHD is over kill for most IT jobs and one can be a trun off to HR as you come off as needing a very high pay.M
This isn't about becoming an employee - this is about going independent. And that PhD impresses the hell out of people looking to hire a consultant - it ain't HR making that decision, it is a nervous nelly exec. They like that stuff because it gives them CYA - if you screw up they can say, "don't blame me, he had great credentials."
I don't have a PhD, but before I retired I was raking in the bucks (lawyer level hourly rates) to serve as little more than a security blanket for middle level management. I was *the* expert and if I couldn't fix it, then it couldn't be fixed. Or at least that was the way it got sold to upper management. Their problems were never that hard to begin with and I never exaggerated them either, but that wasn't the point - it was the feeling of security that was worth the big bucks to the hiring managers - budget was a known manageable quantity, the threat (to their jobs) of failure was not.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
No. It forces them to BUY insurance. It doesn't give anyone anything.
It doesn't give anyone anything.
If you happen to be selling insurance, it gives you quite a bit!
Life in Orange County
What IT needs is to make it so you know your shit stepping out into the real world, most 1st year workers get hit with cold water stepping out from the safety of the school lab into production data used by hundreds at once (if it's thousands+ please don't let 1st year workers get at it). Don't know anybody with a PHD in computers... but doctors require a PHD and computers aren't people, so I'd have to agree a PHD is overkill, but it amazes me how many people work in IT without a degree, I think that self-learning is perfectly legit... but why not go get that degree anyways? At the very least, it'll probably increase your pay and open more doors on your way to your next job. A masters tends to land people the bread and butter in the industry, high pay, high knowledge jobs, with others doing the groundwork underneath your expertise. Most project managers are :( though, oh well.
While you might have that "independence", its costs more than outweigh the benefits for most people.
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To be successful, you either have to really get technology (most IT "experts" are at best semi-competent) or really understand the business side of things (same problem). No fast training course can get that for you. You either have it or not. This is your tun-of-the-mill get-rich-quick rip-off.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Capitalism depends on the unrestricted flow of capital, equipment, and expertise. I'm always amused that employers are all for being able to hire and fire people at will, but piss all over themselves in fear when people demand to see what other employees make.
Semi-successful people hack hardware and software, but very successful people hack other people.
People who can't do their jobs in the work place won't be able to do their jobs as consultants and thus fail to build a network... this is fact. It's not for the retarded so to say. But... what benefits? The benefit of waking up to the grind each morning, the benefit of having some dumbshits who call themselves bosses tell you what to do and how to act 8-5 mon-fri, so you can come home and... I'll refrain from quoting fight club here :)
There's both sides to the coin, if you can't see the other one, stick to the one you know. Otherwise, I'd say it's an excellent first step to starting an IT based services / solutions business.
Oh, and you need more skills than just tech, marketing, presentation skills, a bit of accounting, an understanding of the legalities and pitfalls all go a long way towards making that chance a calculated success rather than luck based ("rare").
The perm side of the coin from what I've seen involves people being scared shitless for their jobs thinking that worrying is going to bring them job security and some also work a lot of free overtime as non-exempt full-timers (the majority of IT's workforce).
I do not agree. Most people below PhD-Level are unable to do reasonable design and architecture. And those are the things that kill expensive projects if done wrong. The "hands on" trained people I have seen turn out chaotic systems that become unmaintainable some times even before they are finished. Of course, it depends on the quality of the PhD. A good PhD teaches you humility, and that a systematic and clean approach is everything. A bad one is just a waste of time.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm a contractor, I go in to solve their problems, US $90 an hour, when I'm done, I'm done. The Invoice is in the post.
Just wondering, how many billable hours do you have per week on average... How often do you sit around with no work?
:)
I'm not saying that contracting isn't a viable way of life, and I'm sure some people can make a lot of money that way.
But when taking stability into considerations and the stress of having to find new customers. Working at 50$ per hour + insurance and stuff is just as good as 90$.
Although, 90$ sounds better
I've had one month off since July 2010, plus two weeks this Festive season just past.
For the first year I averaged 50 hours a week, since September 2011 I've done a straight 37.5 hours per week and no more.
I have however worked in IT in one way or another for over 20 years, any many of those was as a corporate slave.
It gives benefits to the old/sick people at the expense of the young/healthy people. That's the whole point of forcing everyone to buy the insurance, whether they want/need it or not.
Perhaps you have never understood what it is to have secure employment and to have the ability to plan long-term with more certainty than any consultancy would allow.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Become a Stripper / Exotic Dancer?
[ Narrator: Realizing that this is /. Fahrbot-bot prepared himself for many nights of unsettling dream imagery... ]
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
No, I'm just pointing out that it only works well for a few people and that it doesn't compare well to more permanent employment.
I do see a few smug consultants thinking that everyone should be a second-class citizen(read: consultant/temp/contingent worker) just like themselves.
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Repeat until you understand: 'There is no such thing as permanent employment.'
True, but there is a world of difference in what you can plan if the interval is 20 years vs 2 years vs 2 months.
At two months, you are always selling, which is a whole job unto itself (often a hated one) on top of the "real" job.
At two years, you never forget about the selling but you don't have to deal with it all the time. Makes it hard to make long term commitments though.
At 20 years, long term commitments are pretty easy and you can actually forget about selling. This can be a problem when it actually ends.
I was an IT consultant for many, many years and was quite successful. That being said, there are very few people who should, or even could, do it.
First, for most consulting gigs, you are constantly one day away from being unemployed. That's stress. Assuming you are very good at what you do, gigs can last for years. But some don't last long at all and some end quite abruptly for reasons outside of your control.
You have to have a great network for your next consulting gig. If you have to start looking from scratch after your current assignment ends, you will have long stretches between assignments.
You don't get paid for sick days, vacations, holidays. You don't have benefits. Your taxes are usually higher and there is no withholding so you must plan ahead. It takes a lot of work and a lot of discipline to be a successful consultant. The idea that "anyone can be a successful consultant" is complete bullshit.
I don't do that any more. The many years I spent as an independent consultant were fine -- but enough.
I spent 25 years in IT consultancy before starting my own business. The following are my tips:
start up some dopey service called CodeMyDesigns specializing in Drupal (or whatever the latest trend is), write a book on the subject, and then charge a flat rate 15-30k to develop a site that takes 40-80 hours to build (make sure to stretch those hours over a month or two and make sure to cover your ass for scope creep in the SOW at $162/hr).
It's easy to break 6 figures, you just need a niche market, a decent website, and personalized service better than your competitors.
sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
While they may be temporary, they're the rare breed that has the ability to function as a regular employer.
If a government contract job ends, one has a higher chance of picking up another vs the benefit-dodging part of the private sector.
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The perm side of the coin from what I've seen involves people being scared shitless for their jobs thinking that worrying is going to bring them job security and some also work a lot of free overtime as non-exempt full-timers (the majority of IT's workforce).
While contractors have to by large worry even more since they have none of the benefits from being a regular employee but have all the costs and instabilities placed onto them.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Why would I want to repeat that myth?
A PhD means you've been trained to do academic research, and mapping that skill set to non-academic environments can be problematical at best (especially in CS). While you might assume that someone who has earned a PhD is more able to do things like "reasonable design and architecture", many employers will assume the opposite: that you live in a world of abstract algorithmics, and the mundane skills involved in producing real software are beneath you. Both assumptions are equally bogus.
True, but there is a world of difference in what you can plan if the interval is 20 years vs 2 years vs 2 months.
At two months, you are always selling, which is a whole job unto itself (often a hated one) on top of the "real" job.
At two years, you never forget about the selling but you don't have to deal with it all the time. Makes it hard to make long term commitments though.
At 20 years, long term commitments are pretty easy and you can actually forget about selling. This can be a problem when it actually ends.
But there is no such thing as an interval of 20 years, or even 2 years for that matter. At any point in time, even the very next day an employer can say to you "Sorry, your redundant". So to actually believe you have even 2 years of job security is a pure fantasy.
I have been a contractor for 15 years and have planned for 15 years because I know from practical experience that I have more job security doing what I do than any person who has what they call permanent employment. When I move to another contract I bring with me a wealth and bredth of experience, plus a guaranteed track record that practically ensures me a job, plus recent and repeated interview practice.... those with permanent employment are out of touch with interviewing, and only have a stagnant and unchanging level of experience where they have sat there doing the same thing day in and day out for years.
The simple fact is, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, its the tools and experience you build TODAY which will give you more security than some misguided belief that your permanency equates to anything.
Even take redundancy.... people may argue that if they are made redundant they are given a payout which gives them time to find a new job... sorry to burst your bubble, but I earn 3 times what permanents earn, I have already built up that buffer several times over, so I have already put a contingency in place in the event I am without work (something that has only happened a total of about 8 weeks in 15 years), while those who foolishly believe they are "safe" don't have any contingency in place at all, nor have the funds available to put one in to cover them in the worst case.
I am staggered that people cannot see this? thought meta-thinking about it, I guess for those who ARE permanent, they have to believe that being permanent is the best option, otherwise they would be admitting to themselves they are not achieving their own potential and are purposely undercutting themselves. So it is easier to generate justifications for them staying where they are, than actually admitting they lack the confidence and belief in their own skills that they would be able to maintain a contracting lifestyle.
Don't get me wrong... there is nothing wrong with working a straight 9-to-5 if thats what suits you... but please don't try to convince yourself there is any more safety in it than there is in contract work.... and certanily don't try to convince yourself that you even have an interval of 2 years in which you can plan.... Do you know how many people will be fired tomorrow who thought they had 2 years? EVERYBODY thinks they have time right up until they are put off, and yuo have absolutely no control over how/when/where this will happen. So if you think its better to just cilng to the belief you are safe rather than actually developing your career around overcoming any possible outcome IN ADVANCE.... my hat off to you!
For awhile, anyway. Once Obama has everybody properly collared and leashed, and they roll out single-payer, the Insurance Companies are out of business.
Not entirely a bad thing, because Insurance companies are leeches, but that's the deal coming up.
On fast development projects, a large body of the contractors get to do work, collect the bonus, and then move on leaving a pile of crap for the employees to maintain and actually work to make functional.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
That job security also brings in benefits of scale which do not come with consultancy. That's where your high pay ends up going - along with a more pronounced instability that makes Fukushima or Chernobyl look solid as a rock.
If you want to think of it as an underpayment, you're forgetting about the security and scale of a regular, non-fixed-term job.
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There's also a huge difference between contract work and being a consultant, to those of you who don't understand anything more than the corporate IT job. Been on both sides of the fence in my 20+ years and understand the thought processes each distinct way. Being a contract worker is temporary by definition (extension of contracts indefinitely is still temporary because it has an end date, no matter how nebulous), being a consultant is doing repeated temporary work in many places and even many times. Sure I can help you set your new office, and another client's new office....and you pay me to do that project and so does the next client. The skill of consulting is having many, many of those projects strung together to make it continuous work. But that's okay - corporate workers are needed too. Someone who is there every day, knows the intricacies....accepts less pay, steady hours, lunch....there are distinctions. I make no claim one is better than the other...I prefer consulting and more exposure and being the 'hero' when a client needs it.
Permanency and economies of scale make for mighty convincing arguments. That, and contract workers are generally worse off than regular employees - with exceptions such as yourself - since they are used to dodge some law instead of provide the flexibility claimed to a worker.
For each one of you, there are more people that end up on the wrong end of contract employment. Now if Right to Work applied to contractors (read: you weren't forced to be a contractor but could choose to be a directly hired FT worker) you might have a point
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I know when I was contracting (since 2000 until mid 2009, now I build my own software) I couldn't imagine myself ever wanting to get a 'permanent job' ever again. It would have been a huge step backwards for me, but of-course I was in a circle of other contractors but at work it always looked to me that permanent employees were sort of jealous of the contractors and wanted to switch to contracting positions.
And why does it work so well to be a contract employee in Canada? Because the government takes care of workers of all stripes, permanent or not. In the states, contract workers who are fired on the drop of a hat are left to scramble to get health insurance and other basic necessities that other countries consider to be critical functions and civil rights.
In other words, the runaway capitalism in the US has made it impossible for most people to get by as contract employees. It also has given more power to the employers because they hold the trajectory of the employees' lives in their hands. Workers who go without health insurance for a single day in the US can see huge increases in premiums and decreases in coverage as a penalty for it - that translates directly to power for the employer.
And now you want to strip the employees of what few rights they have left. You want to make it easier for employers to can employees without fear of anything resembling recourse. You are preaching that this somehow brings freedom when it really leads to serfdom. You are aiming to concentrate more power in the hands of fewer, while claiming the opposite in spite of reality.
In other words, you are aiming to bring fascism to the people.
You resent that job security ever existed and wish to see it gone because you didn't have it. Pity that you never got to see a benefit.
Yet the laugh that permanent workers have is when the come out ahead for everything despite having a lower initial paycheck. That, and permanent workers are the last to go while consultants, temps and other second-class citizens are considered cannon fodder.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Totally accurate and insightful, and only moderated 1... I too have had both "permanent" jobs, and consulting, and right now I am doing consulting. And I am busy as hell. Oh, and I am 45, so no one is supposed to be giving me a job... The fact is that anyone can come up with reasons NOT to do something. I am doing something that not only suits me, but pays me well.
But the fact that you want to destroy any sort of job security is the same as wanting to take a job.
That and you assume that someone that wants a corporate job isn't competent. Not everyone is meant for consultancy while not everyone wants to be attached to a corporation.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
You can buy "benefit packages." How long do you have to get extra payment to pay for it? Generally about $300 a month will cover most benefits at reasonable companies. Less for the crap some places are trying to pass off as insurance.
Why would I want to repeat that myth?
I thought I was "Living the dream" but I guess I was living the myth. I have had several permanent jobs. Read that again, and you will figure it out.
Some are more permanent than others, though.
So you work in government?
No, I'm just pointing out that it only works well for a few people and that it doesn't compare well to more permanent employment.
You got that right! Although, not the way you intended. There is a reason people who leave the traditional job market for consultancy rarely go back. (I did twice because I hate sales, but I couldn't stay. I hated "regular job" more.)
No, no...we consultants want you right where you are. :-) You are easy to replace when discussing your inability to work with the rest of your team with that attitude. We're good with that - keep it up.
What? Are you nuts? I don't want to replace him. I just want to fix the problems around him and move on. If I wanted that kind of job, I would have one.
Permanency and economies of scale make for mighty convincing arguments. That, and contract workers are generally worse off than regular employees - with exceptions such as yourself - since they are used to dodge some law instead of provide the flexibility claimed to a worker.
Only contractors that are faux employees. I don't do that. It sucks. I am job based, and have a handful of clients that I juggle. If one gets to be a problem, no problem.
No, I am in the next batch of contractors hired to clean up the mess. :) I love it too. Fun to be the hero. :) Then I move on and leave the dull maintenance to the employees.
Speaking as a Canadian who has worked as a government contractor:
* Twice the pay of an employee. * Basic health paid for by government. * Get to write off all kinds of hardware and software. * Work from home and on my schedule (mostly).
Here's the kicker: as an employee, they could have laid me off with 2 weeks notice; as a contractor, their standard contract gave 4 weeks notice.
Quoting you as non-ac just to give it more prominence. And yes, contractors are more likely to actually understand contracts as we deal with them more.
For awhile, anyway. Once Obama has everybody properly collared and leashed, and they roll out single-payer, the Insurance Companies are out of business.
Not entirely a bad thing, because Insurance companies are leeches, but that's the deal coming up.
I sure hope you're right. Single payer is so obviously the right way to go. It's a shame that so many of you are either brainwashed or collared and leashed by those who feather their nests by ripping you off.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
It gives benefits to the old/sick people at the expense of the young/healthy people. That's the whole point of forcing everyone to buy the insurance, whether they want/need it or not.
Yes. It's called the Social Contract. We give up some liberty and treasure to society, so that the society we live in can be enhanced *for all of us*. Those young, healthy people will one day be old and infirm. Or are you unable to grasp the cycle of life?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
A contractor is brought in to do a specific task for a (usually) predetermined amount of time. A consultant is brought in to asses an organization, develop a solution based on that assessment, and hire contractors to come in and implement their specific tasks for a predetermined amount of time. A contractor usually works a shift and as such can't have any other work while they are on a contract. A consultant can have multiple clients simultaneously and may not visit the client regularly if the job does not require it. A contractor is usually a guy looking for permanent work but taking contract work while he looks. A consultant is someone who was motivated to go beyond a 9 to 5 job and courageous enough to take that step of faith (in themselves) to forgo the regular paycheck for more latitude and freedom. You sound very condescending towards these individuals and that is more an indication of your insecurity than it is of their job stability. For the record. I have toyed with becoming a consultant for many years. I have my DBA and have done some work for various companies but find I don't have the stomach for it. I wish I did.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Trust me - benefits cost a lot more than $300 a month. The benefits that I pay for my $35k entry level employee add up to about $14k per year on top of the salary - and about half of that scales linearly with salary. Benefits include retirement (10% of salary), health insurance (>$300 a month even for an individual if you're providing decent insurance), contributions to social security and medicare, disability insurance, life insurance, unemployment insurance, and a couple of others that I am sure I'm forgetting right now. While you're obviously correct that you can buy 'benefit packages', the value of the benefits at a company that treats it's workers (even the entry level ones) well is significant. No doubt you can include these costs in consulting fees, but $300 a month it is not.
Just wondering, how many billable hours do you have per week on average...
Between 20 and 80. I try for 20 and usually miss. If I get 25 hours each week, I make my nut.
How often do you sit around with no work?
Only when I can fight, plead, and beg for time away. Although there was one week in December where I only billed out about 15 hours.
PHD is over kill for most IT jobs and one can be a trun off to HR as you come off as needing a very high pay.
IT needs more hand on learning not years in the class room and more tech schools.
The best part about being a consultant is that you never ... ever ... never ever ... have to deal with HR. Makes me smile just saying it. :)
They do? It would seem it's more like they'd just say "Sorry, I'm not going to tell you". They might get antsy if employees start talking about it among themselves, but they can't really forbid it. Best they can do is create a "silo" culture where developers don't talk; but that's rather cutting off their nose to spite their face.
You are confusing "what it costs you" to "what it costs to replace." The costs to replace "social security and medicare, disability insurance, life insurance, unemployment insurance, and a couple of others" is self employment insurance. And reasonable health insurance in Texas can be had for under $500 a month, half of which you pay anyway, so net of $250. More of your expenses are write offs, so that offsets some as well. Now in some places, those numbers are very different... But I live in Texas, so that is what I know.
The problem is that it discourages work by removing a benefit obtained through employment.
Now if you want to make it so that you aren't forced to be a contract worker as a condition of employment (like Right to Work), then you might have a point.
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What I am finding more and more often as a contractor, are agencies that come to me saying they have an amazing PERMANENT position for me....
So I hear them out, I listen to the rate being significantly lower than what I am on as a contractor and then being a permanent position I ask them ONE SIMPLE QUESTION: "So how do they plan to develop me as a permanent employee over the next 5 years?"
I get utter silence!!!
It seems there is now this growing trend where bosses/companies are putting out job tenders for permanent staff, but in reality they are only looking for "cheap contractors". They have absolutely no plans to develop these people, which means there is a high likelihood that in a few years time they will be made redundant. For many bosses out there, "the bottom line" is all important ot them, so much so they have no problems lying to employees in order to trap them in underpaid jobs. When the time comes to fire them, "Sorry mate, its just business". What do they care? They got their 2 years at a pittance, got the job done they wanted to and suffer no ill effects from doing this. So why would they not believe that sucha process is not only acceptable but cost effective?
When entering into permanent employment, you have absolutely no idea what the boss has in mind, or how long he intends to keep you, and anyone can pat you on the head and give you promises of what is in store... but how many full time employees have you heard say "they promised they would train me but it just never happened"? too many to count!
With a contract I know exactly where I stand, I know exactly how long I am there, I know that my work is what will give me an extension if one has the potential to be available, I know when to start looking for other work, I know the "worst case" period in which I may need to get a new job and there is absolutely no hollow promises that an employer can make to try to entice me because none of that is expected in contracting. The process itself eliminates ALL potential pitfalls that go with permanent employment.
Ask yourself this one simple question.... If you were to ask your boss to sign a declaration that stated you were to be paid out for a FULL 2 years in the event you are terminated at any point during that time, what their answer would be? Its a permanent job after all, so surely thety shouldn't have a problem doing this right? But in reality they would laugh at you and think you are a slobbering moron and tell you that it would be stupid for them to do something like that...
Why? Because job security is a delusion! And there is absolute, undeniable and unequivical proof.
Even contracts have outs, as does all permanent employment. There are no guarantees and sadly employers don't even have to follow any MORAL guidelines, only those which could potentially land them in trouble. They don't have to follow through on what they "promise" up front, they don't have to do you any favours at all, they don't have to keep employing you and they can tell you whatever you need to hear to make sure you give them what they need... because by the time they have to actually follow through, they already have the work they need and there is no incentive for them to do anything.
If you work for a government contractor, anything requiring a security clearance is about the only good way to do temporary work - since it has more security than (about) any other form.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Interesting to see a lot of the pro-consultant side go AC since they can't put even a proper pseudonym.
That, and they're the ones who think that it's fine to destroy job security for their envy of not ever having it.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Re: you're a frustrated high school student.
.
Hey, I resent that! Don't lump those idiotic ACs in with frustrated high-school students! That insults those of us who happen to still be in HS as students!!
;>)
I am a frustrated high-school student, yet I
1) Do not post as AC, but instead have a registered login account.
2) Don't go around saying things about other people that I do not know are true.
3) I do back up what I say usually with pointers to Wikipedia articles (e.g. "see the article about unfunded mandates if you want to know what it's like to go out on a date with a man who doesn't have a full enough wallet" from this comment of mine)
the end of pre-existing conditions / people being droped after getting sick is good
Small point of order: The reason for that minor (at best) "fear" is because it causes a shitload of internal strife, a massive amount of resentment between employees, and overall, unless the salary is structured and/or standardized, it wrecks morale. Well, at least it does all of this for anyone not making the biggest salary in the department.
Incidentally, the opposite of being able to hire/fire at will is being able to apply-for/leave a job at will. That is, you're not forced to sign a contract that says you have to stay - you can find/get a better job and leave your current employer no matter what, and at any time.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
tech schools need more respect and CS is not IT and CS is not helpdesk, sysadmin, networking. I say at most a 2 year degree + on going NON degree IT classes.
BA/BS and higher is pushing more into the theory side of stuff While lacking skills.
I started my IT career doing in house IT. That gig lasted for three years and then I began consulting in the employ of a former KPMG guy who started his practice in 1989. I began working for him just in 2000, more or less as the dotcom bubble was beginning to burst. He had a very diverse client base and we were able to ride out the down turn. In 2007 I was tired of the feast or famine culture of small business consulting so I went to work full time for one of our clients. After three years there, I moved to my current job. I now work for a medium sized (~2000 employees, ~$500 million market cap) consulting (non-IT) company as an in house IT resource.
My experience as a consultant shaped my attitude towards professional development and IT. I following insights still stick with me.
Good, competent IT talent is hard to come by. At my first consulting job working for the KPMG guy, we were often times the third or fourth consulting company called in. Our rates were high because my boss was extremely good at what he did and we were able to fix the problems that others left behind. After spending a good 7 years cleaning up other people's messes and dealing with incompetent vendors, I became a bit jaded.
More important than pure IT talent is the ability to explain to clients why they can benefit from technology. Most companies do not want to spend on IT. It is the very bottom of the spending priority list. Therefore I had to learn all of that PM garbage. Project plans, budgets, ROI, leases, CapEx, OpEx... blah blah blah
Vendor management. Either vendors that we brought in, or vendors who clients already had engagements with. More PM stuff here... defining project scope, deliverables, contracts, etc
Work as a Project - This is the most important one because it has been the most valuable for me. IT works in cycles. It takes so long to implement a system. So long to migrate an application. So long to troubleshoot an issue. Etc, etc. You have to maintain an eye on the job boards and understand what the projects you are doing are worth. What's it worth to be a Linux admin? How about one with Netapp experience? What about an Exchange guy with experience migrating to and/or from Lotus Notes? Virtualizing an entire data center? Smart enough to know when to, and when not to, virtualize a massive SQL server? Every skill you have is worth something. Every success you have had increases your net worth. As a consultant, you understand what you are worth.
Knowing your worth gives you as much security as you are ever going to get in this market. It gives you the ability to look your employer in the eye and say, "Pay me. There are plenty of other opportunities out there. This is what I am worth. This is my proven track record of success, and I will be happy to continue to help you move your company forward, if you PAY ME WHAT I'M WORTH."
In fifteen years I've gone from a part time IT gig while going to college, to dropping out of college, consulting and now running a couple of massive applications that generate close to $100 million in revenue a year. IT really is a discipline in which success is rewarded, and failure is punished.... albeit perhaps not as much as it should be, given the shortage of competent IT people. I have done it by approaching the job one project at a time, like a consultant would.
I should clarify: I was talking about an engineering PhD in CS, i.e. you not only designed something new and complex, you built it and operated it to demonstrate a new scientific fact in a process lasting several years. Then you described it well. This gives you, among other things, a real appreciations for mundane things like implementing algorithms in a context that works to produce something or creating documentation that describes what you did well.
I do not think purely scientific PhDs in CS have any worth, with some rare exceptions that are typically mathematics PhDs in disguise.
As to the employers, why do you think so many IT projects fail? It is typically not mis-management, it is engineering failure. (The fault of management is often only to not have acquired qualified personnel.) Yes, feature creep is an issue, and it is an engineering failure. You do engineer for fixed specifications, not for variable ones. Yes, time pressure is also an issue, but again, it is an engineering failure to bow to it. A good engineer takes the time it needs or tells the manager that it cannot be built in the time available. A bad engineer just tries to do it and fails. I have seen several large projects fail because of bad architecture, bad design, bad use of algorithms and bad documentation. Most non-PHD computer scientists cannot write useful documentation! If you have a PhD, you went through the painful process of having your papers rejected repeatedly because the reviewers did not understand them. Nothing teaches you clear and compact writing like that. And you went through the experience of having to modify and maintain your own messy code, typically with several overall re-designs and nobody to blame for it but yourself. And you saw that if you use the wrong algorithm or implemented it badly with regard to the problem you are trying to solve, things are getting painful and may not even work at all, even if the design looked good on paper. You also learn to avoid unnecessary complexity at all cost, in architecture, design, code and documentation, because you have made the experience that complexity kills your control over what you try to build and describe.
So, yes, a good engineering PhD in CS is very, very valuable and there is not really anything that can replace it. There is a small handful of geniuses that managed to acquire the same insights and experiences by themselves and sheer luck, but they are much, much rarer than the already rare people with good engineering PhDs in CS.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Yes, AC, because one day YOU will be old and sick.
sustainable living
No. It forces them to BUY insurance. It doesn't give anyone anything.
Untrue.
Health insurance becomes affordable when everybody must have it. Without Obamacare, it might be cost-prohibitive for you to buy a health insurance because the insurance company must assume only the sick buy a health insurance.
Universal coverage really makes a big difference. Collective solutions are really the only way out of many problems.
Incidentally, the opposite of being able to hire/fire at will is being able to apply-for/leave a job at will. That is, you're not forced to sign a contract that says you have to stay - you can find/get a better job and leave your current employer no matter what, and at any time.
Opposite? Really? A fair contract gives the employee and employer the same notice period. If you want to be able to get rid of me overnight, I demand the right to leave overnight if something better comes up. So to me these are the same thing, not opposites....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Liar! From your username it's clear you're an active FBI agent!!
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Not in the us, it's the only lawless place, there's no health care either, south Africa is at the same level
It's called the fourth world, callin it third world would be unfair to the third world
It's savage
If it ends up anything like the UK's system of National Insurance and the NHS then you pay a trivial amount (~$5/month) for reasonably comprehensive healthcare, plus unemployment benefit, state pension etc. It's a better deal than I could find with any private company by a long way.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
The best part about being a consultant is that you never ... ever ... never ever ... have to deal with HR. Makes me smile just saying it. :)
There's a lot of very nice young women in HR.
Except in IT, where a lot of companies use HR and other internal functions as the dumping ground for post-maternity-leave female employees when project managers (erroneously) assume that their skills are out-of-date so refuse to take them on....
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
It gives benefits to the old/sick people at the expense of the young/healthy people. That's the whole point of forcing everyone to buy the insurance, whether they want/need it or not.
Except for the first sentence, the same could be said of car insurance. In fact, that's the entire business model of insurance in general - shared/pooled risk.
I'm sure that even you, anonymous coward, would have no problem drawing benefits even if you grudgingly pay in.
The simple fact is, nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, its the tools and experience you build TODAY which will give you more security than some misguided belief that your permanency equates to anything.
Although you have it 100% absolutely correct, you make the mistake of drastically overstating the odds of a 9-to-5 declaring you redundant "tomorrow". Yes, it can happen. Yes, it will happen to most of us at least a few times in our lives. Yes, it might even happen after a week on the job; but if you make it a week, you'll probably make it to your 6-month review. And if you make it past your six month review (which you will if you don't completely suck), they won't just randomly get rid of you unless their market heads South.
The AC transcends petty human conditions like age and health.
then skimmed the extract. Pretty much what I thought, the usual, "Increase your skills, talk to people, make yourself indispensable."
If I wanted that job, I'll stay where I'm at. Considering what I get paid and the amount of work I do, you'd think I should be the one behind the big desk making the decisions.
Instead, because I'm so "valuable" and have so many "skillsets", I get more and more cruft dumped on me, can never get promoted because I'm good at what I do and private employers wouldn't touch me if I was last person on the planet because I speak the truth and want to accomplish something.
I tell everyone I meet, when it comes up in conversation, if you need someone to solve your problems, give me a shout or, if you have a job opening, keep me in mind. So far, after years and years of this, not one single person has ever come back to me.
I continually tell people where I work about needing to clearly and concisely communicate, how projects are failing left and right because of the lack of communication and organization, how the drive to constantly "innovate" and be "on the cutting edge" is making us look more and more incompetent every day because we can't do the simple things, let alone shoot for the moon, but no one listens.
If people aren't listening to me now, people who know me and what a great job I do, what makes you think someone who doesn't know me will listen to what I say?
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I don't live in the UK anymore bit isn't NI capped? Isn't it also paying for other things as well such unemployment, etc?
See my journal, I write things there
But there is no such thing as an interval of 20 years, or even 2 years for that matter. At any point in time, even the very next day an employer can say to you "Sorry, your redundant". So to actually believe you have even 2 years of job security is a pure fantasy.
If you are at a company older than 5 years, growing at 20% per year or higher, and you are one of the drivers of the growth, then I would say you have close to 99% chance of keeping your job. If you are working for a company that is down 20% year over year then start looking now and do not make the same mistake again. Treat the interview process as you interviewing the company. You cannot get it right every time, but most people do not even try to figure out the trajectory a prospective employer is on. Simply looking at the big number on the check and not realistically considering how likely the company will be able to continue writing it will cost big in the long run.
and also, most of that comes out as "taxes" , 'social security and medicare, disability insurance, life insurance, unemployment insurance', you would pay some portion of for any employee. the actual $ amounts change but the % is set. this is nice " Benefits include retirement (10% of salary)" but for someone making 35k/yr, is it really going to provide meaningful retirement when they are 65-70 ? ( hint : no). And, "health insurance (>$300 a month even for an individual if you're providing decent insurance)" Which in the USA, insurance is just crazy. single payer FTW. granted there is a cost for insurance. granted it is generally cheaper for the end user to buy from company than source on their own. But by and large, all of these , you would provide for any/all employees. someone freelance would pay the above taxes in some form or another, could make 2-5x the 35k so the 10% retirement would be a bigger $ amount.
What do you mean permanency?
The days of 'job for life' have been over since at least the early 80's.
Companies are not loyal to employees, you are disposable. And, if you are a regular W2 eimployee, you too better be prepared to jump jobs every 3-4 years or so, if you want to increase your $$ and position.
My thoughts are...if you have the job security of a contractor, you might as well earn the $$$$ and get the tax benefits of being a contractor.
It isn't that hard, or that difficult. Sure, it requires a bit of paperwork and business thought and planning, getting a cpa is needed, but you figure all that into your BILL RATE.
If you're billing $65-$120 which is easily reasonable, you can sock money way for your routine health care (HSA which is not use or lose like FSA)...you can write off most anything under the sun related to your work, and if you do things smart, like form a "S" corp, you can save money by not having to pay employment taxes (SS, Medicare) on every dollar you bill for.
And you can still easily net $100K take home a year which isn't bad at all....
Depending on your field of expertise you can readily make much more than that.
This is especially true if you can get into Govt. contracting...you get the contractor pay, and you get the LONG term job...many of those run a decade or more.
But seriously, don't kid yourself that a normal W2 job today has any permanence.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Not really....it is just that I'm capable of saving for my health needs just like I plan and save for my housing needs, food needs, utility needs...etc.
I wish the Govt would expand (instead of shrink) the tools that allow me to do this better, like HSA's..where I can sock back money pre-tax for my routine needs, and have higher deductible insurance (major medical) only to be used in catastrophic needs.
Let me use my medical dollars to shop around for my best Dr. / deal......and get the govt and bean counters out of the way as middle man taking up useless space and sucking money out with no benefit to the patient.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Whatever happened to the young saving and planning for retirement and health needs in their future for when they were old, like many of us still do?
Get the govt out of the way and get rid of the bean counters, and make it easier for people to save (HSA's for instance) their money pre-tax for routine health care, and affordable major medical insurance for catastrophic needs....
You save for your housing, utilities and food needs right? Why should you also not save for your medical needs?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Not really....it is just that I'm capable of saving for my health needs just like I plan and save for my housing needs, food needs, utility needs...etc.
I wish the Govt would expand (instead of shrink) the tools that allow me to do this better, like HSA's..where I can sock back money pre-tax for my routine needs, and have higher deductible insurance (major medical) only to be used in catastrophic needs.
Let me use my medical dollars to shop around for my best Dr. / deal......and get the govt and bean counters out of the way as middle man taking up useless space and sucking money out with no benefit to the patient.
You are aware that Medicare (a government program) has administrative (non-patient related) costs of about 3%, while the administrative costs of private insurers are generally at least an order of magnitude higher, right?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Whatever happened to the young saving and planning for retirement and health needs in their future for when they were old, like many of us still do?
Get the govt out of the way and get rid of the bean counters, and make it easier for people to save (HSA's for instance) their money pre-tax for routine health care, and affordable major medical insurance for catastrophic needs....
You save for your housing, utilities and food needs right? Why should you also not save for your medical needs?
Are you really that uninformed about how health care works in the United States? If so, I'm really sorry for you. Purchasing health insurance as an individual under our current system costs anywhere from $10,000-$30,000 per year. Check the median income for people in the U.S. Now explain to me how HSAs and savings are going to allow someone to spend 25-40% of their income on health insurance and still be able to pay rent/mortgage, feed their family, etc, etc. etc.
Inform yourself about reality. Or don't. That's up to you. But expect to be called out with *facts* if you make unsupportable statements.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Thing is, the system where everyone just saves and pays for their medical needs themselves is the system where the disabled like my wife and child are effectively pushed into poverty because their medical needs are so much more significant in cost than they could ever pay for. You speak up for a system that effectively sacrifices the disabled to ensure the healthy like you have lower costs. In reality if everyone shared the burden in a single payer system it would be normalized so much amongst the healthy payers and unhealthy that you healthy folks would have a marginal increase in cost while those less fortunate would have a *significant* decrease.
The current system is analogous to a regressive tax where those doing the best pay the least and those with the most problems are punished for it, only it's worse than a tax because we're talking about health issues that aren't in the control of people often times.
By the way, you enjoy your HSA where you sock away money for your health problems. If you ever accidentally break an arm or get stabbed by a mugger though, unless you sir make tons of money, you cannot in any way afford the bills you will get outright, you'll join the monthly medical debt payers like me and a vast number of others. Until you've seen a $1million dollar medical bill that was in no way anyone's fault but you're on the hook for, you really have no right speaking up for how good or bad the healthcare system is structured in this country.
If you get that $1M medical bill and still think this countries healthcare is structured well then that's fine you at least have experienced the medical system and have a leg to stand on, but if you have very little experience using medical services in this country which is clearly the case, then you have no leg to stand on with your analysis.
And before you say "well that's not a problem when high deductible insurance covers those major events" let me just say you're ignoring the countless follow-up visits necessary to properly care for someone who's had any major medical event seeing a variety of specialists which aren't "catastrophic events" and therefore are not-covered by your insurance.
You just stated the benefit in and of itself as the only solution. "unless the salary is structured and/or standardized, it wrecks morale." Yes. Perfect. That is precisely why in other countries it is common for people to talk about it, if the company tries to screw some of it's employees they'll find out the company is not instituting a standard and fair pay structure, therefore the company ends up being forced to do so which means people are paid fairly. You don't have one dude making twice what everyone else does just because he negotiated better, in negotiations he's told simply to go blow because they aren't going to pay him twice what others are paid who do the same work, and further they aren't going to offer someone half what everyone else is making because they think they can get away with it.
This increases competition too because people throughout the industry know what people are making around other companies, so if one company tries to offer half what other companies are paying, they won't be able to hire people, and effectively companies have to compete for talent. What an idea! Forcing companies to compete for us rather than against us! Considering we're the majority (the workers, actually doing the productive work for our GDP and collective countries value) and they're the minority, I think what benefits us is better than that which benefits them. Granted if it becomes unbalanced benefiting us as too much of their expense it's no longer good for us because it harms them, but as it stands with the ridiculous profits of corporations these days, they would have to dig *REALLY* deep to see any harm that would start negatively affecting employees (employees n. : the citizenry of the nation).
And yet Medicaide/Medicare are going broke quickly why.....?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
And yet Medicaide/Medicare are going broke quickly why.....?
Okay. So you're a troll. not going to feed you any more. Sorry.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
When I'm doing 1099 work through my own company....in the recent past, I've bought a high deductible insurance policy (and yes, I have pre-existing conditions and am not that young) which was only about $210/mo...with a $1200 deductible.
Again...harkening back to when medical insurance was called "Major Medical"....something to be used for catastrophic emergencies.
I do, however, make good money, and managed to sock away about $3K max, pre-tax into my HSA which I used for routine medical care (office visits, meds, a MRI I had one year...etc). But if you are young and save your money...this will not break the bank.
This in fact *can* be done, and I'm upset that the govt doesn't promote this type of medical care construct rather than taking all my money, deciding how best to spend it when that should be between my Dr and myself.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Dunno where you get that.
When I'm doing 1099 work through my own company....in the recent past, I've bought a high deductible insurance policy (and yes, I have pre-existing conditions and am not that young) which was only about $210/mo...with a $1200 deductible.
Again...harkening back to when medical insurance was called "Major Medical"....something to be used for catastrophic emergencies.
I do, however, make good money, and managed to sock away about $3K max, pre-tax into my HSA which I used for routine medical care (office visits, meds, a MRI I had one year...etc). But if you are young and save your money...this will not break the bank.
This in fact *can* be done, and I'm upset that the govt doesn't promote this type of medical care construct rather than taking all my money, deciding how best to spend it when that should be between my Dr and myself.....
That's fabulous for you. Probably would be okay for me too. But if you're a family of four, That comes out to ~$800/month. If you're at the median income (~$44,000/year), that means you take home about $2600/month. I'll let you do the math.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Same applies for taxing the very rich more than the poor. Their workers and customers who make them so rich use the publicly funded infrastructure like roads, schools, etc.
And pay gasoline taxes and property taxes which fund the vast majority of that infrastructure. Is there a point hidden in there somewhere?
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Not to mention in the past year you can easily read about all the corruption and outright fraud that those systems (mostly medicaid I believe) know about, yet can't seem to stop.
Doesn't seem like a well run set of systems to me....and I fear that my medical coverage will soon be sucked into the same black hole.
I shudder at horror at some day having to wait in a DMV like line for hours waiting to get some minor or major medical help....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
They do give family rates you know....it isn't going to be $220/person/month. That rate, like I mentioned was for an older adult with some pretty scary pre-existing conditions...it would be less for kids and wife. It would be less if all the family was younger and in good health too....when starting out, doing this can allow the family to save a TON of medical dollars pre-tax since HSA's are not use it or lose it...they just keep building year after year, and in the end, if you don't have to use them...that money turns into retirement funds.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Writing software != Selling software != Selling consulting
Casteism
Re: from your username...
... Repent in leisure!
:>(
Name yourself in haste..,
.
Yeaaaaah, I goofed in picking my nick when I signed up and went with my nutty best friend's lemony-snickety nickname for me over the last year. I hadn't fully thought it out, and it sounded cute and funny. Is there any way to request just a change in your name without a change in your ID nubmer or your post identifications? Or do I just start over again with a new nick and build up from there???
Re: from your username...
:>(
... Repent in leisure!
Name yourself in haste..,
.
Yeaaaaah, I goofed in picking my nick when I signed up and went with my nutty best friend's lemony-snickety nickname for me over the last year. I hadn't fully thought it out, and it sounded cute and funny. Is there any way to request just a change in your name without a change in your ID nubmer or your post identifications? Or do I just start over again with a new nick and build up from there???
Re: from your username . . .
:>(
... Repent in leisure!
Name yourself in haste..,
.
Yeaaaaahhh, I goofed in picking my nick when I signed up and went with my nutty best friend's lemony-snickety nickname for me over the last year. I hadn't fully thought it out, and it sounded cute and funny. Is there any way to request just a change in your name without a change in your ID nubmer or your post identifications? Or do I just start over again with a new nick and build up from there???
Some people have asked the inevitable 'HOW' question, as Matt doesn't really get into the specifics of making the leap in the video. Matt posted a follow-up on his blog (I'm his editor), which might be of use to this conversation as well: Four Requirements for Independence". He goes into the calculations needed for determining when and how to go independent (burn rate, replacement income, etc.). Curious to hear if the consultants here think it's enough to go on, or simplifies things too much.
Be a good salesman. Being good looking doesn't hurt either. Good looking people have an easier time selling.
Second step: Maintain the persona of a successful, high-tech, expert in whatever field the customer needs, regardless of whether you really know much about it at all. Generally all this requires is a bunch of buzz words, a fake smile, and an expensive suit. Maybe an expensive car, even if you have to rent it when you go to see clients.
If you are a good salesman and maintain a successful persona then you don't actually have to be that damned good at what you do. The people who hired you don't know for sure what they should be getting. That is why they hired a slick salesman in an expensive suit. And most importantly, perception is everything. Management will convince themselves that your project is successful regardless of how much their workers complain because said management does not want to admit that they could be fooled by a smooth talking jackass in a suit.
Yep, been there, seen that far too many times.
This guy is just working on his persona.
P.S. Sure there are plenty of honest, hard-working folks who work on a contract basis. But without the above "qualities" they will always be wondering why they don't get the big, high-dollar jobs.
Permanent Employment. --- That is the discussion.