Anyone on here work for a consulting company?

Essendon

This thread might be more like a continuation of my previous thread , but I have a few questions for the folks that work for a consulting company.

I'll provide a bit of a background about myself to aid you in providing advice. I am a systems engineer with about 3 years of experience and make just-about-okay money. I have always liked Exchange administration over other stuff at my job. Havent had a chance to touch any VMware or SAN stuff since the guys that do it do not want anyone else to touch it primarily because they dont want anyone else to work on all the cool gear. I am a fairly good admin but not a whiz at anything in particular.

So I have been looking at the job boards for any consulting gigs out there. They seem to be looking for folks that are very good at multiple things, one job wanted someone that had extensive VoIP, SAN, VMware and Juniper experience . Here are the questions:

1. Do these companies tend to treat you like a number. I mean do they take care of the people they hire, as in do they pay for certs, training etc. Or do they just say, hey number 4569 - this morning you go to city ABC and fix Exchange for this customer and later in the day, you drive for a 100 kms. and fix some other sh!t for someone else.

2. I know some folks, especially eMeS, will advocate to go as close to the source of revenue as possible and work for yourself, but I think it is probably safer to work for someone in the beginning and see firsthand how a business is run. True?

3. Would these companies pay you by the hour? It might vary from company to company but do they assure you some work everyday? I dont really want to be working my butt off for the first 3 days and for the next two/three I just sit there twiddling my thumbs.

4. If I do think of heading down this path, should I start specialising in something and be really good at at, say Exchange or just be good at everything and be a jack-of-all-sh!t.

Any advice/ideas welcome.

Hyper-Me

1. Probably depends on the company. In some cases yeah, in others probably not.

2. Keep in mind that a lot of consulting companies require you to sign a non-compete agreement in hopes to protect them from you learning their business methods and then starting your own company and possibly taking their clients.

3. I get paid a salary plus a bonus for however many hours i bill after a certain point. And yes, I actually hit the bonus time quite often.

4. If you work for a smaller company, you'll probably need to be spread thinly over a huge array of topics. If you work for a larger consulting company you would probably need to be an absolute guru in a certain area or two. It can vary quite a bit either way.

Claymoore

The biggest difference from consulting vs internal IT is that you are now in a place where IT is a profit center, not a cost center. If you work for a true consulting company and not just a contracting body shop, they realize that you are the product and generally treat/train you accordingly.

1. It can depend on how high up the ladder you are. Some of our first-level folks can get lost in the shuffle and get placed on contracts where we just need some warm bodies. If you are higher up the ladder, you generally participate in the sales process, which can have it's negatives but one of the big positives is you get to pick your projects. We are all expected to stay current, especially since Microsoft requires us to have people certified in certain areas. Training and certifications are paid for as long as they relate to your job.

2. If you have the contacts to build a book of business and feel like you can generate enough revenue, work for yourself. I make a lot of money for other people, but I like the opportunities to run some large projects. Lots of smaller business need the help and are ignored by companies my size, and that revenue can be yours if you are willing to chase it.

3. I am salaried with bonus and comp time. Some contracting companies only pay you when you are billing, but they pay you more per hour than a salaried position would.

4. When I am interviewing people, I am looking for skills that I can sell. The more marketable skills you have, the more flexible we can be with your project assignments. If you know one thing very well, the company has to have enough of those projects to keep you busy and that may require that you travel more.

If you want to get into consulting, learn how to sell. Learn how to sell yourself as well as sell technology. Be able to present yourself equally well to a CIO and a helpdesk team lead. You need to be able to write and speak well as you may be required to present the proposal you just wrote to an executive committee. You won't go far in consulting if you are the type that likes to sit in a dark corner by yourself and do your work.

it_consultant

With your level of experience consulting would be a good move. There are very few other positions that will give you exposure to a wide array of technologies. You do get spread thin and in the beginning you will be busy learning the things you weren't exposed too before. Eventually you will distinguish yourself with something you are particularly good at and you will get a niche.

For example I am equally comfortable with Windows Servers, desktop support, network infrastructure, etc., but I excel at Microsoft Exchange. If one of our clients has an Exchange problem, I am called, even though I normally work for the same 2-3 clients all the time.

Generally speaking the pay is slightly better than internal IT because it is a bit more challenging. Whether you are straight salary or hourly, or a base plus commission, you will come out a little better than your peers.

Make sure that the company you go to work for fits your personality and runs their business in a way that you can fit in with. I spent half of 2009 making employment "mistakes".

Paul Boz

Essendon wrote: »

I am a fairly good admin but not a whiz at anything in particular.

Point 1 – become an expert in what you’re consulting on. If you’re only so-so at everything than why would a company pay for your outside expertise and experience? Without the experience and expertise you’re just another employee who can’t provide what they want. In addition, being well versed in what you’re consulting on will save the customer money and time because you’ll understand cost effective and time sensitive solutions.

1. Do these companies tend to treat you like a number. I mean do they take care of the people they hire, as in do they pay for certs, training etc. Or do they just say, hey number 4569 - this morning you go to city ABC and fix Exchange for this customer and later in the day, you drive for a 100 kms. and fix some other sh!t for someone else.

It’s a mixed bag. I was a security services consultant for the last two years and the company was a little of both. We had a lot of family oriented events and it was a generally friendly atmosphere, but I left because I was run into the ground with workload and travel. I had almost zero say in my travel arrangements and often had to pay the price for it. It wasn’t uncommon to have a six AM flight out of an airport 3 hours away from where I was staying or being out three weekends in a row. There was almost no emphasis on my comfort and is the primary reason I left that gig.

2. I know some folks, especially eMeS, will advocate to go as close to the source of revenue as possible and work for yourself, but I think it is probably safer to work for someone in the beginning and see firsthand how a business is run. True?

Yes, unless you have direct consulting experience I would advise working for a company before going out on your own. There’s a certain level of professionalism and business savvy that you just can’t pick up on your own. Try to work for a SMALL consulting company so you can get more hands on with how the business is run. If there’s any huge positive from my last job its that we only had like 50 employees so I fully understand every facet of that business.

3. Would these companies pay you by the hour? It might vary from company to company but do they assure you some work everyday? I dont really want to be working my butt off for the first 3 days and for the next two/three I just sit there twiddling my thumbs.

Everyone that I know who works in consulting is salaried. There’s always work. If there isn’t, find a new place to work because they’ll eventually start bouncing your pay checks.

4. If I do think of heading down this path, should I start specialising in something and be really good at at, say Exchange or just be good at everything and be a jack-of-all-sh!t.

Both. You want to have your specific area of expertise so that you have that to fall back on, but from a team perspective you want to be able to do everything competently. My background is strong in networking but I still had to do FFIEC IT audits, risk assessments, social engineering, etc. If it was a service we offered I had to do it. By being a networking expert though, it allowed my co workers to lean on me as a resource. You want to have something to bring to the table that no one else does. That’s where job security and value come into place.

Hope that was the type of advice you were looking for.

Essendon

Some great tips there. Thank you all for the valuable advice.

I am going to start focussing on a couple of things, Exchange in particular, and make myself really good at them. * with renewed vigour *

undomiel

I've only worked (am working) for one consulting company so far and it's pretty small. Of the full time people we have only 6 people including myself. I definitely don't feel like I'm just another number, but then again I also don't think you could find another boss as great as my boss. He's not so great on the training since the training budget in my contract has never really materialized, but he goes out of his way to make sure you're compensated and not worked into the ground. Which on the minus side means I can't take another month of an easy bonus for covering the nearly non-existent graveyard calls. So pretty much your mileage will vary. Before hiring on it would be a good idea to see if you can hang around your coworkers for a bit to get a feel for the atmosphere.

To point two I can't say too much as I'm really not a sales guy, but on the other hand I have gained a fair bit of insight into how the sales end of the business works. It looks like in the end it is all about how good of a game you can talk and has nothing to do with flashy promotional materials. Also no sale is guaranteed until you have the money in hand.

With the company I'm working for I am in a salaried position. In the beginning I was working hourly as the boss was getting a feel for my skills. He also didn't have the work lined up yet to support bringing me on full time yet, but once he was confident I would work out well he brought me on and then worried about getting the work. People generally aren't brought on hourly, and we just subcontract to another company to cover where we are the weakest, which I'm getting more and more up to speed on to fill the gap.

I would say from what I've seen you get more mileage out of being an IT generalist. You don't necessarily need to know how to implement everything but it really helps to know where you would need everything i.e. you don't know anything about Exchange but you do know that you'll need Exchange in this network. For what you don't know how to implement you can either contract out or learn really fast. Our company for instance has a lot of desktop and Windows server knowledge and a fair bit of Sonicwall as well. But on the other hand I'm the only one who has any virtualization knowledge and experience. For more complicated network designs we have two companies that we can draw upon for support.

powerfool

A good consulting company will treat you like the "product." What I mean by that is that they are willing to invest in you. I have not seen many consulting companies outside of startups that don't pay for certifications, training, university tuition, etc. Also, you tend to get good insurance benefits (all around... medical, life, dental, etc.).

Yes, you are expected to be well versed in many areas; the more the better. It means they have a greater opportunity to keep you billable. Also, be prepared to create project plans, write up cost analysis, etc. While they may not give you those tasks immediately, it will be very favorable for you to have those skills, as well.

Lastly, you have to have the soft skills. You need to carry yourself in a professional manner. While there are lot's of people who won't be happy with this, it means having a decent hair style, keeping your facial hair neat and trim (if you don't just shave it off), and dressing like you want work. The expectation is to make good money at consulting, so I guess the best advice is to "act your wage" or at least that of the wage you want.

Devilsbane

Essendon wrote: »

1. Do these companies tend to treat you like a number. I mean do they take care of the people they hire, as in do they pay for certs, training etc. Or do they just say, hey number 4569 - this morning you go to city ABC and fix Exchange for this customer and later in the day, you drive for a 100 kms. and fix some other sh!t for someone else.

2. I know some folks, especially eMeS, will advocate to go as close to the source of revenue as possible and work for yourself, but I think it is probably safer to work for someone in the beginning and see firsthand how a business is run. True?

3. Would these companies pay you by the hour? It might vary from company to company but do they assure you some work everyday? I dont really want to be working my butt off for the first 3 days and for the next two/three I just sit there twiddling my thumbs.

4. If I do think of heading down this path, should I start specialising in something and be really good at at, say Exchange or just be good at everything and be a jack-of-all-sh!t.

For the next two weeks I am.

1. Yes and no. I have little contact with the company I work for. Send them off an email each Monday with the hours I worked the previous week and receive a paycheck on Friday. Thats about it. They don't pay for certs, but they do have an online learning center. I've used it a little, some parts of it are ok and others aren't. CBT nuggets is going to produce better videos, but also at a much higher cost (free vs not free). You get what you pay for.

2. It depends where you are at. If you are just starting out, there is a small chance that you will make good money on your own. If you are experienced, maybe. It would make more money for you, but is going to come at the cost of time on your part to line up jobs and all of that administrative work. My personal opinion would be to just walk in and do IT work, I don't want to bother with the other stuff.

3. I get paid by the hour, but I also work 40 hours a week. Sometimes there isn't much to do, and during those times I crack a book or check out TE.

4. I wouldn't advise to go either, but rather a mixture. Having 1-2 key focuses is great, but you also want to have a little knowledge of everything and how they fit together.

EDIT: I also want to add, that I work for a contracting company. I have been with them for 4 months, and have worked at the same company doing the same job the whole time. If you are more considering the route of a true contractor, you want to be specifically trained in that one skill. A company who hires you to come in and lay all of their cable isn't going to care if you also know AD. They hired you with the expectation that you can wire the whole place up, and thats what they want. For me, having a broader knowledge is a good thing.