New Job

Hello All,

I know I've been a bit infrequent on the forums lately and I really wanted to hold off on writing a post complaining until I had some good news to share. The last six months have been pretty bad for me. Things got pretty crazy at work when all my management, project managers and competent engineers quit all around the same time at the beginning of the year and I was left with one other network engineer who wasn't really picking up his load. I haven't had a day off since the beginning of December and while I was used to long hours and people depending on me, losing all my friends at work and my awesome management structure was a bit disheartening and just chipped away at me for months. I think I still could have dealt with it but a TON of my projects that I was really excited about were put on hold indefinitely until there was management in place (ISE, Data Center rebuild, etc) and it didn't seem like it would be happening any time soon so I decided to start looking for something else because I don't want to be in a place where I'm not learning anymore.

I started looking about two months ago and I thought I was going to have to take a paycut. When I started at my job, I got really lucky with the pay and I know it. I was REALLY stressed about how much of a paycut I was going to be forced to take because I'm supporting a few people right now and the jobs I wanted were only paying around $100K and no bonuses. I got really discouraged after the first month and I started hitting up people I knew through Linkedin that I met through various events and conferences. I ended up having one of the guys that I met at Defcon reach out to me and get me started with the interview process at his company. Over the course of two weeks, I had 5 different interviews and I found out a week ago that I got the job. It's with one of the BIG companies out there and while I don't want to share which one on here, it's definitely one that's going to give me exposure to all the newest and greatest technology and training. To top it off, I'm getting a 35% raise which I definitely wasn't expecting at ALL and I won't have to ever be on call again.

For the first time in months, I'm feeling pretty relieved and positive. When I think back on it, I've had a lot of really amazing things happen in the last few months (CCDP, CCNP, finishing my MS, etc) but I was just too stressed and busy with work to really appreciate those things. It still hasn't completely hit me... but I did give my notice and I did it in a positive way that I'm definitely not burning any bridges as I go. I think as the next two weeks go by, I'll feel better and better.

Just wanted to share what was happening in my life

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Comments

SixtyCycle

Iristheangel wrote: »

At my current job that I'm leaving, it's based on overall performance and aptitude. It's decided by the higher ups. I got my full bonus last year but because I had transitioned from a consultant to a FTE in the middle of the year, it was the full bonus based on the total I made for half the year.

I'm just curious, how does one get consulting jobs? Is it from a recruiter, specific job sites or through word of mouth? On your consulting gigs, did they include medical/dental and was it a typical 9-5? What's a typical consulting job setup and terms like?

Cerebro

Congratulations. You and others on here are my online IT role models!

mikeybikes

Congratulations! Sounds like an excellent opportunity.

kohr-ah

SixtyCycle wrote: »

I'm just curious, how does one get consulting jobs? Is it from a recruiter, specific job sites or through word of mouth? On your consulting gigs, did they include medical/dental and was it a typical 9-5? What's a typical consulting job setup and terms like?

Consulting I can say there is no 9 - 5 unless you are in a NOC role at a consulting company.
Some days will be 9 - 5, some days will be much much longer.

As for how to get in, If you are looking to do networking go to Cisco's partner website and just search to see who is in the area. Look if they are hiring and if not apply anyway. Other times they do put in requests with recruiters as I have been contacted with them before.

Now there is consulting and consultant.
Consulting I worked for a company that did consulting. Had medical/dental/ all of it

Consultant(contractor) I was working on a contract and received horrible benefits and no paid time off.

The job varies company to company.

Iristheangel

SixtyCycle wrote: »

I'm just curious, how does one get consulting jobs? Is it from a recruiter, specific job sites or through word of mouth? On your consulting gigs, did they include medical/dental and was it a typical 9-5? What's a typical consulting job setup and terms like?

When I was using Onforce, it was more random and so were the hours. It wasn't very good pay but then again, support jobs aren't usually. When I originally started as a consultant at my current job, it was through a recruiter. It was 8-5 on average but I often worked overtime and change orders after hours. The crappy parts about working a consultant were a) no taxes taken out of your check so you get a BIG tax bill at the end of the year, b) no overtime - you are billed hourly the same rate whether you work 40 or 100 hours a week, c) no insurance - buy it yourself and d) zero job security
The pros of working as a consultant are that you get paid a lot more on average. I was starting off in networking with a six figure job ($50/hr as a consultant) and there was no WAY I could have started off that high anywhere else. I interviewed for similar positions as an FTE and I was being offered $70K at MOST. Some of the other people who worked as consultants were getting paid even more. One guy was making three times what I was making and another guy was making $75/hr plus having his hotel paid for during the week when he was at work. It all depends on the consultant job

pramin

Iristheangel wrote: »

When I was using Onforce, it was more random and so were the hours. It wasn't very good pay but then again, support jobs aren't usually. When I originally started as a consultant at my current job, it was through a recruiter. It was 8-5 on average but I often worked overtime and change orders after hours. The crappy parts about working a consultant were a) no taxes taken out of your check so you get a BIG tax bill at the end of the year

I'm a consultant and I run payroll for myself once a month. All taxes are taken care of when I run payroll. Also you can make quarterly estimated tax payments so you don't have a big tax bill when you file your taxes - Federal and state. Always good to pay as you go; or you may incur penalties and interest for delinquent tax payments.

joemysterio

@pramin

just curious, but how do you do that?

Legacy User

Thats awesome to hear Congrats! Onwards and Upwards

pramin

joemysterio wrote: »

@pramin

just curious, but how do you do that?

I have my own corp. I'm an employee of the corp. You can use a payroll service such as ADP or Paychex. I use ADP. I call in my payroll once a month. They handle payroll. Take money from my corp check acct and direct deposit the net check into personal check acct. ADP pays all taxes. I pay monthly fee to ADP. They issue me a W2 at the end of the year. This is easiest and seamless.

My bank institution also offers payroll service but I have to do more stuff on my own.

kriscamaro68

Congrats on the new job and the bump in pay.

SixtyCycle

pramin wrote: »

I have my own corp. I'm an employee of the corp. You can use a payroll service such as ADP or Paychex. I use ADP. I call in my payroll once a month. They handle payroll. Take money from my corp check acct and direct deposit the net check into personal check acct. ADP pays all taxes. I pay monthly fee to ADP. They issue me a W2 at the end of the year. This is easiest and seamless.

My bank institution also offers payroll service but I have to do more stuff on my own.

Don't you have to pay taxes for that corp? What about the cost of having a corp compared to an LLC? Where do you deduct the business expenses, the W2 or the corp?

Kinet1c

Congrats on the new job! Are they offering any educational support?

pramin

SixtyCycle wrote: »

Don't you have to pay taxes for that corp? What about the cost of having a corp compared to an LLC? Where do you deduct the business expenses, the W2 or the corp?

I have an S corp. Net income/loss for corporation flows down to personal taxes. Corporation gets paid X amount. Y amount is wages. Z amount is expenses. The expenses are deducted from my gross income on my corp tax return - the benefit of being incorporated

. I do pay corporation wage taxes based on what I claim for my wages (Y).

I fund my own retirement. Until this year I was doing SEP-IRA. There is another retirement option called solo 401K that I'm considering. It allows you to fund the 401K as both an employee and an employer.

I have never compared S corp vs LLC.

SixtyCycle

These are very useful info for those looking to go into consulting down the road. Thanks to those who shared.

Sfost

Excellent news- well done!

Zorodzai

Congrats on the new job Iris. The detail and honesty in your posts is quite inspiring.....