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To all the IT consultants out there...when did you think it was time to go FT?

M

multiband8303

Senior member
I am the chief infrastructure engineer for a large healthcare/hospital in the midwest.

I have about roughly 9 years of senior level experience. My specialties are in the areas of actual IP Networking, with my CCNP and VOIP. But lately I have been focused on my areas of VMWare, SAN, and my main specialty is application delivery as of lately (Citrix, Terminal Services)

I do have the paper certs (which I honestly think they mean nothing anymore, I only recieved them as I previously worked for a VAR, as they include CCNP, MCSE, various MCPs, recently VMWARE, and my CDA (Citrix))

Personal life wise...I'm single, and choose to be - was in a rough rocky relationship awhile ago and I do love to travel.

How is the life of being a consultant? Is it worth it? Just looking for any opinion or advice.
 
Well one thing you need to consider is that you'll be charging people by the hour (unless you quote by job). This means your going to have to balance quality work vs quick work. There are always unforeseen circumstances, which I'm sure you've already experienced. But going into a situation your not familiar with amplifies that. And a job you think will only take an hour can turn into 4 hours. Now you have to decide if you want to charge extra for that, and at $150-200 per hour clients get pissed. It can be very stressful. But you also get to work with a lot of different people and places, plus make your own hours.
 
Much will depend on the type of field.

I enjoy the opportunity of new challenge/projects every 6-12 months or so.
It allows you to either stay on new ideas and/or learn from others as you contribute you knowledge.

Living out of a hotel room can get tedious - you can always find furnished apartments at about 50-100% the normal rate.

You are more susceptible to political infighting going on within the client where someone can feel that you are cracked up to be or replaced by an internal employee due to a RIF.

Most times, the cost of living and travel comes out of your pocket. Training may come out of your pocket, depending on the project and client.

There are headhunters out there that will shop you around.

It is best to try and setup contracts as a business to business for tax purposes. Much easier to write off expenses.

Going through HH may make that difficult - however, if you have a client that is interested in you, then you start to have the HH agency over a barrel.
 
The reason why I ask is I consistently get offers from everywhere (references from people I know in the industry) I contribute articles and information to many people (specifically within Citrix, VMWare, EMC, and a lot from NetApp lately)

As for expenses, my nest egg is alright so I'm not concerned with that. It's just lately I feel...bored. I know this sounds ridiculous but even within an extremely large network, that I developed from the ground up...and even with there growing needs and demands, to me - it's the same customers, the same environment and it's becoming extremely tedious.

I loved it when I was a VAR, going to different companies, meeting different people and presenting there IT vision. Also income wise I feel like I'm really inhibiting my true potential.
 
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