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11. A job I liked

xxxxxOver the last twenty years I have been a computer software consultant. You can be a consultant even if you think PC means politically correct and has nothing to do with machines. If you practiced law for years and have an encompassing knowledge of how the entire system works, you could become a law consultant. Similarly if you deal with toxic chemicals and their disposal and have a degree related to that subject, you might become a consultant for environmental cleanup. For just about any profession, there are or could be consultants. Of course, to become one you need to have credentials as well as a great deal of knowledge in a specific area.
xxxxxMy job as a consultant has to do with software or programming of computers and all related concerns. I really don't have to know how to build a computer or install a network since my area of expertise is slightly different. Over the years I have performed a variety of tasks, such as analyzing systems, designing them, writing computer programs in various languages, testing those programs and the systems of which they are a part and documenting the program and the system. The testing itself has involved that of the program or unit testing, system testing, regression testing and whatever other kind of testing management wants done before implementation.
xxxxxI have also maintained existing programs and systems, taught programming and other courses related to a specific computer, installed systems as well as other miscellaneous related tasks. I also have to know how to use other software to accomplish many of the tasks that I have described above. It sounds like a great variety of detail but I have learned much since I began consulting in the late 1970s. You also find that learning never ends in information technology, since change is an ever-occurring phenomenon.
xxxxxOne of the rewards of this type of life is the high rate of pay that you can command. I have done very well although I have encountered people in the same profession who have gotten paid exorbitant rates for doing exactly what I do. Their skill and experience is no different than mine, and in some cases inferior, but they still get paid huge sums of money. Management has a great deal to do with that. One other reason may be that they have a very specific skill, such as knowledge of a software package that a corporation has. The people with this knowledge are few in number so those who have those skills will command high wages. There is a downside to this situation. If the company using this software decides to use some other package, the consultant will be out of a job. Other corporations could be using this package but maybe they have no need for anyone to come to their assistance. Thus very specific skills can pay very well but the limitation of knowing just one package could leave you on the outside.
xxxxxDisadvantages of consulting include the fact that you won't get paid if you are sick, on vacation, it is July 4th or any other holiday and you are not at work or you decide to take a personal day. You must pay for your own insurance coverage and you could be on call and not receive one cent for it. I have already dwelt on the topic of being "on call" so I won't belabor the point. The contract you are on could end at any time and you may have a period of time with no money coming into your checking account.
xxxxxOn a number of occasions I had contracts end rather abruptly but fortunately I had another place to work within a short period of time. There was one occasion when I went six months between contracts. And that was in the spring when I bought the house in which I currently live. I did manage somehow and you need to be prepared for just such situations. If you are concerned about security, you may not want to be a consultant.
xxxxxYou also need to pay for your own retirement although it is very possible that your consulting firm will have a 401-K plan to which you can contribute. Of course, it still comes out of your pocket. You may also have to pay twice the FICA that you ordinarily would pay but that depends on how the firm pays you. In addition you may also have to deal with the IRS, which no one cares to do.
xxxxxAnother disadvantage is you will have to go on many interviews, even if you never get turned down. After a while you will get used to it although they are some things that are hard to take. Interviewers might say afterwards that they didn't hire you because they thought you would be bored. In that case maybe they really did you a favor. I had one interview not long ago and found out the person talking to me didn't think I could "handle the user." Should I have brought a knife or gun to the interview? On another occasion my interviewer was ill. I didn't get the work but instead wound up with "pink eye" from shaking her hand.
xxxxx Contracting means that you will probably get the jobs that the full time employees don't want, namely maintenance work. Many times these same people will treat you like an outsider, talking about you behind your back. I doubt that they will be singing your praises most of the time. You also won't be able to take a vacation precisely when you want it and you are stuck with dealing with a consulting firm, which I will get into much further detail later.
xxxxxOf course there are trade-offs. You will meet many more different people than if you were a full time employee of a corporation, even if you changed jobs every five years. Every year I invite to my corn roast over two dozen people whom I have met while doing contract work. Naturally, since you do meet so many people, there will be some whom you will wish you hadn't met. Fortunately the end of an assignment means that you may not run into them for a long time.
xxxxxSome of just those types of people include, for me, a co-worker on the year 2000 project that seemed to have a bad attitude towards everything and everyone. I recall him getting on the phone and complaining to the help desk about the software we were using. The recipients of his ire weren't too happy and eventually wouldn't return his calls. I can't say I blame them. One thing you never want to do is get on the bad side of people who can come to your assistance. The last I heard he was shipped out to some faraway post where he could do little damage.
xxxxxEven before I became a consultant I ran into one who was hard to forget. He was big and tall and I recall his wardrobe. He had a blue suit, green suit and a red suit. I'm not sure how he covered the other two days of the week, but he did have shoes that matched each suit, one of each color! He used to sit at his terminal and monitor the production system runs and he was quite talented. He was one of the few people I ever met who could do this while not even being awake. Did I mention that he was talented?
xxxxxOn another project I was blessed with not one but a crew of characters. The first person had skills but I really couldn't figure out exactly what they were. Actually she did have the ability to produce paper as documentation, most of which a year later was irrelevant and useless. The second person was less knowledgeable from a technical point of view but he got paid more than any of us despite the fact that a few of us did all the work for which he took the credit. The last person was also a consultant but he really didn't want to do any work and seemed to hate most of mankind.
xxxxxAs a consultant you will have the opportunity to learn about all kinds of computer systems and disciplines. You are expected to know just about everything relative to software and to be able to quickly adapt to new environments. You have to know where and whom to get information from to make you productive on your very first day on the contract. This means there is hardly a chance that you will be bored and these circumstances indicate that this way of life is not for everyone.
xxxxxYou will also be able to avoid much of the politics of the company and if not, you can be content that the length of the contract will mean that you will be free of any burden in this regard quite soon. Being a temporary worker could also mean that you can avoid a few meetings. If you do wind up in a situation that isn't the most ideal, all you need do is remember that each contract has a time limit. Even if you are on a contract that you enjoy, you will still feel great when it is over.
xxxxxYou may also be able to work a four-day week or be allowed to telecommute. I have experienced the three-day weekend regularly on quite a few of my assignments, including the last three. Working at home would also be a plus but you will probably have to really press to do that. Either scenario is something that the full time people already do in many cases.
xxxxxI mentioned the disadvantage relative to the IRS but there is also a great benefit as far as your taxes go. You can deduct many things that you never could as a full time employee, such as meals, mileage, tolls and parking. Even if the Internal Revenue Service doesn't consider you self employed you still have some of these benefits. Thus certain costs that you can't avoid whether you are a consultant or an employee can have an effect on your tax return. This means more money for you and less for the government. I don't think too many people will complain about that.
xxxxxThe last benefit is probably the best. If you work forty hours, you will get paid for forty. This is in direct contrast to the salaried people who get paid the same amount whether they work forty or sixty hours, if they are on site on the weekend or on call for the night. With this advantage, you will probably get paid more than the full-time employees do and there is a good chance, more than your boss does. From my chapter on management you will agree with the fact that you deserve it since you are more productive.
xxxxxThe way you get paid is simple. On an occasion or two I worked a contract where I billed the company directly and they paid me. Thus I may have gotten $25 an hour and thus got a check from them for $1000 for forty hours of work. Nothing was withheld and I did have to take care of taxes, insurance and so on. You may be able to do this on some contracts but it is rare. More likely you will be working through a consulting firm, who will take a percentage of the billing.
xxxxxLet us say that the billing rate is $100 an hour. The company where you work pays the consulting firm that amount for each hour you labor and you will be paid a certain rate, say $35 an hour. You might think that they are taking a great deal of the billing rate and you would be correct. Generally, the consulting firm will give you 70% of the billing. So in this case you would get $70 an hour. It varies from contract to contract and from firm to firm.
xxxxxThe consulting firm could pay you through a 1099, without withholding taxes or anything else and it would be more profitable for them. This would be similar to when you billed the company directly and you would still be liable for taxes and so forth. Most of the time they will withhold taxes, Medicare, FICA and disability insurance and pay you with a standard W-2. You would still need you own health insurance and perhaps your own pension plan.
xxxxx If you want to get paid by a 1099, the consulting agency may demand you to be incorporated. I have a tax ID number but I am not incorporated. One contract demanded me to be so but I really didn't want to bother so I asked if the firm could write a check to my friend's company and he in turn could then pay me. This was agreed upon and I was to bill the agency once a month. All the billing and check processing went through the mails, which wound up taking some time. Thus I wouldn't get paid for the first day in June that I worked until around the middle of July. That's a six-week delay in getting paid. No one ever said a consultant's life is easy.
xxxxxYou could also work for the consulting firm as a full time employee and have all the benefits such as holidays, pension plan, insurance, sick days and paid vacation. Of course the firm would have to come up with money to cover these expenses. They do this by paying you less and this is no different than if you were an employee of some company and not a consultant. But eventually the contract will end and they will then send you to another, if they have one. If not they will pay you and you could take courses or do miscellaneous computer work at the office. This is what is referred to as being "on the bench." Unfortunately, you could fall off the bench; that is, they could stop paying you and send you on your way. This way of working seems to only have an advantage for the firm and not you.
xxxxxI mentioned the billing rate split relative to the consulting firm but didn't mention that some companies won't tell you what it is. They will just tell you what you will be getting and then cry that they're not making enough profits. They may also ask you not to reveal your rate to anyone else. On one occasion I was offered a bonus for my good performance and I should have taken it. Instead I asked for an increase in my rate. In the long run I wound up with less cash thanks to the way the agent calculated what I would be getting. He rounded down rather than up.
xxxxxUnfortunately many firms do things that are really dumb. On one occasion, before I left a contract I was to teach my replacement exactly what I had done for months. I did so willingly and happened to see a copy of his resume, which indicated to me that he had more experience than I had when I began my contract. If that was the case, why did I have to teach him anything? I left the contract and he was booted out of the company a few weeks later. The consulting firm had enhanced his resume just to get him the work. Like I said, that was really dumb.
xxxxxMany firms do this, but it only serves to eliminate that firm from the client company. There is an exception where a firm has a presence within a company and they provide bodies, technically strong or not, and the rest of the crew can carry these individuals until they are proficient. However, you can never do what the firm I was working for did. It will cost you.
xxxxxAn even larger consulting firm bought out another firm for which I contracted. At first not too much changed but after a while certain people in the firm were dismissed for financial reasons. I was working a contract where this original firm had a huge presence but the sales people let go had a big impact with this health care company. After all, they knew management at the company and they brought in the business for the consulting firm. You can probably guess what happened in this case. One representative, whom I have known for a few years landed a job with another consulting firm and edged her way into this same health care company. Eventually her new firm had the larger presence and the other company faded. And they said downsizing was a good thing!
xxxxxUsually any overtime hours results in you getting paid the same rate. However, on two occasions I did get paid time and a half. I don't believe it affected the billing rate, meaning the consulting firm had to eat the difference. One of the firms that did pay me for overtime actually gave me a Christmas bonus. At only one other time did I get this extra dividend. It wasn't a lot, but better than nothing, which was typical for most contracts.
xxxxxWhen I worked for the former, I had more experience than any other consultant there did so I'm sure that they paid me the highest rate despite the fact that our billing rates were probably all the same. If you do the math, you will see that I was the least profitable for this consulting agency. When the contract ended, I was one of the first to be let go. Others were assigned to another division of the same company and I was without a contract. I did get work with another firm and on my first day on that contract, I got home to listen to a message on my answering machine saying that the original firm wanted me to start work in this other division the following Monday. Of course I couldn't do that since I was working. Had they placed me first, they could have placed us all and their billing and profits would have been slightly higher than what occurred. There's nothing like greed!
xxxxxAnd yet companies do just this same thing when they try to place less experienced people just to make more profit. In the long run they lose out, as now they have to bring in reinforcements to clean up the mess that rookies produced. If you were a corporation and some consulting firm did this to you, would you even consider dealing with them anymore? I certainly wouldn't.
xxxxxSometimes on a contract you may not be really happy and decide to leave. Not long ago a contractor of the firm that I also was employed by felt just like that and left. I thought about calling the agency and taking advantage of the predicament by asking for a rate increase. I didn't even have to do that as they called me and asked what they had to do to make sure that I didn't bolt also. Sometimes things really work out!
xxxxxUsually a consulting firm will not move you if you are dissatisfied. If they don't have a replacement, they may not have a choice. They really don't want to lose the billing. But moving the person to another contract means that they still will have some money coming in from this worker. If they don't move him and they lose him, they wind up with nothing. From a financial point of view, it seems to me that they should get him another contract and keep him happy.
xxxxxConsulting agencies also have a few other practices that should be mentioned. The first has to do with sending your resume to a company without telling you. They say didn't have time to contact you, but companies don't exactly rush to fill openings so they have plenty of opportunity to at least leave a message. This is done for a reason. Let us say that consulting firm A has ten candidates for a company that has five openings. Meanwhile consulting firm B has only my resume to submit, which they do with my approval. By firm A's action of submitting my resume without my approval, you probably can see what has occurred. The manager looking at the resumes will see mine twice and rather than trying to figure out which firm to credit for it if he decides to hire me will just forget about me completely. But that's fine with firm A since they have nine other candidates and at the same time they have flushed firm B from contention.
xxxxxI had an interview for a Y2K project and I thought the interview went well. I know the work had to be done and I waited to hear from the consulting agency. A week passed, and then a few more, but no word. Eventually the same representative of the consulting firm called and asked me if I was still available for a contract. I told him I was and asked about the previous interview. He said the company didn't get back to him and perhaps the company was at fault but he should have at least called me to give me some news.
xxxxxThis is not an isolated case and you can send your resume and not be contacted for weeks. The corporations as well as the consulting agencies can share the blame. Sometimes, the former announce openings that are no longer there or even needed a week later. They may not even return the calls to the agencies, which in turn won't contact you. When I left one contract, my immediate supervisor mentioned that the representative of my consulting firm could have been more active in pursuing opportunities. I could have been replaced but the firm didn't offer anyone.
xxxxxAs far as my actual consulting experience goes, I have been doing it for over twenty-two years at major corporations on the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida. I have had over two dozen contracts in at least twelve cities in four states, mostly New York. My experience has involved the food industry, banking and credit, manufacturing, health care, entertainment, utilities, a local government, two computer companies as well as education. I have worked on mainframe computers as well microcomputers and minicomputers.
xxxxx I have worked for over a dozen different consulting agencies and have been impressed by too few and disappointed by the rest. Most of these organizations could care less about you as a human being. All they really care about is the money that you bring in. Over the years, my efforts have enabled management in various consulting firms to be behind the wheels of Mercedes, Porsches and BMWs.
xxxxxAs a contractor, you hear many untrue statements from the agency. For example, I was on a Y2K project on the testing team when its leader quit for another position. At the time I was attempting to get transferred to another similar project closer to home with the same agency. One manager from my consulting firm asked me to stay on for another month or so until things got settled and I agreed. He also stipulated that he would increase my rate since I was willing to remain. On numerous occasions I reminded him of his promise, which I had yet to see fulfilled but he just said it would be taken care of the next week. After a few weeks I told him that without the increase I couldn't guarantee him that I wouldn't take another offer if it arose. To this he said that if that happened, he wanted to be able to make a counter-offer.
xxxxxI said that the rebuttal could never happen since it would be too late at that point. It would not make sense for me to interview somewhere else and just about accept the forthcoming offer only to turn it down and remain where I was. Not long after that I did leave for a better rate and he did propose an attractive counteroffer, which I couldn't accept. All he had to do was come up with what he had promised and I would have remained and not even bothered to look elsewhere.
xxxxxThe contract that you sign means almost nothing. It states that you have to give two to four weeks notice before leaving in most cases. However, you can be let go with just cause "in a flash." Assuming that you "perform," this means that they can give you a moment's notice and I have already spoken about my experiences in this regard. This agreement on termination comes from the client but the consulting agency does nothing to have identical departure notification on the part of the consultant and the company.
xxxxxRelative to the ends of contracts, if you are a competent worker, strive to be the best and work hard, you should have minimum time lags between contracts. Over the years I have had a few long breaks, but in most cases the gap was minimal. In a few cases I ended at one company on Friday and the following Monday found me at another contract. If you do a great job, you will be rewarded by being taken out to lunch (if you are lucky), rather than given a rate increase by your agent.
xxxxxMost firms will pay you less than you deserve, paying you as little as they can. You really have to press to get what is coming to you. Fortunately you do have an edge since they need you and perhaps can't find anyone else for a particular spot. You should be rewarded for your experience and if the client likes your work and hates to see you go, you have even more of an advantage. Nevertheless, being a consultant is not for everyone.

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