anyone moved into IT Consultancy and enjoyed it?
Discussion
Hi,
I have heard that you learn more in Consultancy (IT) as compare to working on in house project in one company as you deal with different clients in consultancy work plus free training courses but the downside is travelling.
I have been working as a senior .net developer for over 7 years and always worked on in house projects but new job offer is in consultancy firm (required SC) working on government projects, don't know if it’s worth taking it.
Please share your experience and did you like it.
I have heard that you learn more in Consultancy (IT) as compare to working on in house project in one company as you deal with different clients in consultancy work plus free training courses but the downside is travelling.
I have been working as a senior .net developer for over 7 years and always worked on in house projects but new job offer is in consultancy firm (required SC) working on government projects, don't know if it’s worth taking it.
Please share your experience and did you like it.
Edited by sdyson31 on Tuesday 11th August 22:03
I've enjoyed it. The variety is good. The expectation of long hours, especially when junior not so much, but put in a bit of time and you can increase the flexibility. Government clients are... interesting... I've done long projects with the public sector/government and the stereotypes are true for many staff (only there for the pension, clock-watchers, time-servers, etc) but mixed in there are some genuinely good people. SC clearance is nothing to worry about.
sdyson31 said:
I am talking about permanent consultancy work. Do you work in IT?
Yep, started as a permit with Reebok, moved to consulting with PwC then IBM, now a contractor working with a large government client (mostly!).Specialise in Oracle systems, specifically systems integration, interfaces and data migrations.
Edited by ewenm on Tuesday 11th August 22:17
ewenm said:
Yep, started as a permit with Reebok, moved to consulting with PwC then IBM, now a contractor working on a large government client (mostly!).
Specialise in Oracle systems, specifically systems integration, interfaces and data migrations.
I have been working in .Net and SQL / ORACLE. Specialise in Oracle systems, specifically systems integration, interfaces and data migrations.
Technology is moving very fast and now i have to move into MVC and C# from VB.NET and ASP.NET. I am currently working on Vendor Inspection software for oil and gas company and i think there are only 8 or 9 companies in the world who have designed this kind of system.
I like working on both front and back end , i did Oracle PL/SQL certifications few years ago worked with it for good few years but now using SQL SERVER 2008 R2.
sdyson31 said:
I have been working in .Net and SQL / ORACLE.
Technology is moving very fast and now i have to move into MVC and C# from VB.NET and ASP.NET. I am currently working on Vendor Inspection software for oil and gas company and i think there are only 8 or 9 companies in the world who have designed this kind of system.
I like working on both front and back end , i did Oracle PL/SQL certifications few years ago worked with it for good few years but now using SQL SERVER 2008 R2.
As I said above, in consultancy work the variety is good and the opportunities are there for serious career progression if you put the work in and tick the right boxes. It turns out that sort of thing wasn't for me - I prefer doing the work rather than managing the workers, so switched to contracting. However, I didn't know that about myself at first and I wouldn't have been able to make the change as effectively without the consulting experience first. I'd say go for it Technology is moving very fast and now i have to move into MVC and C# from VB.NET and ASP.NET. I am currently working on Vendor Inspection software for oil and gas company and i think there are only 8 or 9 companies in the world who have designed this kind of system.
I like working on both front and back end , i did Oracle PL/SQL certifications few years ago worked with it for good few years but now using SQL SERVER 2008 R2.
You need to be willing to travel and potentially move around the country. I worked for EDS Defence for a bit, before HP bought them. I wasn't willing to do the moving and so I got stuck on a dead-end account which was very boring. The younger, freer people got some really good gigs because they were happy to move - the central programming function was in Swansea and EDS Defence HQ was in Hook so it was all over the place.
don't do it
My experience working for most of them is only do it if the job is a stepping stone to something else and definitely do not do it if you have a family.
You can be expected to work ridiculous hours (client placement + company commitments), lots of backstabbing and school-yard politics, general poor management, often dumped with little support
I do it in the Finance industry.
Started off permie with the Banks.
Contracting with other Banks.
Consulting (as permie) for more Banks.
below is what I wrote last time.
I was contracting and have been in the past working for the likes of HSBC, Citigroup, etc...
Last stint was for over 2 years, but was working a hell of a lot (12+ hours a day), but I was lead on the whole development of the platform for the department and left shortly after it went live.
Then I got pissed off taking 4/5 interviews per job, doing anything up to 6/7 technical tests a week, I was contacted about a relative unknown company (to me) and they wanted experienced hires, so I applied. Permie work and the wages is over 1/2 what I was getting on days rates, but then I need to factor in the whole package and holidays so it works out well.
Im now effectively back contracting again, so can pick and choose my jobs as this is a Consultancy role, however as I have been security checked and done the technical tests, my 'interviews' consist of a coffee with the Project owner that usually lasts for 30-45 minutes and that is it, we gauge each other to see if I want to work there and if they think I would be a good fit.
They have offices all over the world, so if I were to be needed in Europe, I would be able to do the work there and use one of the company properties and stay there free of charge.
Im mostly in the Finance world using mainly microsoft tech stack (MVC/WCF/WPF/SQL/JS/blah blah blah).
Started off permie with the Banks.
Contracting with other Banks.
Consulting (as permie) for more Banks.
below is what I wrote last time.
I was contracting and have been in the past working for the likes of HSBC, Citigroup, etc...
Last stint was for over 2 years, but was working a hell of a lot (12+ hours a day), but I was lead on the whole development of the platform for the department and left shortly after it went live.
Then I got pissed off taking 4/5 interviews per job, doing anything up to 6/7 technical tests a week, I was contacted about a relative unknown company (to me) and they wanted experienced hires, so I applied. Permie work and the wages is over 1/2 what I was getting on days rates, but then I need to factor in the whole package and holidays so it works out well.
Im now effectively back contracting again, so can pick and choose my jobs as this is a Consultancy role, however as I have been security checked and done the technical tests, my 'interviews' consist of a coffee with the Project owner that usually lasts for 30-45 minutes and that is it, we gauge each other to see if I want to work there and if they think I would be a good fit.
They have offices all over the world, so if I were to be needed in Europe, I would be able to do the work there and use one of the company properties and stay there free of charge.
Im mostly in the Finance world using mainly microsoft tech stack (MVC/WCF/WPF/SQL/JS/blah blah blah).
Du1point8 said:
I do it in the Finance industry.
Started off permie with the Banks.
Contracting with other Banks.
Consulting (as permie) for more Banks.
below is what I wrote last time.
I was contracting and have been in the past working for the likes of HSBC, Citigroup, etc...
Last stint was for over 2 years, but was working a hell of a lot (12+ hours a day), but I was lead on the whole development of the platform for the department and left shortly after it went live.
Then I got pissed off taking 4/5 interviews per job, doing anything up to 6/7 technical tests a week, I was contacted about a relative unknown company (to me) and they wanted experienced hires, so I applied. Permie work and the wages is over 1/2 what I was getting on days rates, but then I need to factor in the whole package and holidays so it works out well.
Im now effectively back contracting again, so can pick and choose my jobs as this is a Consultancy role, however as I have been security checked and done the technical tests, my 'interviews' consist of a coffee with the Project owner that usually lasts for 30-45 minutes and that is it, we gauge each other to see if I want to work there and if they think I would be a good fit.
They have offices all over the world, so if I were to be needed in Europe, I would be able to do the work there and use one of the company properties and stay there free of charge.
Im mostly in the Finance world using mainly microsoft tech stack (MVC/WCF/WPF/SQL/JS/blah blah blah).
Could you please pm me your contact details, i need bit more advise on this job offer.Started off permie with the Banks.
Contracting with other Banks.
Consulting (as permie) for more Banks.
below is what I wrote last time.
I was contracting and have been in the past working for the likes of HSBC, Citigroup, etc...
Last stint was for over 2 years, but was working a hell of a lot (12+ hours a day), but I was lead on the whole development of the platform for the department and left shortly after it went live.
Then I got pissed off taking 4/5 interviews per job, doing anything up to 6/7 technical tests a week, I was contacted about a relative unknown company (to me) and they wanted experienced hires, so I applied. Permie work and the wages is over 1/2 what I was getting on days rates, but then I need to factor in the whole package and holidays so it works out well.
Im now effectively back contracting again, so can pick and choose my jobs as this is a Consultancy role, however as I have been security checked and done the technical tests, my 'interviews' consist of a coffee with the Project owner that usually lasts for 30-45 minutes and that is it, we gauge each other to see if I want to work there and if they think I would be a good fit.
They have offices all over the world, so if I were to be needed in Europe, I would be able to do the work there and use one of the company properties and stay there free of charge.
Im mostly in the Finance world using mainly microsoft tech stack (MVC/WCF/WPF/SQL/JS/blah blah blah).
It'll depend a little on the Consultancy. My previous employer looked great on paper - massive company, interesting clients, gret looking opportunities, etc. In reality they were effectively a body-shop with no interest in employee development, career progression or training. Just being out on site 100%.
Didn't join them to be a travelling consultant though, my role was to be work agile projects for a big pharma client. When their contract ended to supply the role I left and joined the client in a completely different area. I had no intention of living out of a hotel or commuting 2 hours to a new client site and they made no fuss about the jumping ship - as they never did when employees went to their clients.
Might be different if you're at a really good consultancy and you fancy living from a hotel.
Didn't join them to be a travelling consultant though, my role was to be work agile projects for a big pharma client. When their contract ended to supply the role I left and joined the client in a completely different area. I had no intention of living out of a hotel or commuting 2 hours to a new client site and they made no fuss about the jumping ship - as they never did when employees went to their clients.
Might be different if you're at a really good consultancy and you fancy living from a hotel.
Other option for me is to stay in my current job for another year and on side start developing current application in MVC and Entity Framework (on Saturdays) and get grip on new technologies and then start looking for new roles.
There are some grey areas in new job, 1) I have told my line manager that i won't work on financial projects (banking and insurance) due to my religious ethics and he is happy with it, don't know if this will weaker my position in the company later on 2) They are talking about using new technologies on upcoming projects but don't know if this really going to happen as i won't be working on financial products.
Too much to think about...
There are some grey areas in new job, 1) I have told my line manager that i won't work on financial projects (banking and insurance) due to my religious ethics and he is happy with it, don't know if this will weaker my position in the company later on 2) They are talking about using new technologies on upcoming projects but don't know if this really going to happen as i won't be working on financial products.
Too much to think about...
Edited by sdyson31 on Wednesday 12th August 13:01
That might be a sticking point in any advice I can offer if you have morals and ethics.
I work in a world were you just do the job and there is no such word as can't/won't.
The company I work for is rather unique and when I was hired I was number 450 employee, they are now at 1100 and mostly grads, Im here to mentor and run the grad teams, only issue being I got stuck on a project (first month here) and the money is too good for me to turn it down (money to the company, not me)... So I take the fact that its sometimes boring, I work alone, but the consultancy damn well know Im doing them a favour for all this.
That job is now coming to an end, either but its own natural ending or I will kill the project at Xmas as agreed with the consultancy that I want out and no-one is qualified enough to take over.
So the training, use of apartments, working in London/Europe... its all good, but don't expect a foot in many consultancy doors with the can't/won't on the ethics front as to be blunt, you are there to do a job for the client, your opinions come second.
PM sent BTW.
I work in a world were you just do the job and there is no such word as can't/won't.
The company I work for is rather unique and when I was hired I was number 450 employee, they are now at 1100 and mostly grads, Im here to mentor and run the grad teams, only issue being I got stuck on a project (first month here) and the money is too good for me to turn it down (money to the company, not me)... So I take the fact that its sometimes boring, I work alone, but the consultancy damn well know Im doing them a favour for all this.
That job is now coming to an end, either but its own natural ending or I will kill the project at Xmas as agreed with the consultancy that I want out and no-one is qualified enough to take over.
So the training, use of apartments, working in London/Europe... its all good, but don't expect a foot in many consultancy doors with the can't/won't on the ethics front as to be blunt, you are there to do a job for the client, your opinions come second.
PM sent BTW.
1) Yes, of course it will.
2) Don't bank on anything beyond the immediate client requirements in terms of cool new stuff to play with. SC cleared projects are less likely to have cool new stuff than industries with actual money. Like banking and finance (well, some bits of it).
You are of secondary importance in a consultancy to the bloke with the money. Always. And you need to be wary of managers who think that wooden internal dollars are actual money.
2) Don't bank on anything beyond the immediate client requirements in terms of cool new stuff to play with. SC cleared projects are less likely to have cool new stuff than industries with actual money. Like banking and finance (well, some bits of it).
You are of secondary importance in a consultancy to the bloke with the money. Always. And you need to be wary of managers who think that wooden internal dollars are actual money.
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