Technical I.T Consultant
- Thread starter Tom|Nbk
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Soldato
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benktlottie said:A Consultant after only a year and a half? You sure?Makes me smile when I get CV's through titled in great big bold capitalised Ariel IT CONSULTANT when they have 2 years Helpdesk experience. You should see them try and blag Network Topology, SQL databases, Migration and Project strategy or Test scenarios. We soon weed out the 'Consultants' ! LOL
Anyway, one of the best part of my current consultancy is the staying away. I get to run a tab up at very nice hotels, and it means one or two nights away from the wife and kids! Absolute bliss...
Dont be a pleb keep an open mind.
2 years of current experience in an Enterprise Architecture by a spotty 27year old will blow away your many years of consultancy experience on legacy systems.
I went consulting after 3 years and have pulled 6 figures consistant through the past 8 years even through the .bomb era.
As it stands I would rather hire the 27yr old than the Jedi master any day.
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Subliminal Aura said:
I'm 31 years old and am fully upto speed with the technologies required for infrastructure and operating system upgrades. I have seen so much crap filtering through in the last 6/7 years since I have become a decision maker with 18 years olds claiming to be IT Consultants, when all theyve done is repair and upgraded their PC's or their friends PC's. I agree though, 2 years of current experience will get you an interview with me.
The thing with the Jedi master is they come with experience, which the 27 year old spotty will not have. I dont mean the 55 years old mainframe VAX guru with an aging skill set. If the 55 years old comes through with 20 years of VAX, and 2 years of current enterprise skills, then he would maybe get the job over the 27 year old as I know he'll have the wiser head.
We've both generalised here. Theres no wrong or right answer. No need to call me a pleb really, was there? Considering I have interviewed around 100 "IT Consultants" in the last 6/7 years, and I would say only 10 have actually been Consultants, I speak from experience...
Maybe i forgot to say im not a consultant, im a contractor. MAybe thats why i see a differnt side to life in the IT market, not sure.
When i say get on with 99% of people, i mean ont he outside you need to be nice to 99% of the people you work with, you can not allow people to get to you as a contractor, its just not allowed.
As for 11 hour days. with driving to and from work, wigan -> leeds, 11 hours is easy to clock up. As for working hard, yes i dare say i do sometimes. Then again i enjoy it so its not really work.
I would advise anyoen to do contracting 1st, get the skill set in the job you want then go to consultant. Personaly - im enjoying contracting work, good to get your hands dirty and be around people who will share ideas.
Sorry if i confused the idea, forgot consultants are the ones who talk about it and contractors are the one's who do it lol... [bet that gets a few ppl going!]
ColiN - 10 year contractor
When i say get on with 99% of people, i mean ont he outside you need to be nice to 99% of the people you work with, you can not allow people to get to you as a contractor, its just not allowed.
As for 11 hour days. with driving to and from work, wigan -> leeds, 11 hours is easy to clock up. As for working hard, yes i dare say i do sometimes. Then again i enjoy it so its not really work.
I would advise anyoen to do contracting 1st, get the skill set in the job you want then go to consultant. Personaly - im enjoying contracting work, good to get your hands dirty and be around people who will share ideas.
Sorry if i confused the idea, forgot consultants are the ones who talk about it and contractors are the one's who do it lol... [bet that gets a few ppl going!]
ColiN - 10 year contractor
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colinuk said:Sorry if i confused the idea, forgot consultants are the ones who talk about it and contractors are the one's who do it lol... [bet that gets a few ppl going!]
ColiN - 10 year contractor
* Consultants talk b***xs , Contractors do the b***xs.
LOLz very well said - wonder how others would classify themselves
I'm a contractor myself but I did do 2 years of a mix of Enterprise, Systems and Applications Architecture and found myself teetering on the edge of this ' consultancy ' crap.
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Hmm I would say consultants do the, er doing too. Contractors only come in when the consultants either don't have the required skills or they're all tied up on other work.
Teledude said:The Hilton over here is cack - did you venture into Colours at all?!
And what were you doing over here if you don't mind me asking?
Yeah it was cack... ventured into colours both times I was there *shudders*
I was there supporting our IOM office as their IT guy left for greener pastures a couple of weeks ago.
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colinuk said:Maybe i forgot to say im not a consultant, im a contractor. MAybe thats why i see a differnt side to life in the IT market, not sure.
When i say get on with 99% of people, i mean ont he outside you need to be nice to 99% of the people you work with, you can not allow people to get to you as a contractor, its just not allowed.
As for 11 hour days. with driving to and from work, wigan -> leeds, 11 hours is easy to clock up. As for working hard, yes i dare say i do sometimes. Then again i enjoy it so its not really work.
I would advise anyoen to do contracting 1st, get the skill set in the job you want then go to consultant. Personaly - im enjoying contracting work, good to get your hands dirty and be around people who will share ideas.
Sorry if i confused the idea, forgot consultants are the ones who talk about it and contractors are the one's who do it lol... [bet that gets a few ppl going!]
ColiN - 10 year contractor
LOL, well put mate. I used to do work. Now I dont not really. I do miss the day to day grind of Support. It was so much fun.
Unfortunately, all I do now is make decisions that sometimes effect 100's and occasionally 1000's of peoples work. Its a hard life really...Ben - Never had a permie job, loves to Consult, but is still a contractor at heart!!!
Richdog said:Yeah it was cack... ventured into colours both times I was there *shudders*
I was there supporting our IOM office as their IT guy left for greener pastures a couple of weeks ago.
LOL next time you get called over make sure you stay in the Sefton and hit Cest La Vie in town for some nice totty at night
benktlottie said:
Was it easy for you to get your initial clients when you started out? Eventually I plan to doing contract consulting but I was planning on getting one of the big companies to train me up first then start doing freelance/contracting once I have more contacts/training.
I am currently working on a summer placement as a developer (with ibm) but I don't really fancy doing 9-5 coding for the rest of my life. I am not sure if this is going to help me on grad schemes since most of the consultancy companies don't seem to care what degree / experience so long as you got a high level of education.
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Una said:
For me personally, I worked through agencies like anyone else who does contracting. You just build up from there. IT Contracting is a small world really, and you end up meeting the same people over and over again. These people eventually ask you to work on projects for them, then you ask them. Then someone else will ring you up and say 'how dyou fancy this?'
My current consultancy is for a client I worked with 5 years ago. I found out through the grapevine they were looking, had a word or two, and here I am.
You definately started well. A summer placement with IBM is very good. That'll look good on the CV. Take them for all the training you can aswell mate.
Also, dont rely on them for training. Sometimes, youll have to provide your own, and its worth every penny.Vanilla said:Amen to that. I'm currently in Athens. Last night I had a lovely rooftop dinner over looking the Acropolis and hill and retiring to one o the best hotels in the city
Now that does sound better than LEEDS! wet and windy, although just had a nice cofee, doesnt sound as good as your location lol...
Still, one day, i will get a good contract
ColiN