Anyone thought of going independent?
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Left Capgemini a month ago for independent. I don't want to do sales and dont care for the principle/partner grind.
Went from about 200k all in to 150 an hour. Raw numbers are great, but you have to pull benefits in. Going to be quite a bit ahead, but not as much as you would think. Insurance is crazy (its horrible that our country has ended up in this position). 2.5k a month for Cobra is best deal...18 months from now Ill be on my own for more expensive with a crappier plan.
Also took a hit with invoicing. Will be month and a half before first check and in the meantime I'm fronting 2k a week expenses.
Saying that...I care about the job only. No extra work other than that. Right now I'm bored. It will get heavy later in the project, but that might mean a couple extra hours a day with little weekend work. This is a long term contract that ends in March of next year, but I'll try to get on the next project after.
This allows me to develop a software company on the side that will fund my retirement.
Will have taxes to write off..but don't know how that will work out until i actually see it.
The contracting company is my old boss. He's got 4 or 5 people working for him. That's the way to do it. He lives in bay area and no longer travels. Does his own projects too...but doesn't have to sweat between projects. He can be really picky what clients to work for and has strict no assholes policy.
Would do again, but has to be right situation. Money needs to be significantly more...unless SO has insurance you can ride.
Not for my position...I'm a project manager. Ill have a software company that I'm developing now that can be sold as software.
Used to be a contractor before, now dreaming about starting a small boutique firm.
Hmmm... the republicans and the democrats are both lost. Do you think it will make a difference if I go independent ?
Thought of it, had nightmares, stopped thinking about it. Not my cup of tea because I’m terrible at marketing and networking, and too risk-averse. Obviously can be a great option if you can solve those challenges but I don’t have the energy or aptitude for it.
Same as C1 here. Love to do the work, but hate to sell it. If I leave consulting, I'm going back to industry.
I did it for 4 years between industry gig and Uncle D. cg1 ticks most of the pertinent boxes in his reply - if you can lead with a long term deal that’s a nice soft landing. Key point cg1 makes and I violently agree with is don’t be seduced by ‘my new salary is 52x$hourlyrate’ - insurance, accounting services, taxes, etc knock that number back fast.
I will say that I will 100% do it again before I stop working.
Let me also add...I'm going to be doing much better, but its a tough start. First day was April 8. Paperwork issues the first week couple weeks before i was able to start submitting invoices. Hoping to get my first check first of next month with net 30 terms. With expenses, I've got $50k in outstanding invoices. I'm on Cobra and we've had a major medical issue. Because Cobra hadn't kicked into my insurance company, had to put 4k to an mri, plus this month and next month payment of almost 5k. Will be great as soon as payments start to come in, but hurting right now.
I interviewed a guy who was running his own show a few months ago for a high level Solutions Arch role. He had a few offshore teams he worked with. He did all the on shore work and sales. He said it was an absolute grind - long days and lots of weekends.
I think he may have been able to grow it, but like small service biz owners I know - hiring more staff means a pay cut for a while. If you can find the right people.
He found the pay, benefits, and PTO to be better and ended up at a competing firm. I am sure he will progress quickly.
I bet he keeps his business when he finds a regular paycheck.
Any one know if there is a demand for change mgmt contractors for sap or other tech implementations?
By your wording I am assuming you dont mean OCM. Release management? Possibly for a Charm implementation? The only problem that you will have is a lot of that work is going to be in house because its ongoing. However, lots of demand right now for SAP...better than I've seen since early 2000.
Put yourself out there on Linkedin, Indeed, Dice (in that order). You must set those apps to say you are actively looking and make sure you update your resume so it has a new date on it. I didn't have luck with that in 2012 but a ton of hits earlier this year that made it to client interviews. Hitting up your network isn't a bad thing either, but you have to be careful of who knows your looking.
Yes and have. It’s been an amazing experience. It’s a lot of work but it’s all mine.
I did it for a couple of years. Not for me. It was a boom and bust cycle. You eat what you kill so you market like crazy to get work and then keep it going. But you don’t have time to keep marketing because you are consumed with delivery. If the project ends, you haven’t kept the pipeline full so you go hungry until the next gig. Plus I hate all the administrative stuff and short-term cash flow problems at startup...
Nope. Really bad idea before retirement.