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I don’t quite believe these stories but the obvious conclusion is to start your own consulting company where you are not limited by employment contracts…

jameshush 4y ago
Exactly. Why be sneaky when you could go the tried and true consulting -> productized consulting -> product route without worrying about losing your reputation?
- VBprogrammer 4y ago
  I'm sure there are a lot of companies where hiring people is (perhaps inexplicably) much harder than taking in consultants. I think some of these people are taking advantage of situations where employers are wrongly preferring employees to consultants.
  - Beaver117 4y ago
    Also perhaps hiring standards have just become too crazy. Most tech companies make us jump through so many hoops that only the top lets say 1% make it through. Well that same 1% can probably also make it through every other company's hoops too. So theoretically they can get as many jobs as they want. But companies don't want to hire the top 25% or middle 25% they leave these hoops to filter average candidates out
  - sharemywin 4y ago
    most large companies only go through specific companies for traditional software development roles.
turnsout 4y ago
…and watch as SW consulting engagements go from $50,000 to $50. I fear we’re racing to commoditize ourselves. Will we look back at the hiring frenzy of 2021 as the peak?
- sharemywin 4y ago
  the labor market has always been a race to the bottom. I think the last 20-30 years has been an exception.
  - sharemywin 4y ago
    all commodity markets are a race to the bottom. In the labor market if you have too specialized of skills you risk not finding employment but if you generalize it's a race to the bottom. There's been a massive amount of capital that's entered the market through the fed in the last 20 years which has driven up asset prices allowing for a lot of money to be spent on "building" web 2.0. also trading with china has allowed a lot of manufacturing to get done at really low cost. managing all that capital and moving of goods has created a bubble in automating paper pushing.
rk06 4y ago
A lot of job descriptions are basically data processing manually I.e. take data from one software and compile them in excel sheet. I recall automating 30hrs per week of efforts completely over the course of an year, just to scratch my itch. It goes without saying that my automation produced correct results and in seconds. And do not need another manual check. As a software engineer, chatgpt can’t completely replace my job. But anyone who doesn’t write code is a fair game.
TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago
Well.. Consultants are held to a higher standard than employees. As an outside consultant working 40 hours, I want to see the work that you did in 40 hours towards the end that I directed. As an employee, there are emails, trainings, staff meetings, backlogged items, and a million other things that can take up your time. A manager comes to understand your output and sets his expectations accordingly. If you already have another full time job, you do what is asked of you but never more, they expect that from your line of work. Additionally, as a consulting company you rarely have 'Active Clients' for years and years paying you to do full time work. It's a cycle with outside consultants and you always have to be 'Selling' outside of whatever retainer you charge. Having two jobs provides a sense of 'stability' that consulting doesn't. But underneath is always the unstability of the 'if the employer found out'. My friend was working two full time jobs and a couple of hickups caused him to miss a staff meeting for company A. So, he decided to fess up about his other employment at company B. Since he did it kind of akwardly ("Asking for a one-on-one with his manager and saying he had something to tell him"), the manager expected the worst. Come to find out the manager was relieved when he told him, becaause he though he was going to quit! Fresh on the success of Company A accepting his dual employement, he decided to tell company B. Company B fired him and threatened to sue him.
rahimnathwani 4y ago
At many (most?) companies in US, it's easier to get approval for an additional employee costing $90k/year forever, than to spend a one-off $50k on a consulting project.

jameshush 4y ago

Exactly. Why be sneaky when you could go the tried and true consulting -> productized consulting -> product route without worrying about losing your reputation?

VBprogrammer 4y ago
I'm sure there are a lot of companies where hiring people is (perhaps inexplicably) much harder than taking in consultants. I think some of these people are taking advantage of situations where employers are wrongly preferring employees to consultants.
- Beaver117 4y ago
  Also perhaps hiring standards have just become too crazy. Most tech companies make us jump through so many hoops that only the top lets say 1% make it through. Well that same 1% can probably also make it through every other company's hoops too. So theoretically they can get as many jobs as they want. But companies don't want to hire the top 25% or middle 25% they leave these hoops to filter average candidates out
- sharemywin 4y ago
  most large companies only go through specific companies for traditional software development roles.

turnsout 4y ago

…and watch as SW consulting engagements go from $50,000 to $50. I fear we’re racing to commoditize ourselves. Will we look back at the hiring frenzy of 2021 as the peak?

sharemywin 4y ago
the labor market has always been a race to the bottom. I think the last 20-30 years has been an exception.
- sharemywin 4y ago
  all commodity markets are a race to the bottom. In the labor market if you have too specialized of skills you risk not finding employment but if you generalize it's a race to the bottom. There's been a massive amount of capital that's entered the market through the fed in the last 20 years which has driven up asset prices allowing for a lot of money to be spent on "building" web 2.0. also trading with china has allowed a lot of manufacturing to get done at really low cost. managing all that capital and moving of goods has created a bubble in automating paper pushing.

rk06 4y ago

A lot of job descriptions are basically data processing manually I.e. take data from one software and compile them in excel sheet. I recall automating 30hrs per week of efforts completely over the course of an year, just to scratch my itch. It goes without saying that my automation produced correct results and in seconds. And do not need another manual check. As a software engineer, chatgpt can’t completely replace my job. But anyone who doesn’t write code is a fair game.

TrapLord_Rhodo 4y ago

Well.. Consultants are held to a higher standard than employees. As an outside consultant working 40 hours, I want to see the work that you did in 40 hours towards the end that I directed. As an employee, there are emails, trainings, staff meetings, backlogged items, and a million other things that can take up your time. A manager comes to understand your output and sets his expectations accordingly. If you already have another full time job, you do what is asked of you but never more, they expect that from your line of work. Additionally, as a consulting company you rarely have 'Active Clients' for years and years paying you to do full time work. It's a cycle with outside consultants and you always have to be 'Selling' outside of whatever retainer you charge. Having two jobs provides a sense of 'stability' that consulting doesn't. But underneath is always the unstability of the 'if the employer found out'. My friend was working two full time jobs and a couple of hickups caused him to miss a staff meeting for company A. So, he decided to fess up about his other employment at company B. Since he did it kind of akwardly ("Asking for a one-on-one with his manager and saying he had something to tell him"), the manager expected the worst. Come to find out the manager was relieved when he told him, becaause he though he was going to quit! Fresh on the success of Company A accepting his dual employement, he decided to tell company B. Company B fired him and threatened to sue him.

rahimnathwani 4y ago

At many (most?) companies in US, it's easier to get approval for an additional employee costing $90k/year forever, than to spend a one-off $50k on a consulting project.