Comment by ryan-allen
12 years ago
Awesome post! One thing I find is really important is to charge 'properly', which at first seems like exurberant fees. My friends think I'm rolling in cash because of my 'rate' but when you outline all of this stuff up here, you can see where it all goes. I don't do much better than when I worked full time, but I have the potential to work harder and make more money. But the extra super hard work doesn't' seem worth losing the life balance (and well, the nice parts of contracting, i.e. TWO WEEK HOLIDAY, even though it really isn't).
Happy to learn that the post resonated with you. I appreciate it.
Once a VP at a customer told me that a diamond is just a piece of coal that shines under pressure.
The quest to become a jewel in the market can be a powerful initial thrust to work as a consultant. Combined with the opportunity to work in a diverse set of technologies and business domains turns to be a pretty compelling force.
Re: compensation, tptacek and patio11 have shared some great thoughts in the past.