Comment by canterburry | Hacker News Reader

Comment by canterburry | Hacker News Reader

I consulted for around 7 years as an independent and my feelings align pretty much 100% with those of the author.

People are disposable resources on par with other equipment and machinery in today's business world. Getting paid anything less than full market value (including cost of benefits and a premium for being disposable) just doesn't make sense. The only company I work for is Me Inc.

However, after attaining pretty much the highest level I could as a consultant (i.e. running teams of employees who reported to me) I hit a ceiling.

I found myself at a level within the company from which I could never advance if I didn't become an employee. I stayed at this level for several years and decided it was limiting my growth as an individual.

So, I've been working as an employee for the last 4 years with mixed emotion. My sentiment remains the same but at least I have advanced far enough now that my compensation is on par with when I was a consultant. Dream of going independent again every day though.

I can see this being an issue the longer you work as a consultant. My intention was to eventually shift into self built products that bring in continuous income, or found a venture backed startup. I think that is the general sentiment of most consultants in the bay area.

Yes, that's what I do at night these days.

The trick to getting around this cap is to be running teams of your own employees.

As a product company, any day! As a consultancy, never.

Going on vacation as a consultant makes you acutely aware of how consulting revenue scales like crap. I've literally had 2 week vacations which cost me $20K+ ($5K in travel and $15K in lost revenue).

I'd frequently joke with my wife that she should really enjoy sipping that $100 bottle of beer on the beach.

I've literally had 2 week vacations which cost me $20K+ ($5K in travel and $15K in lost revenue).

Ah, First World Problems.

Dude, I'll take 1st world problems over 3rd world problems any day.

The point, as you're no doubt already aware, is that FT employees "pay" for their vacations as well, except that it's a benefit whose cost is amortized over the entire year, rather than taken as a lump sum during the times they might choose (were they consultants) to stop billing.

There's also the fact that they generally have less flexibility with regard to the amount of time of they're able to take off (and quite often, as to the timing as well), and in most cases certainly can't cash in on unused vacation time (by converting it to raw income) the way consultants can.

So in this context (and given the annual net that you imply you're taking in), it sounds like you're looking for something to gripe and moan about, for the sake of griping and moaning.

I find that I also look at life differently when I am consulting. Anything that takes time suddenly has an implicit price tag. I believe that the original commentator was making a light statement.

In terms of amortized vacation, yes. Employees pay for it throughout the year, and then can draw on it like a small bank account. One of the reasons I went into consulting was for more free time to travel. I don't know of any full time positions that would let me spend 1/4 of the year traveling.

@dreamweapon,

I see your point and I actually agree with it. It was a total whine post and yes, I am very privileged as compared to most of the world.

However, amortized or not, the true cost of taking vacation becomes so explicitly apparent when you are consulting that it's difficult not to think about while ON vacation.

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