Drivel: I have been contemplating my career decisions in detail over the past few weeks. I am exploring two paths: become an employee or remain a consultant. Remaining a consultant is going to require a ton of sales work, which I do not care a lot for and is extremely time consuming. Doing more sales work means I am creating overhead for myself or my practice. Creating overhead means that I have to make up the difference in the size of the deals I land and deliver. The more I sell, the more I have to make up and the more people I have to hire. The never ending consulting treadmill. Additionally, my compensation is entirely based on performance.
Becoming an employee, believe it or not, is very attractive. I see becoming an employee as a treadmill that operates at a consistent pace. The consistent pace of the employee treadmill at a speed that exhausts me, providing me time and energy to retool myself and get back on track toward software development and software project management. I have not yet figured out how long this retooling will take. This option comes with a price of having to accommodate the prevailing political winds, which I am not very good at.
My current client may be making me a job offer, but nothing is on the table yet. There are three consulting opportunities I am exploring: continue to work for myself, work for a small systems integrator, or working for a large, technology specific integrator. Having these options is better than having none at all.
The real question that needs to be answered is which option will provide the optimal balance between work, family, and aspirations. It is no longer an option to make sacrifices in one or more areas to gain an advantage in another.
