- Consultant developer have different metrics to industry developers.
- You're measured on hours billed to the client, not so much the quality of the work you produce
- There were times when I felt stuck and left to my own resources, and people move between projects too frequently to become experts in a specific project
- It's really slow. A project which would be months in other companies takes years as consultants.
- Bad promotion structure (bad for me, see below for more details)
Doing a good job on the project isn't enough to get promoted - you have to participate in "internal contributions" (which is doing extra work pro bono alongside your normal project work).
I did see people rise through the ranks really quickly - but you have to do a lot of "extra-curricular" activities (participate in bids, help build proof-of-concepts, get certifications etc all outside of your normal project duties).
If you're a self-starter and high energy - this could be great for you. If you're like me and you prefer to learn by doing and doing "deep dive" into a piece of work - then maybe this isn't for you. I prefer to concentrate on one thing as opposed to juggle 5 things - I felt unhappy that my good work on the project wasn't sufficient, so I left.
