After our lecture this morning, the third cohort of Tech Elevator gathered in the main room for a discussion about different types of employment and the means with which to acquire them. In other words, Caite, the Pathway Director, guided us through the worlds of consulting, contract work, and full-time employment.
These are the three major avenues for a programmer to go when seeking employment, and depending on your lifestyle, each has its benefits.
First, the contract work. A company will hire a programmer for six months, say, or a year. Sometimes it will be contract to hire, but often the employment ends with the contract (and sometimes the employment ends before). The coder can get a higher per hour salary for these types of jobs, but little to no benefits. And then there is the matter of finding the next gig.
Contract work is not my first choice, but I could imagine that if I were younger it might be. If a coder can plan it just so, he could make a comfortable salary for a year in six or eight months and then take the rest of the time off. But that’s a little too high risk for me.
More down my alley might be consulting work. Consulting companies like CGI or Aspirant hire full-time programmers giving them good benefits and good pay. They send their programmers out on jobs for a month, six, months, a year and a half. When the job is over, the programmer is what they call “on the bench.” You still get paid and maintain your benefits, but you’re not on a job. During this time, you hone your skills, maybe acquire certificates in one domain or another, and basically make yourself more valuable while awaiting your next assignment.
This sounds pretty good to me. You get the chance to try out different things and there is the stability of a full time job. However, there is potentially long-term travel with consulting and I would not be able to do that. A week here or there would be ok, but three months Harrisburg? Not ok.
Then there is the golden goose–full time employment. This is what I will be shooting for come interviewing season. You report to the same building every day, have the same coworkers and work for the same company. Boring you say? Bring on the boring!
I don’t really think it will be boring, and also I want the benefits that a full time position would bring. I want a static environment where I can learn from an organized team of programmers so that I can continue to get better.
I’m open to anything, really, but I’d prefer a steady ship, at least at the beginning of my tech career.
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