What it Means to be a Consultant

It occurred to me the other day that a lot of people don't really know what I do and how it's different from what a lot of other people do in the IT industry.  If you want a detailed definition of IT, you can go here.   Basically, we make computer systems that do the things we're asked to make them do (most of the time!).  This industry consists of more jobs than just developers and engineers, but I'm not going to explain about the different jobs because it's unimportant to the topic.

I've been working in IT for over seven years now.  For most of that time, I've been a Consultant.  What does that mean?  It means is that I work for a company who sells my services to another company for a fee.  As a Consultant, I have a full-time job independent on whether or not my company has a contract to sell my work to another company.  This is an important distinction from other people who work in IT.  There are three other groups: Contractors, Full-time Employees (FTEs), and Offshore.

Consultant vs. Contractor

Contractors are people who contract directly to the customer, without an intermediate employer, like I have.  This normally means that the Contractor is taking home more pay, but they are not receiving any benefits (i.e. insurance).  Contractors, by definition, are bound to a contract with their customer, but once that contract is complete, they can either renew the contract (assuming their customer wants that), or move on to another customer.  This is similar to me, but my employer also has a say in where I go.  Contractors typically have to find their own gigs, or pay a placement agency to do so for them.  My employer finds my gigs for me and pays me a full wage when I'm on the bench, if they can't find anything for me.  When a Contractor doesn't have a gig, that person isn't earning a wage.

Consultant vs. Full-time Employee

The first similarity is that a Consultant and an FTE are both fully employed, complete with benefits.  When I'm working for a customer, I behave like that customer is my employer.  When most people ask, I don't say I work for Daugherty Business Solutions, I say I work at Best Buy as a Consultant from Daugherty Business Solutions.  If I'm in a hurry, or don't want to confuse the issue, I just say that I work at Best Buy.  This is also becomes one of the hardest parts of being a Consultant.  When it's time to leave one customer for another one, I've already developed an affinity for the workplace and the people who I have worked with there.  I've worked at eight different customers in the seven years I've been a Consultant.  I'm still in contact with people from those customers through Facebook, or Twitter, etc.

Consultant vs. Offshore

The main difference here is that I work at the customer's location.  Offshore people are typically employees of a company located away from the customer's location (either in another country, or another part of the same country).  As such, I get a lot of face-to-face interactions that the Offshore people don't get.  From my experience, this helps me produce better results.  I've worked with Offshore teams before and the results are always hit or miss.  The main benefit, of course, is that the costs of Offshoring are greatly reduced compared with what a company will pay for my services.  This is a real, calculable benefit, but you should also pay attention to the adage, "you get what you pay for".

Why am I a Consultant?

A Contractor makes more, so why be a Consultant?  There are several reasons for this.  I'm lazy and don't want to have to find my own employment and I'm too cheap to pay someone to do that for me.  Also, I don't have to worry about having a gap of employment when my current contract ends.  If my employer can't find something right away, they'll put me on the bench and I'll do some internal work until they find something.  This is the biggest benefit to me.  The bench is no fun, but I'm still getting paid and I can use the time to improve my skill base or bring some value to my employer through an internal projects.

You can get stability from being a Full-time Employee, why not do that?  Stability there comes with a price, monotony.  If I end up not liking a customer for any reason (commute, people, atmosphere, etc.), I can request not to be renewed there when the contract is complete.  As stated before, I don't have to find a new job then, I can just wait until my employer has found one.  Also, not every company uses the same technology stack to develop their systems.  Moving from one customer to another can increase your skill base and your personal network.

As for Offshore, until companies in the US start selling Offshore services to India and China as their labor costs increase, I'm not going to even begin to think about that.

Summary

Overall, I'm happy with my current role as a Consultant.  I could see myself doing something else, but I just don't think that I'd be as happy in those roles as I feel now.  I have good flexibility, careeer mobility and stability.

Geek vs. Nerd

The other day my wife asked me why I thought I was a geek when all along she thought I was a nerd. Since then I've been having an internal struggle of which one I am, so I decided to do some research on the topic. Below is the results of that research. First, let's compare the definitions of the two words.
Geek Definition (dictionary.com):

1. a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.
2. a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.)
3. a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

Nerd Definition:

1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.
2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.

Well, Geek definition 1 and 3 are not too complimentary and neither is the whole nerd definition. I'm kind of liking Geek definition part 2 though. Let's move on to encyclopedic knowledge of the two words.
Geek encyclopedic definition (wikipedia.org):

1. A derogatory reference to a person obsessed with intellectual pursuits for their own sake, who is also deficient in most other human attributes so as to impair the person's operation within society.
2. A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Geeks are adept with computers, and use the term hacker in a positive way, though not all are hackers themselves.
3. A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
4. A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who passionately pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
5. A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. This definition is very broad but because many of these interests have mainstream endorsement and acceptance, the inclusion of some genres as "geeky" is heavily debated. Persons have been labeled as or chosen to identify as physics geeks, mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comic book geeks, theatre geeks, history geeks, music geeks, art geeks, philosophy geeks, literature geeks, historical reenactment geeks and roleplay geeks.
6. A more recent school of thought sees Nerd as being a derogatory phrase, whilst Geek is simply a description. It is taken to be someone who is an enthusiast, often in things outside of the mainstream spectrum, of note is that in this definition, there is no reference to being socially inept in the slightest.

Nerd encyclopedic definition:

• Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers, or will tend to associate with like-minded people.

Hm, interesting. One of the first things that I noticed is that the term Geek had a much richer and lengthy definition in wikipedia than Nerd did. Another thing that I noticed is that the encyclopedia definition for Nerd is like the dictionary definition, not particularly flattering. For the Geek definition, there is some negative connotations, but it's mostly all good (in my view anyway). Next I did a little digging into popular culture references to both terms.
Geek cultural references:

• ThinkGeek.com (an online store for geeky stuff), Geek.com (a news/review site), geekcode.com (how to identify what kind of geek you are), The Geek Squad (a computer repair service now associated with Best Buy), GeekDad blog (a wired.com blog), Beauty and the Geek (a reality show)

Nerd cultural references:

• Revenge of the Nerds (movie series), Nerdcore rap (music genre), White and Nerdy (Weird Al song), Slashdot.org (news for nerds), Nerdapalooza (nerd music festival), Nerd Herd (the Geek Squad of the TV show "Chuck")

I found more online stores under the geek term than the nerd term, but overall the searches turned up about the same number of references. Overall, I think that while Geek is turning out to be the more popular term choice, Nerd is also commonly used to describe the same person in the same way.

Before I began this research, I would have called myself a geek and balked somewhat at being called a nerd. At the time, to me, nerds were less socially accepted and more oblivious to the world around them than geeks were. As Richard Clarke said on the Colbert Report, "the difference between a geek and a nerd is that geeks get it done", a sentiment that I used to agree with After doing this research, I've found that people I would have considered geeks often refer to themselves as nerds instead. Now, the dictionary and encyclopedia were kinder to the term geek, but I think that is only because Geek has become a more recognized positive term than nerd has. In time, I feel, the term nerd will get the positive recognition that it deserves. Call me geek, call me nerd, either way, I will take it as a compliment. So, tell me what you think of all this? Are you a geek or a nerd? Which term do you prefer? Leave a comment! :)

Also, I've decided to include my favorite song of the moment in all future blog posts. Today the song is Indestructible by Disturbed.