Left big 4 IT consulting for smaller firm - AMA

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mr208

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Alkorin_sl said:
I'm waiting for the part of this that was actually IT work. All I see is project management and general management, and a whole lot of buzzwords. I'm fairly sure that some of those would make my management blush, and that's not an easy feat given that I'm in Government.

I mean, I was going to ask you what you do to keep current on the technology side of things, but quite frankly, you aren't in the technology side of things. You're a manager.
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To be absolutely fair, IT consulting comes in all shapes and sizes. In most scenarios, consultants do not program but rather get requirements or goals and bring the best solution through the use of the internal team.

My job was not to program, but to work with our clients to suss out requirements. I then would work with our architecture team to determine the best approach to develop the requirements given our complex legacy and web based system. With those solutions in mind, I worked with developers to write the solution based on our shared understanding of the system. Then I managed dev->int->sit->tfp (waterfall environmental SDLC) testing for the functionality developed.
 
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mr208

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Phelps McManus_sl said:
I am still trying to wrap my head around a guy with 2 years of experience managing a team of 7 developers. Did they have zero self-esteem?
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Actually quite the opposite, I had to prove my knowledge to them over time. But it was a helping hand scenario. I took them out to a few lunches and dinners and we discussed the issues that they saw and how they could be fixed, and whenever possible I incorporated those issues with the larger managerial staff and in development. Some of it we could get to, some of it we couldn't or ever will. But all in all, its not really the age of the guy in fact some of them were making 2-3 times what I did. What they did know was that our project would get new people all the time, whether I was 60 or 18, it wouldnt have mattered if i didnt know the system. Again, this is my opinion and understanding of the situation.
 
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mr208

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103
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Mr208_sl said:
Actually quite the opposite, I had to prove my knowledge to them over time. But it was a helping hand scenario. I took them out to a few lunches and dinners and we discussed the issues that they saw and how they could be fixed, and whenever possible I incorporated those issues with the larger managerial staff and in development. Some of it we could get to, some of it we couldn't or ever will. But all in all, its not really the age of the guy in fact some of them were making 2-3 times what I did. What they did know was that our project would get new people all the time, whether I was 60 or 18, it wouldnt have mattered if i didnt know the system. Again, this is my opinion and understanding of the situation.
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EDIT: I also think it had to do with the up or out culture that was at Deloitte. More or less sink or swim, but if you made it by jumping through smaller and higher hoops, then you were periodically promoted.
 
Alkorin

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Well, you know what? I'll have to do a 180 here. Unlike most of the people I see entering IT out of school, you seem to have a head on your shoulders. Buzzwords aside (there's a time and place, in my opinion), I appreciate what I'm reading here.

Part of the reason I'm sounding so cynical ITT: I was a team leader in an IT support/design role when I was in my early 20s, fresh out of school (Comp Sci major, though I did not graduate as I left to work at a startup), and the rest of the team had absolutely zero respect for me. They talked shit behind my back, they undermined me at every opportunity, and eventually, they drove me mad (quite literally). I had to take a leave of absence because I was dealing with the bullshit (and other, parallel life issues) so poorly that I actually had a nervous breakdown. So, in some ways, the beginning of my career was the polar opposite of yours.
 
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Phelps McManus_sl said:
I am still trying to wrap my head around a guy with 2 years of experience managing a team of 7 developers. Did they have zero self-esteem?
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Why should the developer care? It's not like the manager does the actual work.

Mr208_sl said:
But all in all, its not really the age of the guy in fact some of them were making 2-3 times what I did.
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Yes, but were they making 7 figures? That is what we want to know.
 
Phelps McManus

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lendarios_sl said:
Why should the developer care? It's not like the manager does the actual work.
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Maybe they don't care. I come from a different industry where "Managers" are typically either bosses or "Project Managers".

The latter is technically not the boss, but he can throw people off of his team. He also owns the schedule and the budget, both of which I would expect to be difficult for someone right out of school.

If he is not doing these things, then it sounds more like a coordinator.
 
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The soft skills parts is very important. A facilitator has to coordinate, and some times bring people together that have egos the size of watermelons (look at khane)
 
Alkorin

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lendarios_sl said:
The soft skills parts is very important. A facilitator has to coordinate, and some times bring people together that have egos the size of watermelons (look at khane)
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This. You can have all the talent in the world at your disposal, but if you can't bring them together, they will likely work in spite of each other and you'll sink.
 
LachiusTZ

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Eh, came here expecting a CPA involved in IT work.

And I got the feeling you were a well informed gopher. SO, neg'd you out of the gates. Not sure if I am doing the full Alkorin 180, but gonna own up to it and that I might have been wrong. Not sure tho.

Anyway, still feels bad you arent a CPA. There are like 2 of us here (assuming there is 1 more, fuk).

I spent a few minutes trying to think of something to ask you so my post wouldnt be 100% me wiping my own shit off my shoe, but I got nothing.
 
Vlett

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I do the job of a CPA and scab away their rates quite frequently. That count? (Assistant controller type stuff these days)

The few good developers I have experience with would rather be developing -anything- rather than talking to clients, or management. Showing up with food always helps win them over too. Yes, I even give BLTs to the fruity vegan, but always with expensive water so he knows I'm not trying to completely suck up.
 
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