What do you do?

Well I am in the wrong business

That's $1,000 hour billed that doesn't mean the attorney is getting $1,000 hourI assume. You count people that work under them, the office staff, the building itself, utilities, I assume they have some sort of insurance etc...It adds up.

Sure it adds up. They charge me out at around $100/hr though.

Borzak_sl said:

That's $1,000 hour billed that doesn't mean the attorney is getting $1,000 hourI assume. You count people that work under them, the office staff, the building itself, utilities, I assume they have some sort of insurance etc...It adds up.

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If he's capable of billing $1000/hour you can assume he/she is a partner and making at least a few million per year. Get a few of these guys on a conference call simultaneously and it's not unusual to be staring at a $3000 phone call. We literally have a junior lawyer on staff that spends half his time auditing external counsel invoices, because a 100 page bill is not uncommon. You wouldn't believe the shit they charge/itemize for. Your lawyer can basically be taking a dump and if he's thinking about your case you're getting billed for it.

Cad_sl said:

Thats leverage for you; get junior guys in that you can bill $500/hr for that you pay $280 for. The associates are worse, you pay them $200k and bill $350/hr for them.

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Some law firms we deal with charge $250/hr for paralegal time lol..

I guess I'm out of touch. I've billed $150/hour minimum to draw caged ladders and did a few hundred of them and they take about 15 minutes to do or less if they are similar or just alike in some cases.

I didn't have an entire staff or even an office to pay out of that either. I don't see the outrage when that much is on the line.

It's sad that the CPA exam is so much harder than the BAR and yet we get paid so much less...

Angelwatch_sl said:

I'm also a Government Drone (Federal). I work in an accounting area and just got my CPA license. I make decent money and I hit my 1 year in September which triggers an automatic promotion where I skip a full grade (I'll be making 11K a year more than I do today when that happens). I'm allowed to Telework two to four days a week and an 8 hour day means I actually leave after 8 hours. So the work / life balance is great. But I'm surrounded by extremely lazy people and there isn't enough work to go around. My last appraisal went extremely well and I raised the issue of not having enough work and my supervisor said "you're doing great here, don't worry about it."

I'm seriously considering switching back to private industry. I know the hours will be longer but I really need a challenge. I hate being bored at work and I feel really guilty. Even though the rest of our division is full of lazy people also not working. I volunteer for tasks where I can. One of the more interesting things I volunteered for was to do a site audit of equipment (laptops and such). I got to go around the whole building looking for the stuff and I'm not joking when I say that 80% of the people were on the internet or playing with their phones. It's just not a good atmosphere for me.

A lot of people are telling me "dude, you've got the life" but I'm not so sure.

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I'm in a similar position: 15.5 years at my current job, been doing the IT for all of that time, plus some sales stuff in the beginning, now it's IT and accounting. I can get my regular work done in one hour a day roughly, and twice a year it gets "stressful" where I have to work 4-6 hours a day. The rest of the time is spent goofing off, researching stuff on the internet, etc.

Our 8 hour days are also 8 hour days and they end when the facility manager turns the key. That's right boys, at 4 PM if you're not out the door you have a problem. (a few of us have keys).
Plus Fridays are 7 hour days and the hammer falls at 3 PM.

The downsides: money is somewhat tight and we can't really influence our "income". I'll be topping out at 50k? max per year, if that.
But I do have a lot of freedom, and I get home when my kids are still awake.

Considered going back into the industry but meh. You don't get compensated 100% more if you give 100% more. I know people who run into the office at 7AM, get home at 10PM, and then continue working on their work computer until 2AM, repeat next day. Do you want burnout? Because that's how you get burnout. The kids sometimes think their father is on a week long trip because they just don't see him for days at a time. To the wife it almost feels like being a single mom. Don't think I could do that.

Fuck that, I'm riding it out another 10-15 years, didn't want a Porsche anyway.

So yes Angelwatch, you DO have the life. You just have to make the best out of it. There is nothing more valuable than free time.
Well except a Porsche maybe.

The last week or so has cemented it for me that it's time to change gears. It's time to start getting my online presence in order and learning how to talk about my skills in a non-academic context. I have a secure year of runway to find a job before the annual funding crush, and I fully intend to use it.

Do any of you nerds do web design? I have been out of the game too long and I've got some people asking about it. I told them to try godaddy

Picasso_sl said:

Do any of you nerds do web design? I have been out of the game too long and I've got some people asking about it. I told them to try godaddy

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Godaddy is a hosting company. They probably sell some kind of design service but it will be very low impact and off the shelf.