EPISODE 5 - Career: Should i choose an internal IT or a Consulting Company

Michael Seidl: Welcome to a new episode of the Get Sh** Done in IT podcast. Today we have the question, should I choose an internal IT or a consulting company to do my IT job? I work in consulting since 23 or 24 years and I'm a hundred percent consultant. So I might have a strong opinion on that for me, but I also saw the other side and tried to... tell you some cases and some insights. It might be easier for you to choose if you want to work in an internal IT or as a consultant. One big difference is maybe before Corona, since Corona with home office and remote and everything, it might change a little bit. But... I started 23 years ago and I've never been in the same office or same space for more than a week or so. So every day or every few days I've been at a different location, different customer, different place, different office, different seat. And this is something I really enjoyed. Today, after Corona, I still do on -site meetings and on -site customer appointments. Not so much as before, but I still do... consulting for customers remote and on -site. And that's what I prefer to have different settings, different customers, different people to work with. The other side is to have every time the same office, the same chair, the same maybe house shoes under your desk you want to change when you come into your office, your same colleagues, the same coffee mug, whatever. So that's different. So as a consultant, you... You work with different people, maybe you don't like them, maybe it's the same for internal IT. There are some colleagues you might not like. But the difference is that you might be on a different place every time, every day, compared to the same office, the same desk, the same chair, whatever. So that's a huge difference. And a lot of people switching from internal IT to consulting,

Michael Seidl: complained about, especially that topic. So to not focus on maybe some topic for a longer time or some areas for a longer time, you need to switch to different customers, different areas. You need to finish something and so on. So that's a huge difference between those two areas. Also the learning time. So consulting companies are here to sell you for money. So if you decide to go to a consulting company, you have to earn money. So there is not much time or not much resources to learn you something. They expect that you already know a topic and can immediately start within that topic and earn money for that company and of course help customers with that topic. There might be different consulting companies to do that a little bit better or worse. But overall, that's a huge difference. In the internal IT, you have onboarding, you have time to learn, to dive into a topic. Maybe you have a second colleague which helps you to get knowledge that topic. But in the consulting company, there is less time and maybe less resources from other colleagues and so to help you learn a topic. So you should have a little bit of experience in that topic if you want to start in a consulting company. The advantage I see in the consulting, but that's also a personal opinion. As a consultant, you see a lot of different areas, different configurations, different customers. You can have a product, on five customers implemented in five different ways or used in five different ways. And that's a huge benefit on learning different stuff, more stuff, more detailed. So you have a broader spectrum of knowledge or a specific topic. In an internal IT, you have always your same environment. You might have a really deep knowledge of a specific topic.

Michael Seidl: But you only see that environment. You might go to conferences and learn from other PIT people that they use it this way or that way. But in your daily business, you work with that tool, that configuration, that area. So you have a really deep knowledge, but not a broad knowledge of different configuration and so on. So that's also something what I see as an advantage for consulting. But you can also see the advantage in an internal IT to have a deeper knowledge compared to a broader knowledge of a specific topic. And also, it might be a little bit different to work with customers and to... meets their expectations because they pay you or your, your employee, a lot of money that you solve a problem, make a solution, implement anything. So the expectation is I think different than to an internal IT, not higher. It's just different because an internal IT also have deadlines and everything, but, but it is different if you, if you have to. implement anything, make a solution, find a solution, fix something, whatever, compared to if you do it in an internal IT or if you do it as a consultant and you get paid for it. So the expectation is different. And also how some customers treat a consultant, but that's maybe for different podcasts because in my opinion, you don't have to work with it. or it's not okay to treat people in a bad way, but different podcasts. But you might get different treats as a consultant instead of an internal IT. Because a consultant is paid and you have to fix that problem or meet that expectation on point on time. And an internal IT, it might be a little bit easier or different. So that's also something.

Michael Seidl: people see as a huge difference between internal IT and the consulting because the expectation from your opposite person is different or opposite customer, whatever, is a different way. So that might be something you should be aware of. And if you're still not sure what you prefer, it's also not that you have to go to one site and stay there until you're 64 or whatever, you can switch and try different types of internal IT consulting different companies. So each consulting company is not the same compared to others and also the same for internal IT. So just give it a try and try different types of IT jobs. And it doesn't matter if you... There are also... There might be consulting jobs where you don't need to travel a lot or have different customers, whatever. So just give it a try. Maybe keep those three or four points I mentioned in this podcast in your head and maybe ask that company how you handle this case or how much you have to travel and how is the learning. the learning time and path in your company and so on. But in the end, just give it a try and see yourself what you prefer. And it is completely okay if you're not for an internal IT or not for consulting. So in my experience or in my case, I would never, never do anything different than consulting. I did this, I'm doing this since 23 years, there might be some time during Corona sitting on the same table for weeks and weeks and weeks, not able to go out to customers, to travel to customers and so on. It was the complete horror of bad time for me. So I really enjoyed to have different customers, different contacts, different environments. So for me personally, an internal IT...

Michael Seidl: couldn't imagine that right now. There might be different people saying the same for consulting. If you already know that you're happy, stay on the same table, stay in the same environment, everything, then it's okay. If you're not sure, give it a try and just try the opposite side and make yourself aware of what you really like and whatnot. With that said, let me know. Maybe I might missed some topics on this. And if you have any questions for the podcast, please contact me on LinkedIn, send me a message or your voice message, and I would be happy to have your question in one of the next podcasts. And at the end, I wish you a nice week and see you next time. Stay productive. Bye -bye.