free lance consultant in india...?

[ali haider]

being a free lance consultant can be very rewarding. it lets you get good work and not worry much about the framework and hierarchical considerations of working in an organization. It can also mean a lot more money. I stay in india.. and was wondering if there are guys in india who are doing such work and are fairly successful in it. I have been working for 2 years in an MNC and am already starting to feel restricted and tied down. Could anybody who is working as a independent consultant or knows somebody who is.. kindly shed some light on this are. I have the opinion this sort of a profile is more common in US. I am interested in being an independent consultant for distributed systems development (J2EE).

Would greatly appreciate any feedback.....
waiting eagerly
Abhi

[K Riaz]

Originally posted by ali haider:
being a free lance consultant can be very rewarding. it lets you get good work and not worry much about the framework and hierarchical considerations of working in an organization. It can also mean a lot more money.

What about uncertainty of work - and thus of income, or lack of employee benefits such as pensions, health insurance or retirement pay?

Being self-employed will always be appealing, but the risk is too much to take as a freelance (especially if you need to support a family). The short-term benefits hide the inevitable long-term precarity.
[ May 24, 2005: Message edited by: Kashif Riaz ]

[Arjunkumar Shastry]

True.Also if you wish to join some employer in future then it might be a problem.Companies prefer those who go regularly to office,check their mails,make 2/3 Excels,update MS projects and attend meeting etc rather than the people who just work.

[Arjunkumar Shastry]

{
I am interested in being an independent consultant for distributed systems development (J2EE).
}
There are two options:
1) Working for offshore project
2)Working for Indian client
Working on foreign project independently from here will be difficult unless you have personal relations with client.I have read that some people get small projects from internet and succussfully do it.
Working for Indian client might be little easy but I am not sure how Indian clients are comfotable of giving the projects to individuals.Today if you see the Indian local IT market,clients give the projects based on "brand name".

[Sachin Mehra]

You can do the freelance work in your spare time, if your regular work is not very demanding. Putting 10-15 hours a week, might not be very taxing and can provide the knowledge you seek besides your regular work and ofcourse, some money.

Not sure whether this would be legaly allowed( by your employer).

[K Riaz]

Originally posted by Sachin Mehra:

Not sure whether this would be legaly allowed( by your employer).

At Accenture, this would be breach of contact. You cannot work on any money-earning engagements outside of work.

[ali haider]

Thanks a lot for your replies guys...