Reply to: Some advice needed

[Notascooby]

Hola,

My 2p's as a Solution Architect and I consider myself pretty good at it...

There tends to be less crap in the SA contract market, although I've worked with a few duffers. Within the BA world there's a lot of glorified secretaries, they go ask questions and write things down without any value add.

Unfortunately there's not a lot of people that seem to realise what a good BA is, ones that fully understand the problem space, add value, guide and challenge customer requirements and wants and do more than generate a spreadsheet full of "The system must...." without context, reason or traceability to the business case.

Then there's the BA's that "aren't technical" but work in IT change and not business change..but enough of my ranting.

The more usual path for a SA is come from a development background, this means you've usually had exposure to the infrastructure, network, file transfer worlds as well as having a vauge idea of what and isn't possible. People coming from a business background into SA can get easily burnt by "technical" architects (those that work in those other worlds) when they don't consider the likes of firewalls, capacity, routing or from the application architects and developers when they don't understand ETL mechanisims, SOA principles etc.

If you fancy changing your role to work as an SA and have a good cushion to fall back on then it maybe worth the risk but if I were then to look at your CV for your next role and see you've been an SA for only a month or so then I'd unlikely be the one to risk seeing if you had what it takes, so you may find yourself having to fall back to being a BA.

Unfortunately the easiest cross-over would be to take a perm role where you could work within an established SA team, pick up the experience then jump back to contracting.

You need to think about the next contract +1 as well as the next.

[Project Monkey]

What makes you say that the two roles are similar? Interested to hear different perspectives.

Perhapse the job spec looks the same?

[DigitalUser]

Why do you see being a Solutions Architect as being a step up from a BA? In my experience they both do pretty much the same thing and the top BAs I have worked with have been very well paid (>£1k/day). If you just want more cash then suggest you find a different role as a BA. If you really want to be a Solutions Architect then do it because that's what you want to be.

What makes you say that the two roles are similar? Interested to hear different perspectives.

[Project Monkey]

Top BAs can be worth their weight in gold, but like PM the job title can apply to a very wide range of roles, rates, responsibilities, performance and capability. I call myself a PM but, I've done supposedly higher 'programme mgr', lower 'implementation mgr' and 'delivery mgr' (whatever that is) roles, depending on the scale of the project. I don't care what the job title is, so long as I can deliver what the client wants and the rate is acceptable.

That said, is it worth walking out on a valued client for a 4 month gig whatever the rate?

[DS23]

is that really a good idea. I know it helps IR35. But in my past experience I have found that you end up doing, say 5 days worth of work, when you are on a 3 day a week assignment. People around you dont seem to appreciate that you are part time and keep setting deadlines as if you are working full time

well it's up to you to manage your workload and their expectations. some clients insist on a bum-on-seat and some assume that's what you want or need. actually, it is a rare job that doesn't involve thumb twiddling for large amounts of time so why not exploit that and stretch out your client base a bit? multiple clients is not just for ir35 - it's a better way of managing the pipeline. having multiple jobs at different project stages is a better way in my view than the 6 months, extension, extension, extension stop and search approach.

it helps if the demand is there of course. the last few years have been lean but then that was one of the drivers. things are getting busy now - is it a temporary thing? or a result of my change? whatever - i made a conscious decision to try multiple clients at the same time and i'm definitely happier this way than working with just one. i think it's the right way to go.

[cojak]

I tend to not even consider moving mid-contract.

I suppose everyone has his price and perhaps for a £50+pd increase I may consider it.

Was contacted the other day for a role with a 5% increase and told them I wasn't interested in a mid-contract move. Told them to ring me back end of Feb. By then I should know what current ClientCo's plans are.

Current contract expires mid March, so will be looking end of Feb assuming ClientCo haven't extended.

I know the client would dump you quick but I personally prefer to remain professional and try to stick to the terms and spirit of the contract.

Absolutely +1. You can only control your own behaviour, not that of others..

[Scrag Meister]

I tend to not even consider moving mid-contract.

I suppose everyone has his price and perhaps for a £50+pd increase I may consider it.

Was contacted the other day for a role with a 5% increase and told them I wasn't interested in a mid-contract move. Told them to ring me back end of Feb. By then I should know what current ClientCo's plans are.

Current contract expires mid March, so will be looking end of Feb assuming ClientCo haven't extended.

I know the client would dump you quick but I personally prefer to remain professional and try to stick to the terms and spirit of the contract.

[AnthonyQuinn]

why not do both? tell the current client you have another opportunity that you need to manage. ask them if you can be flexible and work 3/2 or 1/4 or whatever. you're in business right?

is that really a good idea. I know it helps IR35. But in my past experience I have found that you end up doing, say 5 days worth of work, when you are on a 3 day a week assignment. People around you dont seem to appreciate that you are part time and keep setting deadlines as if you are working full time

[GB9]

cheers. am beginning to agree that this is the best thing to do. Also am not sure if the agent is bluffing and its simply a 4 week role with not much chance of an extension. he says that a longer contract cannot be offered upfront because budgets for 2013-2014 will only be released in March. Anyone hear that before?

Yes, it means that there is no guarantee budgets will be released.

Agree with NLUK re: Business Analyst being very generic. Ones who go and look at user interfaces and add an extra field get paid sod all, but those that know how to resolve actuarial process issues get a lot. The higher Architect rates I have seen are usually for Technical Architects will specific knowledge e.g. Oracle applications.

[DS23]

why not do both? tell the current client you have another opportunity that you need to manage. ask them if you can be flexible and work 3/2 or 1/4 or whatever. you're in business right?

[AnthonyQuinn]

Agree with the earlier answers. Don't burn your bridges with the existing client and why take the risk of a new role especially as it seems that you don't need to.

cheers. am beginning to agree that this is the best thing to do. Also am not sure if the agent is bluffing and its simply a 4 week role with not much chance of an extension. he says that a longer contract cannot be offered upfront because budgets for 2013-2014 will only be released in March. Anyone hear that before?

[BA to the Stars]

Agree with the earlier answers. Don't burn your bridges with the existing client and why take the risk of a new role especially as it seems that you don't need to.

[northernladuk]

70% confident wouldn't be enough for me. Your are only as good as your last contract and so you have a 30% chance of not being able to do the role you have been given and then struggle to get back to BA. Ok not struggle but put yourself at a disadvantage.

In my experience most of the BA's I have worked with are no where near architect level. BA is such an awful job title as it covers such a range of particular skills and technologies so can vary wildly but I have not come across a BA on architect money nor seen many advertised gigs at the same. Saying that i have seen architects roles advertised at low BA money so I guess you have to consider the role rather than a generic role comparison.

70% confident would not be enough for me to risk personally but there you go.

[BolshieBastard]

Why do you see being a Solutions Architect as being a step up from a BA? In my experience they both do pretty much the same thing and the top BAs I have worked with have been very well paid (>£1k/day). If you just want more cash then suggest you find a different role as a BA. If you really want to be a Solutions Architect then do it because that's what you want to be.

Pretty much spot on advice there.

[RasputinDude]

Personally, I wouldn't dump my current client. I always work to the end of the agreed period as I think that is the professional approach (not calling you unprofessional, just stating my view on what *I* do). Almost all of my clients have at some point invited me back and so I've made more money out of them in the long run than if I had jumped at every higher paid role that is offered.

Others will differ, I'm sure.