Micheal, I have seen a similar melt-down in the Dallas area market. Charles, I do not see much opportunity consulting for security services companies. Even though improving information security is a high priority for most companies, shrinking IT budgets have made most firms internalize or scrap projects that were once outsourced to high paid professional services orgainzations. Jobs with security companies are scarce, salaries have fallen while requirements for certifications and experience are more demanding than ever. The market will never be as strong as it was in the late 90's and the recovery will be VERY slow.
I was a security consultant for INS/Lucent Technologies laid off Feb 2002. It took about a month of networking and learning via trial and error how to sell security services. I have found good opportunities with small-meduim sized firms (50-200 nodes) that my past employer ignored. Security services may not command $200+/hour rates in this market, but I can live on 160/hour if I am not sharing the cash with sales/management. I have several clients now and have the pipe full going into 2003. In dealing with smaller clients, I have had to be more flexible and cover all disciplines (perimeter security, hostile code scanning, anti-virus, etc.) I have has much success with combined firewall, anti-virus, HTTP scanning devices are more cost effective than the enterprise scale solutions that many of us are more familiar with. Fixed price service offerings have opened many doors with smaller companies (vulnerability scanning, assessment services, etc.) As geeks, we can communicate at a technical level all day. If you can articulate your services at the executive level, manage customer expectations, etc., then I would recommend you try it on your own as an independent consultant. I have found many opportunities in Dallas and surrounding areas. Good luck in your search! Robert Duchouquette CCSE CISSP MCSE -----Original Message----- From: Michael Henry [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 4:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Sr. Security Consultants On Mon, Aug 19, 2002 at 04:59:32PM -0400, Hornat, Charles wrote: > Just a question for the group, how is employment as a security engineer with a consulting company today? Is it as good, better or worse than working directly for a company? I know consulting was the way to go a few years ago, but is it the same today? Interesting question, I would like to see what everyone else says. >From my experience being a consultant is the only way to go in the Denver area. Very few people seem to be hiring full time information security people here. There seems to be a need for security work, however. This makes for lots of short term contracts. The company I am currently working with has been keeping a constant flow of short term work. This is mainly due to a VERY aggressive sales guy. I -think- much of the market is like that at the moment. If my last company didnt relocate me from NYC before laying me off, I may have reported something differently. It may be time to leave the tech world and open a bar, anyone with me? :-) Thats my 3.14159 cents. Michael Henry Security BOFH Longmont, CO
