[aconsult1]

This is not my experience at all. If you know what you're doing is relatively easy to avoid the pitfalls you described.

Working with f500 companies is very good business if you have the reputation to push back on their crazy deadlines and actually deliver after they sign you a contract. If you show them professional and reliable work the issues you described typically go away.

I own a software consulting firm and those are problems that I frequently see in projects done by companies that are only looking for the paycheck and then they cut every corner possible and have no real commitment with the project/customer.

In the end the PM says "at least I hired Accenture so this isn't my fault".

It was exactly for those reasons that 15 years ago I decided to start my own company trying to 1) have fun place for devs and 2) deliver on budget and on time in every single project. For 15 years I didn't have to hire a single sales person because our reputation kept bringing more projects than we could handle.

Software consulting can be very fulfilling and rewarding if you have the passion and nails the deliveries. If you build, they'll come.