[red-iron-pine]

> It doesn't pay well, and the work can be brutal (nights and weekends; on-call) but it's a great way to get the experience needed to get the job that does if you're starting from zero.

sadly that's a non-starter for a lot of people in this economy. doubly so if you have kids.

[bragr]

This lacks perspective of the position of OP and people like him. For them, stringing together multiple full and part time minimum wage jobs is the norm. Not having health insurance is the norm. Extreme commutes, often not by car, is the norm. Are these kinds of consulting jobs great? No, probably not. Better compensation and hours than the alternative? Almost certainly.

Consider how he and his wife were surviving before he got back into tech. That's the norm for a lot of people.

[brailsafe]

> sadly that's a non-starter for a lot of people in this economy. doubly so if you have kids.

Seems to me like if it's the option on the table, and you have a family to take care of, then it would absolutely be a starter. If there are other options, then there are other options, but if you're just starting it's fairly likely that you need to prepare yourself for a battle. I don't see how "this economy" makes that anything but more true. I don't even have kids but I sure as hell wouldn't be picky if I did and was just getting going.

What would be a non-starter is no job or no pay for work.

[nunez]

lots of people with kids take jobs with a lot of hours that don't pay well...