Too much emphasis on the consultants to sell services or find their own clients in addition to their day-to-day workload. Business development/account executive teams were small.
If your project ends and you do not have a verbal from another client, you will be laid off. The paid bench is not real anymore so secure your next project before your current one ends.
The clients may like your work, but it's business--no one cares about you, so make sure you're looking out for yourself. "Consultant first" doesn't really mean much.
Company paternity/maternity leave was complicated. The company gives you one week of paid leave--congratulations! Perhaps more people have had children by now and they've sorted it out, but at the time I had to figure out what I was entitled, when to take it, how to apply for everything. If you live in a state that doesn't have it's own short term disability/paid family leave policies, you'll only get FMLA; 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave. All of the large tech companies you'll be consulting for have very generous leave but you won't benefit from it. Again, it's a business, if you're not working they're not making money, so why be in the negative paying you to bond with your child.
