u/Adventureman2154

Soapbox Warning.

Technology consulting has historically been built on maintaining a supply of skilled labor that clients cannot. That is dying. There is an expertise aspect, but it starts with the pool of smart labor at its core. Where does it leave us?

About 15 years ago I toured a manufacturing plant for one of my client. They manufactured a product mostly of air so they would build fully automated plants closet to their customers plants. There were no masses of people working shifts. Just machine operators who were experts in operating and maintaining the machines in the plant. They also had machine shop to make parts on an as needed basis. The rest were management.

That's where this is all going. Skilled operators who use the tools to build what is needed. I don't see many others left in the mix besides management. The leverage model is dead.

I can only get RDP to work through Web Login or what is generally called Modern Authentication.

Do any of you know of a software that will allow me to RDP to a machine on my network via a web browser and use Modern Auth? I don't thing Guacamole can do it.

Ideally I could connect thru Pangolin and hit it. I could use Tailscale direct, but want to connect from work and can't install Tailscale on my work machine. VNC would work, but it sucks.

Let's say you have worked in management and really did want to take a job that was 40 hours a week and had boundaries.

Does that really exist? It's been my experience that the organization will just lean on you, or guilt you into eventually working harder for less money.

Consulting is an option. ACA health in Texas sucks, which is why I keep thinking W2.

This may not be applicable here. Just let me know and I will delete.

I have an insatiable drive to try and understand why things occur and the underlying systems that create them.

I've spent most of my career in consulting so I was always able to function as an outsider or observer.

Corporations seems to constantly misunderstand human behavior. The systems they create include bad incentives for people. Incentives to avoid decisions, deflect responsibility and act in ways that are against the goals of the firm. It's maddening.

Take decision making for example. For an individual executive, decisions incent inaction and risk aversion. The risk is asymmetric. The downside of any major decision is eventual job loss, while the upside might be a relatively small bonus. This also incents committee based decision making. The committee doesn't so much as serve to make a better choice. It serves to diffuse ownership of the downside.

Simple salaried employees incent people to avoid taking on more work.

These aren't solvable problems, but they are fascinating.

Career mostly in IT consulting, mostly big implementation/transformation work. I got the reputation as a shitshow specialist. The hours were ruthless, but the money good. I've also worked for myself on and off.

I've been thinking about two options.

The first is embracing the shitshow specialist and going more towards Private Equity where I can earn a lot an full FIRE maybe a year or two earlier.

The other is CoastFIRE, but I would want a job that at least maintains a decent title. I would probably have to work this out with a smaller business. 2-3 day a week head of IT or something. Benefits would be really helpful.

I would like to do consulting as my ride of into the sunset thing, which is why I would like to find something that maintains title.

Has anyone beed able to find that type of role with a smaller company? I could even pull it off by working with more than one.

I could go full consulting now, but healthcare is what is holding me back a bit.

First off I am a single, 49 year old man, who never had children. That just never worked out. You could call me a workaholic I suppose. I am currently a Director in technology, I tend to work on high stakes programs, I love solving the hard problems, but it comes at a cost. Prior to this I was a consultant. Owned my own firm, did fairly well, but there was no big exit.

I've got about a $3m net worth. $2.7 of it is investments, the rest home equity. My yearly costs with my 15 year mortgage and country club membership (I enjoy golf) are about 110k. There is 81k left on my mortgage. If I pay it off my costs drop to about 90k per year. This doesn't include healthcare if I were to FIRE.

So I could FIRE if I wanted to, but I have no clue what I would do with myself. I could CoastFIRE, but I am concerned that with my personality I would be unable to set a good boundary with work. I am the type that fills leadership gaps. For instance, at my current job, I am basically leading the department and not just my team. Someone has to do it and people gravitate to me.

I suppose I could consult again and limit my hours.

If you did the Coast thing, and you were the type to take on leadership and responsibilities, how did you create the boundary and keep it?