Roll-off happened!! Twenty-one months with the same client. Sure, extensions are great, but after a time, enough is enough. I’m in the business to travel, to learn, to share and there comes a time when a single client gives diminishing return on the experience. I felt I lived at the client site, and my focus was too narrow.
So as I’m looking at new opportunities, none are full-blown implementations, so now the client wants my experience to be wider that just a single module. Sure, there is lots of experience in multiple modules in my résumé, but how well do you really remember everything after almost 2 years with a single focus. Be truthful! Isn’t that the scariest part of every engagement? Every time we start a new client, the challenge is unknown and unless your booking the same modules, in the same versions on every job, you’re in new territory each time.
Gut it up and go for it! Don’t ever sell yourself short in negotiation with any client or recruiter. You know so much more than them even your nervous. Once your on-site, it all works out, unless you’ve stepped way out of your ability (and we’ve all worked with those who have done that). So when the client asks for the most unreasonable combination of skills, be honest and build up what you know, skim through what you’ve touched, and go back to what you know. They need the help more than you need the job, so you have the negotiating power.
PeopleSoft is not a huge world. There are a lot of people playing in the sandbox, but there’s a relatively small number of us who really make a difference on projects. Stand on your confidence and help those who you know do a good job. You’ll watch the world get small pretty quickly.
Keep on keeping on.