Sorry for the blatantly commercial nature of this entry, but as we close out 2004 and head into 2005 it turns out that the Microsoft-oriented consulting business is doing pretty well. Thus my employer, Magenic, is in need of more consultants (see below for details).

As most people are only too aware, the computer field (and in particular consulting) had a very rough time from 2001 to 2003 (give or take a bit). Not only was there the dot-bomb, but there was the post-9/11 effect and the overall economic recession. This was all amplified in the computer field because of the overly optimistic positions taken by many companies during the Clinton-era economic boom.

But the reality is that over the past 18-24 months the consulting business stabilized and has started to grow once again. At least that has been my observation watching Magenic’s business slow and then grow over the past 4+ years.

I think there are many factors going into the return of growth. Certainly the weak dollar is making offshoring less attractive. But so is the slow realization among many companies that they really aren’t getting the savings they’d hoped for (given the high cost of management, requirements gathering, communications and rework).

Add to that the slow, but persistent recovery of the economy overall. While it is true that a lot of people (in the general pool of workers) are working multiple odd jobs to make ends meet, the fact is that companies are now resuming investment in IT in order to improve efficiency. This is triggering renewed interest in line-of-business software development, and in turn is causing demand for consulting.

Finally there’s the maturation of .NET. Many organizations wait until a couple service packs and maybe a point release come out before moving aggressively to any technology. And I don’t blame them in the least. But .NET (and all of Microsoft’s related (or quasi-related) server products now have at least a point release and/or some service packs that have been out for a while. Even conservative organizations are starting to seriously look at moving some or all their IT into the .NET space.

This is even leading to a lot of coexistence with Java and J2EE. I can’t count the number of organizations I’ve talked to that switched to the big J in reaction to Windows DNA, and are now choosing (yes, choosing!) to bring in .NET in addition to Java. Every now and then they are even replacing Java, but more often it is a clear strategy of coexistence and integration.

Ultimately this growth means that Magenic actually has more work than we have people. The fact that Magenic is pretty selective in its hiring makes finding people more difficult, but we’d rather lose work before compromising on who we hire. Even so, we’re the largest privately held Microsoft-focused consulting company in the US (possibly in the world).

Magenic is looking for .NET architects and developers. But even harder to find are people with good experience in Biztalk Server, Commerce Server, Sharepoint and Business Intelligence (or other SQL Server skills). If you are interested, Magenic has offices in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco.