Jaime Vega: Software consultant
My dad grew up in the south side of Chicago. His father didn’t even want him to go to college, but he wanted better for himself. He attended and graduated UIUC, or University of Urbana, Champaign. He majored in electrical engineer. He now works as a software consultant working for Nvisia.
What intrigued you to be a software consultant?
I like solving problems and working with people. Every project is different. You can choose to work on any type of business like health care, human resources, financial industry, and automotive industry, basically every type of business requires I.T. services. The client has to listen to you, because they are paying you to solve their problem.
Where you intimidated by your job at first?
No, I was not intimidated. Intimidation comes from uncertainty, and I was prepared. With knowledge comes confidence, and that confidence overcomes intimidation.
What do you like about your job?
I like to feel that I added value to the client’s company. I like solving problems. I have always been the kid that liked word problems in math class. The feeling that I helped others with their problems makes me happy.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is you get to work with different types of projects and people. Every project is new and interesting.
What does a software consultant do?
It depends; you can be a business analyst, programmer, project manager, technical analyst. Every project requires you to do a different thing. I tend to do software development projects. It involves programming computers and designing software.
What are the difficulties of your job?
The difficulties of my job can be unreliable resources. Sometimes there are tight deadlines. The client can also be uncooperative. The client feels that their job is threatened because they have to call in a consultant to do their job.

What is the most exciting part of your job?
The most exciting part of my job is when the project is successful. When a client is happy, everyone working on the project is happy. Or when you get a new project, it is exciting to get a brand new project.
What would you tell someone that is just starting as a software consultant?
I would tell them to have a plan to advance your career. You don’t want to be a programmer your entire life. Programmers are a dime in a dozen; they are easily replaceable and easy to come by. Becoming something like a business analyst would be harder to replace than a programmer.
What is the hardest project you have worked on and why?
The hardest project I have worked on was an advocate healthcare system. I had to integrate fourteen different systems and synchronize patient data across all of the system. It was the hardest because there were fourteen different systems to integrate and there were tight deadlines.
What are some errors that can occur during projects?
Some errors are that there is not enough communication with the client and not enough communication within the team. There can be bad project management or there can be “scope creep.” Scope creep is when the client tries to add additional features, or requirements, while you are building the project.
Have you ever regretted being a software consultant?
Yes, several years ago there was a time when everyone was trying to get into this occupation. There were a lot of people and some people thought it would be simple and there was a shortage of I.T. workers. So clients started to hire people with an I.T. background and were more concerned about money instead of experience. Since there were so many people, there were more contracts and that means less money.