As I look into my crystal ball, I see that if you are a consultant/contractor the time to consider full time employee status may be at hand.. In emerging markets, consultancy is usually more profitable than that of a FTE. Why? Because scarcity breeds high prices. As a market segment matures or is in a downward spiral, FTE status offers more security and income is about equal.
A major problem with being a contractor is timing the market. You are betting your farm on continued success of the software manufacturer or market segment and that the number of people in the marketplace (your competition) who can do the job, remain a limited commodity. The market usually controls the number of people available. The vendors, like Epic, can control it even more. If they introduce new modules or upgrades but limit your access to training that could jeopardize or ruin your value as a contractor. Specific to Epic, it appears that they are going after a much larger share of their consulting/implementation business. This would leave you with 3 alternatives. Take your lumps, find another skill or become an FTE.
Right now, the Epic market is red hot as is most of the rest of the EMR world. A note of caution is that the market space is maturing quickly. As it does, as with any market, it puts pressure on position availability and price. My crystal ball says that this timing to maturity will be sudden and soon.
Could I be right or will the market remain red hot? If you think I am wrong and a maturing or slowdown will never happen, ask some of your friends/peers that are still contractors that are involved in .Net, C# or C++. Ask them if they would now consider or ever pursue being a FTE. You might be surprised at the answer.
