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I have a background in industrial and systems engineering, and while working on various project management support service contracts over the past five years, I'm beginning to wonder if it has been a worthwhile experience. To be frank about it all, majority of these management support service contracts feel like nothing more than doing busy work on the clients' behalf.
If I come up with something to help the client do something easier, client doesn't care and leaves it to me to utilize it. When I advise my clients on how they do certain things, I've received the "I'm the client and you're the contractor, now do as I say" bit in one form or another. If I want to work on a certificate or learn something that might be helpful on the side, I get questions from the management because it's "not directly relevant to the client work in the SOW".
I asked myself "what did I walk away with from these projects?". When I was in research prior to this, I at least had my name listed as a co-author or was acknowledged in published reports. With support service contracts, however, I feel like I'm getting a courtesy "Good job, and thank you" and nothing else. If I HAD to pick out one thing, I guess I've become better at handling and managing client expectations, which seems like an extremely minor thing and not something you necessarily tout on a resume.
Am I being overly cynical about the nature of management support service contracts?
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