Watch out for Indian recruiters from California
I made the mistake of returning a call from (408) 383-0155 on Thursday. The Indian recruiter wanted me to start a web development contract the next day.
Hinkiness alarms rang.
He said it was a contract with the second-largest company of its kind, after IBM; he never stated it, but I presume he meant EDS. The contract was a minimum of 6 months, implementing something for a telecom company.
He refused to tell me where the contract was ("Bellevue" does not narrow it down), and refused to allow me to meet anyone with whom I would work.
He was so desperate (or so clueless) that he wanted me to commit to it before we even talked about a rate. I asked him what his range was, he turned it around and asked me what I wanted. I told him X; he countered with a range of X - 5 to X - 3. Makes me wonder if he would automatically accept any rate as long as it was a few dollars below the offered amount.
We went round and round about the vendor relationship, finally deciding on a 1099 (independant contractor).
He said he would put together a conference call in 15-20 minutes with the on-site manager, since he wanted to move "very quickly". In the meantime, I searched for information on how 1099s worked. What I read made me decide not to pursue it aggressively, as my rate should have been about X * 1.5 to account for all the taxes and risks. Especially the risks.
An hour later, I was still waiting. Hinkiness meter spiked.
The moral: if an Indian recruiter from out-of-state calls you and wants you to start on some mysterious project immediately, don't bother calling him back.
What a waste of my time.