i.t. consulting

Z3-Masterd

Hello, Guys,

In your opinions, are consulting positions harder to get into than static-location positions (like helpdesk or network support for a single company)? What are some good resources in the way of training (such as education or specific certs) and message boards or job sites?

Also, feel free to share info about your experiences and how they compared to working primarily in one location.

datgirl

Consulting, can be quite rewarding as the decisions are made by you, and the level of successful task completion are totally up to you, and your levels of expertise and competence. Conversely, the “buck stops with you” literally and figuratively, and you are only as good in the consumers’ eyes as the last thing you did right for them. Get it right, and you are a hero, get it wrong, and you’re persona non grata. Consulting also requires a high degree of soft-skills, and may require pounding the pavement and schmoozing people to drum up business. Along those lines, consulting can be a feast or famine business. Your phone may be ringing of the hook in the night, weekends, holidays, time with family…or you may be sitting around waiting for a call like the Maytag man.

N2IT

Dat is right on the money. The soft skills piece is dead on. You have to not only possess technical skills to deliver, but you have to be able to develop relationships with the customers/clients. Some consultant roles focus more on the delivery piece itself, while others have you actually doing the technical work. It really depends on the clients needs and your skill sets. Like Dat also mentioned you have to get it right, right away or you can easily become the goat. Likewise if you meet or exceed the clients expectations you can become trusted and begin to receive other pieces of the business. Business acumen and contract knowledge are a must and of course if you are the one performing the technical work you will need to be advanced in that as well. It can be a fun and a challenging road, for me it was fun for a year or two, but then became very old. It really depends on your makeup as an individual. Your hours are usually not as restrictive, but you will end up putting more hours in, assuming you established some business.

Some key skills I have seen a successful consultant possess.

Contract knowledge - the legal aspect and the type of contract (Fixed, Time and Material, hybrids)
Ability to design solid RFP's
Solid understanding of process and clarification around their processes
Customer relationship management
Technical skills or project management skills. (Depends on your role)
Risk Management
Utilization Management
Basic understanding of financials

One of the most successful consultants I had the chance to meet was exceptional at written communication, including contract and proposal design and construction. His documentation was a work of art.

UnixGuy

I agree with everything dat & N2 said, I'll add, I think consulting is better done for specialised implementations/services to get the big bucks. For example, if someone wants to do become a Networks consultant, it helps to have a CCIE & 10+ yrs of diverse experience; this way your services will be much more valuable and financially rewarding.

paul78

Aside from what others of said, being a consultant doesn't necessarily mean that you travel or move around a lot. It's really about the length of engagements.

Also - you mentioned roles like help desk and network support. Those are not consultative roles. Did you perhaps mean contracting/staff augmentation instead of consulting?

Z3-Masterd

paul78 wrote: »

Also - you mentioned roles like help desk and network support. Those are not consultative roles. Did you perhaps mean contracting/staff augmentation instead of consulting?

Oh, no, I was just asking for a comparison as far as difficulty in obtaining any sort of consulting jobs as opposed to something like a helpdesk position.

Thanks for the responses, you guys. Hopefully they keep coming!

paul78

Well... Consulting is nothing like a helpdesk position. For example, most of the consulting that I did in the past was either IT management consulting or architecture-related. So, in comparison, I would be more likely to be brought in to either setup or overhaul a helpdesk organization versus being part of the helpdesk. As far as the consulting engagements that I was seeking or got, they were typically 2-4 months duration about 10-20 hours per week, the longest was 2 years. I had about 15 years of IT experience when I started consulting - I was self-employed but I would accept sub-contracts as well.

It was fun and I probably would have stayed with it but my lack of sales pipeline development experience was a constraint.

If are you interested in a consulting job at a consulting company like the KPMGs and Deloittes of the world, I'm sure that's a whole different experience.