Starting my first consultancy gig soon.

Hello Guys,

I am going to start a consultancy level role soon,

I just want to get some tips and stories from you guys.

My back ground is I am coming from a infrastructure engineer role and have being working in internal infrastructure roles all through my 3 year career.

Now instead of taking care of my own companies infrastructures I am kind of giving advice on others how to run it.

In my role it will involve Office 365 implementation, work with Active directory and ADFS and forefront Identity manager and exchange server 2010 as well as making documentation etc.

Any tips.

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Comments

sieff

been in consultancy role for 8-9 years now. i came in pretty green. biggest advice I'd give is making sure you start acquiring tools of the trade and stay organized. also, wish i started working on my wardrobe sooner. going into the initial meetings with a client wearing a suit and polished shoes goes a long way in the customer perceiving you as an "Expert". I know it doesn't make sense, but I swear I've had successful deployments based on initial impressions. another thing I did that was vital, was to find the smartest guys in the organization and either mimic or improve on all their qualities and habits.

thegoodbye

The biggest tip I can give you is don't lie or b.s. a client if you don't know something. Tell the client that you either don't know or aren't sure, but that you'll do some research and get back to them with the answer.

Essendon

thegoodbye wrote: »

The biggest tip I can give you is don't lie or b.s. a client if you don't know something. Tell the client that you either don't know or aren't sure, but that you'll do some research and get back to them with the answer.

That's sage advice. Never lie, research and come back to them.

RouteMyPacket

thegoodbye wrote: »

The biggest tip I can give you is don't lie or b.s. a client if you don't know something. Tell the client that you either don't know or aren't sure, but that you'll do some research and get back to them with the answer.

This! There are so many ways to respond to a client asking questions out of your scope of knowledge without giving the vibe that you are some clueless hack.

I think being a Consultant is one of the best things someone can do to get some chops in the IT field.

it_consultant

Expect to spend a lot of time learning things and investigating technologies for your clients. For example, "Will this fax board work with my new EMR system?". Who knows, start at how faxes are delivered (IP, PRI to analog through an ad tran, PRI to analog on the card etc...), how does the EMR system interface with the faxes? How does the client EXPECT the faxes to work? Can you deliver on that expectation with the technology at hand? If you can't, what will it take to deliver the capability the way they want it?

In a short week, you will learn more about faxing then you ever want to know. Then, you will table all that knowledge, and move on to something else, like inbound phone tree.

You will spend hours on technet, experts-exchange, experimenting, etc so you can make accurate changes and properly describe exactly the capabilities they are getting.

Your going to have fun, good luck!

truckfit

Yeah I wanna do private consulting after this

How can I and how much you guys make

martaw

I will be consulting soon too. I keep hearing about travel perks. I know about frequent flyer miles... but any other consultants have any "perks" advice. Examples... which airline has the best (easiest) frequent flier program. What about hotel rewards programs... What are some of the better ones? Has anyone found a credit card (with rewards) that is excellent for travel related expenses?

N2IT

True IT consultants are talented creatures with a strong ability to deliver.

I wish you well

StussyNz

Consultanting sounds fantastic; I wouldn't mind trying my luck in the field. I have a strong technical background however have great Customer relationship/service skills. Would see Consultanting as a ideal area for me to develop a career.

What are some tips you guys could provide to pursue a career in this area? I am currently stuck on Helpdesk/Service Desk position; However I Have a National diploma and BS degree in Computer Science in Network and Security. Are there any certs which I could look at adding to my CV which could help get into this field?