IT consultancy

[crisp82]

Guys,

I have been in IT going on 4 years now and am starting to think about long term about my career goals, 5 year plan etc. I want to be in consultancy eventually, and am working out the exposure and experience required, as well as qualifications.

Ideally, I would like to consult to start up companies, advising on infracstructure, as well as high end support.

Is there anything specific you can think of?

 

[Descartes]

Well, I've been a consultant for about 5 years working with clients everywhere from Ernst and Young, WorldCom, Microsoft, Level 3 Communications, and hundreds of smaller capitalization clients you probably haven't heard of. I started my own firm a few years back, and I spend 80% of the year traveling to work with clients. Not trying to build up my ego; rather, just saying this so you can see that I had similar plans a few years back, so I can probably provide some insight.

Your questions were a bit vague. Do you truly want to be a consultant, or do you prefer to be a contractor used for staff augmentation? There's a huge difference, but people tend to equate the two. If you want to be a consultant, what kind? Do you want to consult on specific technical matters, or are you instead prefering to consult on entire solutions? Do you have project management experience? Do you want to?

Just to give you a list of the responsibilities I typically have on projects:

- Interacting with "the business" to develop a vision for the project
- Taking the resultant vision in various document/presentation form to project participants to get buy-in
- Expounding on that vision and developing a timeline, estimate, etc.
- Identifying necessary resources and getting those resources (if not already available; I have about 10-20 people that I can use at any given time)
- Taking the known requirements and distilling them into various documents that can be consumed through the project.
- Distilling those requirements documents into various technical specifications to be consumed by development (including me)
- Actually implementing the solution.

IMO, infrastructure limits consulting potential, because you're limiting your scope in a project. Typically infrastructure is only there for a portion of the project as more of a supporting role, and in this case the lifetime is limited. That's my personal experience.

That's it in the proverbial nutshell. There isn't some formula that is applied to the project, because in any environment there could be a different methodology in use (including none at all), different levels of in-house expertise, budgetary constraints, requirements issues (e.g. a proof-of-concept with no known timeline), etc.

 

[acemcmac]

Didn't I read this thread in the archives?

 

[crisp82]

Descartes,

Thanks for the reply. I am currently in Desktop Support, and am having thoughts about where I want my career to go. I am looking to work in consultancy in approx 5 years time.

My knowledge of consultancy as a whole is limited, so please bear with me.

I would like to consult on projects for companies, ie. hardware upgrades, network installls etc.

Your job sounds very good by the way

 

[ahurtt]

If you want to be a consultant then you need to get good at 2 things:
1) You have to con people.
2) You have to insult people.

Con + insult = Consultant.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: crisp82
Descartes,

Thanks for the reply. I am currently in Desktop Support, and am having thoughts about where I want my career to go. I am looking to work in consultancy in approx 5 years time.

My knowledge of consultancy as a whole is limited, so please bear with me.

I would like to consult on projects for companies, ie. hardware upgrades, network installls etc.

Your job sounds very good by the way

What Descartes said about Consultant vs. Contractor is very true. A contractor is a grunt: either a code monkey or a cable jockey. A consultant is someone who brings expertise to the table: expertise that, presumably, the company did not already have or at least not in sufficient supply.

To be a true consultant, you need to be an expert. This means constant training and (re)certification on top of an existing sound educational background. To be successful you must be very good at what you do, be able to expertly manage your time, and be capable of marketing your services.

That's a pretty tough bill and not something I'd take lightly. I know plenty of people who decided to go the "independant" route because they didn't like having a percentage of their pay going to the people who got them the job they're in, so they said "screw it, I'm on my own." Next thing they know, they can't get work. Part of it is they're not on any company's approved vendors list, part of it is they gave themselves a little too much credit regarding their skills, and lastly because they don't know how to attract and maintain clients.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble; I'm just pointing out that there is much to consider.

 

[ManSnake]

Remember the motto of a true consultant: Jack of all trades, master of none.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: crisp82
Descartes,

Thanks for the reply. I am currently in Desktop Support, and am having thoughts about where I want my career to go. I am looking to work in consultancy in approx 5 years time.

My knowledge of consultancy as a whole is limited, so please bear with me.

I would like to consult on projects for companies, ie. hardware upgrades, network installls etc.

Your job sounds very good by the way

What Descartes said about Consultant vs. Contractor is very true. A contractor is a grunt: either a code monkey or a cable jockey. A consultant is someone who brings expertise to the table: expertise that, presumably, the company did not already have or at least not in sufficient supply.

To be a true consultant, you need to be an expert. This means constant training and (re)certification on top of an existing sound educational background. To be successful you must be very good at what you do, be able to expertly manage your time, and be capable of marketing your services.

That's a pretty tough bill and not something I'd take lightly. I know plenty of people who decided to go the "independant" route because they didn't like having a percentage of their pay going to the people who got them the job they're in, so they said "screw it, I'm on my own." Next thing they know, they can't get work. Part of it is they're not on any company's approved vendors list, part of it is they gave themselves a little too much credit regarding their skills, and lastly because they don't know how to attract and maintain clients.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble; I'm just pointing out that there is much to consider.

<-----becoming a contractor + getting trainig nto get a licnse plus a few years of training + hopefully a BSEE if not more so one can I canmm become a consultant

 

[gigapet]

yoru best bet is to get a get job with one of the bigger consultant firms and start doing the grunt work and that will lead to the experience u need to be a full blown consultant. The key being experience > the more school

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: ManSnake
Remember the motto of a true consultant: Jack of all trades, master of none.

Ignore nonsense like this. I am without question a master of my field, and so are every single one of the consultants that work with me. What we are in addition to that is very diverse and agile in our thought processes.

For whatever reason the perception of a consultant is someone that says a lot and actually does very little. I don't know from where this perception was derived, but in my experience it is absolutely false. I'm consulting with the largest accounting firm in the US at the moment, and we there are over 100 consultants on the project. Each and every one of them is highly paid, extremely dedicated, and one of the absolute best at what they do.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: crisp82
Descartes,

Thanks for the reply. I am currently in Desktop Support, and am having thoughts about where I want my career to go. I am looking to work in consultancy in approx 5 years time.

My knowledge of consultancy as a whole is limited, so please bear with me.

I would like to consult on projects for companies, ie. hardware upgrades, network installls etc.

Your job sounds very good by the way

What Descartes said about Consultant vs. Contractor is very true. A contractor is a grunt: either a code monkey or a cable jockey. A consultant is someone who brings expertise to the table: expertise that, presumably, the company did not already have or at least not in sufficient supply.

To be a true consultant, you need to be an expert. This means constant training and (re)certification on top of an existing sound educational background. To be successful you must be very good at what you do, be able to expertly manage your time, and be capable of marketing your services.

That's a pretty tough bill and not something I'd take lightly. I know plenty of people who decided to go the "independant" route because they didn't like having a percentage of their pay going to the people who got them the job they're in, so they said "screw it, I'm on my own." Next thing they know, they can't get work. Part of it is they're not on any company's approved vendors list, part of it is they gave themselves a little too much credit regarding their skills, and lastly because they don't know how to attract and maintain clients.

I'm not trying to burst your bubble; I'm just pointing out that there is much to consider.

All excellent points. Getting on an approved vendor list is especially tough.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: gigapet
yoru best bet is to get a get job with one of the bigger consultant firms and start doing the grunt work and that will lead to the experience u need to be a full blown consultant. The key being experience > the more school

Absolutely. One of the better decisions I made earlier in my career was the move from a larger company where your responsibilities tend to be isolated to a smaller consulting firm where you have the ability to express all that you know.

Networking is key for consultants obviously. The more interations you have with clients, the community that exists in the industry you tend to market, etc. the more successful you'll be in the long run.

 

[crisp82]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: gigapet
yoru best bet is to get a get job with one of the bigger consultant firms and start doing the grunt work and that will lead to the experience u need to be a full blown consultant. The key being experience > the more school

Absolutely. One of the better decisions I made earlier in my career was the move from a larger company where your responsibilities tend to be isolated to a smaller consulting firm where you have the ability to express all that you know.

Networking is key for consultants obviously. The more interations you have with clients, the community that exists in the industry you tend to market, etc. the more successful you'll be in the long run.

Thanks for all you help!

If you were in my position now (Desktop Support), and given your knowledge and experience now, what would be the main things that you would fit into your 5 year plan to consultancy?. ie., accreditation, required skills, technical understanding etc?

I know that this sounds lazy, but I would prefer to hear the pitfalls from those that have walked the path before.