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How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

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Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#441

Post by cookiecaper »

s73ver_ wrote: post #212
putnam wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly do you need answered about the "how"?

"network with people who will pay you to freelance." That.

It really just means putting yourself in places where you're likely to find people who would hire a consultant, and then getting them to a) like you and b) believe that you're competent at whatever you're trying to bill for. It's not necessarily an overnight thing, but after doing this consistently for a little while, people will start asking if you can help with XYZ as the need arises.

If you don't know where else to start, go to a local user group, or better yet, present at one. It only takes one visit to see how low the standard is at most of these things, the organizers are usually just happy to have someone willing to present, so you don't have to worry about not having anything substantial or good to present.

I had a full-time consulting income for several years predominantly from just following ads for freelancers on Craigslist, in a relatively pedestrian market. I didn't even do the basic networking stuff that is still a very good idea. The hardest part of breaking in is having the gumption to get it kicked off.

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#442

Post by barry-cotter »

fnl wrote: post #348
kleiba wrote: post #57

To this day, I'm still not quite clear about what a consultant actually does. I mean, beyond some vague idea ("goes to some company, talks with people, gives some recommendation"). I'd really love for someone to give some example or describe in a tangible way what the work of a consultant entails, what skills one typically needs and actually employs, what a typical gig looks like from beginning to end and so on. If a…

Consulting refers to advising the executive branch of a company. So one key ingredient it requires is experience (that the client company lacks), and the ability to communicate (in business/cash-flow terms) why the advice you are giving is superior to the company's current strategy. Obviously, it is necessary that you then can "make it happen", too. The "advice giving" typically happens before you are hired to get th…

English has a word for Unternehmensberater, it’s strategy consulting. The very highly paid temporary experts are operational consultants. The ones in the middle are management consultants.

The top global management consultancy firms are McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group.

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#443

Post by ineedasername »

walshemj wrote: post #255
s73ver_ wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For that to happen, they would have to increase the number of teams. This requires new stadiums/arenas to be built, and expansion teams to be created. This requires rebalancing of conferences and divisions within the league.

Your assuming that every where else follows the socialist model that American sports do i.e. a pre entry closed shop for franchises with no consequences for failure - a premier league footballer has far more incentive to play well to stop his team getting demoted and facing a massive drop in his salary.

Most leagues in the U.S. have fairly open methods of getting on the team with the athletic talent required. For the NFL, anyone can pay a tryout fee and walk on to one of (usually) 8 spots. The other 45 are normally used by the veteran players good enough to have a multi-year contract or the new draft picks from college ball.

And the consequence for failure are huge: 90 players start the pre-season, and after training & a few pre-season games, teams have to drop that to 53. 10 extra can be part of a training squad, which represents a 75% pay cut compared to the league minimum for the 53.

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#444

Post by Retric »

emodendroket wrote: post #374
Retric wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of great movies had a ~20 million dollar budget, but few moves with that kind of a budget had high returns. In terms of movies, studios look a lot like a VC firm with a term sheet from hell. However, plenty of studios died over time and would be making moves today if their past movies where more profitable. Sure, you needs a direct / script / special effects etc, but low budget movies with simple scripts and g…

There are also countless starving aspiring actors so I doubt actor supply is your problem

Raw supply may not be the problem, it could be training etc.

Plenty of people are in a move, it takes something else to have the kind of run of a Robert De Niro or Anthony Hopkins. And generally people that have those kind of long runs are significantly more talented that many others.

They also often have family in the business, who presumably pass on more than just a foot in the door.

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#445

Post by titanomachy »

milofeynman wrote: post #85
maxxxxx wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He used to be but then he advised on enterprise software like SAP and Salesforce.

I know a guy like this. He ended up a VP at a big company like Salesforce a few years ago, got laid off spent a year and a half blowing money on drugs and women. Came back and fudged his LinkedIn / resume to make it look like he was a consultant those years (no months only years on his LinkedIn) some company is back to paying him 300-500k salary. It mostly seems to be about selling yourself hard and interviewing a lo…

VPs don't usually get "laid off"... they get fired, although it's almost always sold as a "mutual decision".

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#446

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

cookiecaper wrote: post #441
s73ver_ wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"network with people who will pay you to freelance." That.

It really just means putting yourself in places where you're likely to find people who would hire a consultant, and then getting them to a) like you and b) believe that you're competent at whatever you're trying to bill for. It's not necessarily an overnight thing, but after doing this consistently for a little while, people will start asking if you can help with XYZ as the need arises. If you don't know where else t…

> and then getting them to a) like you

What if I have no clear idea of how to do this, and the standard advice for that problem starts with stuff I don't know how to do (e.g. talk to people like a normal human who craves face-to-face social validation)?

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#447

Post by emodendroket »

Retric wrote: post #444
emodendroket wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are also countless starving aspiring actors so I doubt actor supply is your problem

Raw supply may not be the problem, it could be training etc. Plenty of people are in a move, it takes something else to have the kind of run of a Robert De Niro or Anthony Hopkins. And generally people that have those kind of long runs are significantly more talented that many others. They also often have family in the business, who presumably pass on more than just a foot in the door.

Acting skill and fame/box office draw are, let's say, not perfectly correlated.

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#448

Post by bananaboy »

mooreds wrote: post #439
bananaboy wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still fundamentally development for the marketing side of a business though, rather than development for the product side. I think the problem that people are struggling with is that they can't see how this information relates to them if they are software developers looking to do consulting work on software. Patrick's article really is from a marketing angle, even though there is a software development component…

If you're interested in value based pricing, Jonathan Stark has a pretty decent free ecourse on it: https://expensiveproblem.com/

That's awesome, thanks! The Freshbooks co-founder wrote something similar once too: https://www.freshbooks.com/ebooks/breaking-the-time-barrier

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#449

Post by enraged_camel »

titanomachy wrote: post #445
milofeynman wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a guy like this. He ended up a VP at a big company like Salesforce a few years ago, got laid off spent a year and a half blowing money on drugs and women. Came back and fudged his LinkedIn / resume to make it look like he was a consultant those years (no months only years on his LinkedIn) some company is back to paying him 300-500k salary. It mostly seems to be about selling yourself hard and interviewing a lo…

VPs don't usually get "laid off"... they get fired, although it's almost always sold as a "mutual decision".

They also often have golden parachutes. :)

Re: How I went from programming to consulting (2012)

#450

Post by stevenwoo »

putnam wrote: post #425
astockwell wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By far, the majority of consulting engagements I’ve seen or participated in (Big 4 and freelance) are things that could easily be done if the company hired a few folks, for much less pay than this. Simple number crunching, tedious paperwork review, trivial integrations/dev work.. I would hazard a guess that at least 50% of all enterprise consulting spend goes to these tasks. However the indisputable fact is that thes…

Who is the 23yo?

From the age - a fresh college graduate recruited into the consultancy employee/meat grinder.
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