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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)

#461

Post by fnl »

barry-cotter wrote: post #442
fnl wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, there is a bunch of "xyz consultant" titles floating around in English. Executive, corporate, or financial consultant are some more. For the English titles, the distinction seems to be that the "management consultant" is the (more wages-level payed) work-for-hire guy.

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

#462

Post by confiscate »

iends wrote: post #101
putnam wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a consultant or freelancer currently? Have you tried doing this justification in the past and how has it gone? EDIT: length

I am a full time employee currently, but have done consulting on the side for $50-$100/hr several times. I've never tried to negotiate weekly rates because I've only been able to do ~10 hours of work a week on top of my full time job.

those are 2 separate issues (# of hrs you can dedicate per week, vs, whether you are in position to negotiate for a weekly instead of hourly rate)

if anything, knowing how much you can do (10 hrs of work) per week, makes it easier for you to propose how much value you can provide each week, no?

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

#463

Post by Retric »

emodendroket wrote: post #447
Retric wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure, but my argument does not need perfect correction. I suspect but can't prove that if Arnold had been a better actor his movies would have made more money.

Extend that across all actors and you presumably get more profit without higher costs anywhere which should result in more movies. But, even without more movies higher profits mean actors are simply worth more and collectively would get paid more pushing up compensation for the full range.

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

#464

Post by open_bear »

md224 wrote: post #325

Reading this just reminded me how lucky we are to work in tech and have the ability to extract so much money out of the companies we serve. My girlfriend works as a copy editor at a major online news site (it's in the US top 100 on Alexa) and her salary is essentially half of mine, even though her job seems more stressful and taxing. I'd love to make more money, but I also think it's ridiculous that people in other f…

> I wish there was a way that we could apply our skills toward fixing this injustice.

Educate yourself on why does that happen. Main purpose of every company is to make money. As long as IT is making a lot of money programmers will be paid a lot. As soon as industry starts to cool down - our salaries will drop as well.

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

#465

Post by walshemj »

ineedasername wrote: post #443
walshemj wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 trainin…

I was taking about the teams compare this where the bottom 2 teams from the top flight football get relegated each season - this is like the bottom 2 teams in the nfl get dropped and replaced each year

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

#466

Post by emodendroket »

Retric wrote: post #463
emodendroket wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Sure, but my argument does not need perfect correction. I suspect but can't prove that if Arnold had been a better actor his movies would have made more money. Extend that across all actors and you presumably get more profit without higher costs anywhere which should result in more movies. But, even without more movies higher profits mean actors are simply worth more and collectively would get paid more pushing up co…

Unless you suddenly get more people spending more time in the theater, something depending on other factors than just how good the movies are, it doesn't matter how great the movies are.

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

#467

Post by Retric »

emodendroket wrote: post #466
Retric wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but my argument does not need perfect correction. I suspect but can't prove that if Arnold had been a better actor his movies would have made more money. Extend that across all actors and you presumably get more profit without higher costs anywhere which should result in more movies. But, even without more movies higher profits mean actors are simply worth more and collectively would get paid more pushing up co…

Unless you suddenly get more people spending more time in the theater, something depending on other factors than just how good the movies are, it doesn't matter how great the movies are.

If you look at annual and more importantly monthly fluctuations movie quality has a huge impact on ticket sales. https://www.the-numbers.com/market/

So, again it need not be 1:1, but a significant increase in overall sales including for home entertainment can happen because people have options outside of moves like video games.

PS: Major 6 put out 128 movies in 2006, but only 78 in 2013.

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

#468

Post by emodendroket »

Retric wrote: post #467
emodendroket wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you suddenly get more people spending more time in the theater, something depending on other factors than just how good the movies are, it doesn't matter how great the movies are.

If you look at annual and more importantly monthly fluctuations movie quality has a huge impact on ticket sales. https://www.the-numbers.com/market/ So, again it need not be 1:1, but a significant increase in overall sales including for home entertainment can happen because people have options outside of moves like video games. PS: Major 6 put out 128 movies in 2006, but only 78 in 2013.

I don't see how this is controversial. Maybe we are not at capacity but if thousands of Citizen Kane-level masterpieces were being released in every genre monthly people wouldn't have time to see them all. There is a limit somewhere.

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

#469

Post by Retric »

emodendroket wrote: post #468
Retric wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at annual and more importantly monthly fluctuations movie quality has a huge impact on ticket sales. https://www.the-numbers.com/market/ So, again it need not be 1:1, but a significant increase in overall sales including for home entertainment can happen because people have options outside of moves like video games. PS: Major 6 put out 128 movies in 2006, but only 78 in 2013.

I don't see how this is controversial. Maybe we are not at capacity but if thousands of Citizen Kane-level masterpieces were being released in every genre monthly people wouldn't have time to see them all. There is a limit somewhere.

Ahh, ok. To use an analogy I am saying we are far below the laffer curve inflection point so talking about it's limit is not really meaningful.

So yes there is diminishing returns and actor quality would eventually stop being a meaningful constraint. But, again all I am saying is it's currently a meaningful constraint; not that it's always going to be one.

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

#470

Post by dleslie »

raldu wrote: post #172
dleslie wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been in a position where a consultant was foisted upon me by management, at several different companies, near as I can tell they are paid huge sums to restate what the team already knows and has been saying needs to be done. Only they provide it with an approach and language which management can understand.

In the case you mentioned, that's basically "credibility." Although a lame story, Let's say you are responsible for initiating and managing a new software project in your company with complex bureaucracy and management. You have found that it is highly feasible to work with Agile methodology instead of Waterfall. But Waterfall has been how the things had always been done, yet you know that the team is ready for Agile…

Sounds like a situation where there exists a fundamental absence of trust in the abilities of the team. That's... Probably not a good thing.
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