Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

What worked for me is to keep jumping from client to client until you find a good one that makes up for the "bad" ones; with the bad ones not necessarily bad (as don't pay, sky-high expectations, bad communication, etc.. never take those) but rather clients that will have 2-4 months of work only.

The reality is, your consulting business will go two ways: Either you'll grow to x/xx employees; or it'll be just you. The difference is huge, and your responsibilities as well as your day to day job will be different. For the former, you are a manager and a seller. For the former, you are a software developer that need to have a small sales pipeline and keep in touch with an accountant.

I'd not advice on the former, but for the latter, just reach random people here or elsewhere. Somewhere along the people you reach, you'll find work for short periods, or small gigs. One of them will turn into a year long arrangement. It might seem risky that you are relying on a single client, so price accordingly for the down time. But address this with the mentality that your next gig will come from somewhere else. For me, when I was looking, it was a maximum of 1-2 months that I'd land the next gig. Usually shorter. Been at this since 2010, so maybe adjust for the current "down" market.

For the big fish clients (aka: Corporate Gigs) that some people here suggest hooking with, I'd suggest not to put much effort into that. The reason for that is simple: It's more about navigating politics, hierarchy, organizational complexity and bureaucracy. It can be lucrative but it can also drain you in the short time, these are also gigs that gets established with politics rather than skill. They can be draining until you get paid, and if you are short in cash (or need a fast money pipeline) this can turn stressful. I'd advice to push this for a later date.

It's also important to say that the first type of clients will rarely convert to the second type of clients. My experience is that the two categories don't overlap. So if you are about 2, (especially if you are looking to grow) and want clients that will be happy to pay for your airtravel+hotel+wine&dine meal, by all measures start looking for 2.

Say a company wants to increase their organic search traffic, I'm guessing that's where a consultant can come in, do some research, provide recommendations, then build out a solution?

And I guess to follow up on this, I've worked as an IT contractor for several years now, but I'm not clear how someone would get into consulting. I'm not even sure I've seen individual consultants before at companies. I've worked with Accenture consultants who have worked on projects with me, but I've never seen an individual do similar work. How would one get into this - is it purely networking, or do recruiters place consultants?

Sorry if these are stupid questions. I guess I've never really understood what people meant by consulting and it seems people can use the term to mean quite a range of things.

Must be nice to have so much money in the bank that not only can you pay 6 months of several people's salaries, but you can also tolerate the risk of the client not repaying you that amount.