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Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#121

Post by ggwp99 »

MrFoof wrote: post #12
GianFabien wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only will I not do pro-bono work, but getting paid in full and on time is a challenge. Even good clients can suddenly ghost you and forget to pay up.

Don't forget the larger companies who'll try to negotiate Net 90, one month in arrears, in which they'd still probably feel they had another 2 weeks of wiggle room. Companies try that. With me it ends up Net 30 as usual when we edit the service agreement, but lordy do they TRY that. Which is why you need airtight service agreements, and then the willingness to follow up on them. Obligatory video, "Fuck You, Pay Me":…

This is legendary. Will have to watch the video tonight. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#122

Post by ggwp99 »

reuven wrote: post #78

I've been consulting since 1995. I started with a lot of different things (Web projects, Unix system administration, tech consulting), and now do 100% Python training. I am incredibly happy with my work. I get to do what I want, earn a good living, have almost zero meetings, and am constantly learning new things. But I made many, many mistakes along the way, leading to years of so-so income, limited sleep, and limite…

Do you think that blockchain is a niche by itself? Really facing issues into understanding what niche I should go to and having anxiety of letting go of clients on the way.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#123

Post by ggwp99 »

ensemblehq wrote: post #4

It’s been several years since I began but it’s been an amazing experience given I’ve always wanted to do something entrepreneurial. I feel a lot happier knowing that I can help clients advise them on technology and bring solutions to their problems. Happy to have a chat anytime.

Thank you, that means a lot. Please email me at georges@athenaconsulting.io and we can move on from there.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#124

Post by ggwp99 »

achenatx wrote: post #101

been running my company for 23 years now and have friends that also have. 1) staying general works, but niching down works even better. My most successful friends found an up and coming technology partner and rode that wave. 2) most of my business year to year is grown in existing customers. Very little comes from new customers (90/10). 3) marketing/selling becomes much easier if you have a technology partner that is…

Thank you for the advice and the reads. Will definitely go through them.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#125

Post by ggwp99 »

kypro wrote: post #68

May I ask what is meant by "tech consulting"? This is different to IT contract work I assume? Is consulting more about offering knowledge and guidance? What are the skills consultants need? 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…

We build out solutions for their ideas and projects, also focusing on enhancing their brand and even development some times. Well this is what I aim to do.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#126

Post by ggwp99 »

franze wrote: post #65

Once upon a time I gave a talk to a room full of dev freelancers on how to get started as a freelancers. I wrote a short summary here https://www.fullstackoptimization.com/a/positioning-for-free... maybe you find it useful.

Thanks. Will definitely go through this.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#127

Post by ggwp99 »

lelanthran wrote: post #14

I have long considered this, but of course, the big question is "How do you land your first testimonial-worthy client?". I'm not particularly inclined to do pro bono work in exchange for raising my profile (unless that work is of such a high profile that it would drive large numbers of CEOs to my door! This is very unlikely for the gigs I have seen).

Thank you. Yeah I think after finishing our initial pro-bono clients (two), will start only looking for paid ones.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#128

Post by ggwp99 »

bradwood wrote: post #38

What type of tech consulting? Strategy/ Architecture? Delivery management? Implementation? Each of these have their own profiles/approaches. For the former, I'd bill fixed price, fixed outcome - half up front, half on delivery. This is the highest margin work buts it's bitty. For the rest, a flavour of t&m depending on duration of the engagement. Testimonials are great, but get some case studies together also and mak…

To be honest I am not sure what to do yet so we offer as doing all of these. Have had calls with 3 potential clients, all looking into our proposals one was in marketing and the others in development, looking to go into a better niche after reading these amazing comments. Should case studies be on previous work or can I do some for companies of choice?

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#129

Post by reuven »

ggwp99 wrote: post #122
reuven wrote: post #78

I've been consulting since 1995. I started with a lot of different things (Web projects, Unix system administration, tech consulting), and now do 100% Python training. I am incredibly happy with my work. I get to do what I want, earn a good living, have almost zero meetings, and am constantly learning new things. But I made many, many mistakes along the way, leading to years of so-so income, limited sleep, and limite…

Do you think that blockchain is a niche by itself? Really facing issues into understanding what niche I should go to and having anxiety of letting go of clients on the way.

One way to decide if a niche is big enough to support a consulting career is to ask: Are there enough people interested in this topic to support conferences?

In the case of blockchain, the answer is almost certainly "yes."

But then, what do you do with that topic? I can, off the top of my head, think of a few things:

- Teach general "intro to blockchain" courses - Teach developers how to use the blockchain - Help companies develop blockchain-related apps - Help companies optimize blockchain-related apps - Help companies secure blockchain-related apps

Note that I know almost nothing about the blockchain, and I was able to come up with a few niche-related services you could offer. I'm sure that someone with more knowledge could come up with better, more appropriate ones.

Or, better yet: Ask friends/colleagues working at companies using the blockchain what their problems/bottlenecks are. What problems would they pay money to get rid of? Whatever they answer is your opportunity -- and if multiple people give the same answer, then you should grab it.

Re: Ask HN: What is your experience in tech consulting?

#130

Post by mudgemeister »

tptacek wrote: post #20

Random bullets. * You need to be making 150-200% of your FTE rate to come out ahead in a year * Bill daily, not hourly (you can bill weekly, or quarterly, too.) * Raise your rates. * Count on signing your clients master agreement, not yours * You can win by getting every contract reviewed, or by just signing them blindly * Specialize * Incorporate; it's easy and cheap * Keep your SOWs vague * Don’t waste time on your…

I’ve been contracting for four years and added a former colleague as a subcontractor to my contract for the past year: is that the sort of thing you are advising to “get out of” quickly or being a subcontractor yourself?
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