It’s great to be a consultant • Hacker News Board

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#161

Post by arbitrary_name » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 5:48 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #141

leeter wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This 100%, I've literally been hired onto a client to basically tell management something their internal team had been saying for ages. The challenge wasn't telling management that; but rather getting them to (politically very carefully) open their eyes to the fact they had the solution (and the people to implement) right in front of them the entire time. That was a very tricky situation as the management didn't trus…

So a consultant’s job is to ameliorate incompetent management?

No, it is to fix problems. Sometimes management is the problem. Sometimes it is not. You can put the pitchfork away

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#162

Post by arbitrary_name » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 5:50 PM UTC

rich_sasha wrote: post #4

6. The sense of relief when your invoice is paid is amazing. 7. Having to go into projects that really don't make sense but pay your bills teaches diplomacy and patience. 8. Having long-term financial committments on the one hand (mortgage, school and medical bills etc.) and short-term uncertain revenue is an interesting mental exercise to engage in. The last one is the killer for me I think, having dabbled in this a…

You could work for a consulting company, collect a regular and stable paycheck, and still get the same experience.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#163

Post by bryanrasmussen » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 5:52 PM UTC

5. Because you are external to the company you are not obligated to do all the various socializing things companies force on their employees.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#164

Post by sdoering » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #130

brimble wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're also the "legit" channel for corporate espionage (or, research sharing, if you prefer), especially for processes and such. They didn't make up that "best practice" they're teaching you now—they stole it from your competitor. They'll figure out if you're doing anything better than them and clue them in on their next engagement. And the wheel keeps on turning.

The essence of consulting business is that if you ask a consultant what the time is, they take your watch, look at it, tell you the time, and keep the watch. On the other hand, there is real value unlocked by simply getting information from team A to team B in a dysfunctional organization that is totally unable to do it themselves; and most large organizations are dysfunctional in this sense.

Exactly that. I work for an agency that was bought by global consulting conglomerate. This gave me insight into the workings at global companies that hire consultancies.

At first I really didn't understand why these global companies shelled out this much money for consultants until I understood that more often than not it is the lines of communication these consultants open up.

They make it possible for information to flow from one stratified silo into another. For IT to talk to marketing and marketing to talk to product. And so on.

Not that I really enjoy the political side and the PowerPoint side of the job, but at least I understood some things better.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#165

Post by goodpoint » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 6:30 PM UTC

immutology wrote: post #42

Is this "consulting" or "contracting"? In my mind, "consulting" is knowledge work. Your role is to lend knowledge and expertise, help with strategy, architecture, tool/platform selection, etc. "Contracting" is high-skill grunt work. Your role is to code your fingers off, deliver-deliver-deliver, typically according to someone else's (possibly ill-conceived) plan. Have these things truly become synonymous?

> "Contracting" is high-skill grunt work. Your role is to code your fingers off, deliver-deliver-deliver, typically according to someone else's (possibly ill-conceived) plan.

Not at all. Contracting, in itself, is just the business agreement but most of the time contractors are experts and have plenty of autonomy.

The very opposite of grunt work.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#166

Post by chadlavi » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 7:28 PM UTC

On the other hand, you also have to constantly arrange your next gig, take care of your own insurance, do your complex taxes... in the US it seems very scary, like jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Great, as long as you make the jump every time.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#167

Post by WJW » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 7:33 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #148

ciphol wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TLDR suffering builds character?

yes, as long as you're the type that doesn't try to blame all your suffering on externalities, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

This is such a dumb saying. People who got into (say) a car crash and lost control of all their limbs surely did not get any stronger. Neither did the army veterans who spend the rest of their days traumatized after seeing their entire squad blown up.

There is a vast array of options to get weaker even if you have the right mindset.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#168

Post by karaterobot » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 8:06 PM UTC

dx034 wrote: post #23

GiorgioG wrote: post #5

Also: when the client makes sub-optimal decisions you can take solace in the fact that you won't be around to deal with the consequences. And if it causes you to bill more hours - it's a bonus!

But do you want to work on projects that you already expect to fail? Money isn't everything, seeing your work in action and how it improved the organization or the life of others is much more rewarding imo.

> But do you want to work on projects that you already expect to fail? Money isn't everything, seeing your work in action and how it improved the organization or the life of others is much more rewarding imo.

100% this. Doing a career retrospective as a long time consultant was very sobering: lots of 404s.

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#169

Post by kthejoker2 » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 8:48 PM UTC

misthop wrote: post #2

Number 1: You are outside the company hierarchy This talks about not getting stuck in the politics of the company and having the authority/right to instigate change. It can be equally validly read as: Number 1: If your company is hiring consultants that are outside the hierarchy you have a potentially toxic political business culture and should look for a new job

Aa an ex consultant I (re?)discovered a paradox

If a company is competent they don't need consultants

If a company is incompetent they can't use consultants

Yet consultants exist ...

Re: It’s great to be a consultant

#170

Post by jokethrowaway » Tue, Jan 18, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

I disagree being a consultant is that much different. You can have the same attitude as a permie.

What are they going to do? Fire you? Cool story, worst case scenario you'll get a pay rise in another company with a similar setup.

The real difference is that you can skip on paying social contributions, be more tax efficient, work more (you can ignore holidays if you feel like it) and charge more.