Consultant is a vague word that gets thrown around a lot without much explanation. So today I wanted to talk about what it is that we really do!
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Hey Laurie - I enjoyed this! And frankly it made me want to try my hand at consulting because all the things you mention are things that I enjoy.
I was just thinking though - all these skills that you mention would all be things that I'd look for when I was hiring a good senior developer. So I have to ask: do you think there's a difference between your definition of a consultant and a senior dev, and if so - what?
Fellow consultant here...one of the biggest things I have noticed is that technology is often not the problem that clients are facing. It is part of the equation, but probably 75% of the time, people are the biggest issue. Weak or absent management, egos holding companies hostage, individuals trying to silo knowledge, fun stuff like that.
I have found that being self-aware helps me see a lot of issues in other people and I am able to connect the dots faster. There is also a lot more value in being a generalist as a consultant: it guarantees you stay billable, and a lot of times clients need one person who knows a little bit about everything.
Fellow consultant here as well. I totally agree with you. Communication and people-things are what makes or breaks companies and projects. The technology is most of the time just an implementation detail - or easily fixed when you're able to communicate effectively.
Great observation :) I’d tend to agree. I’m not sure there is a difference skills and at any time a given engineer may be interested in either path.
That’d being said, senior engineers can have a depth of focus and in more cases consultants need breadth. And in terms of motivation/interest, working on a single problem versus working on multiple unrelated problems.
I’ve been a consultant my entire career and the motto that has served me, my clients, and my employers the best has been
“A consultants job is to put himself out of a job”.
Thanks so much for this! Having just jumped into the tech consulting fray myself, this has been super helpful.
Is "Technology Consultant" the same as "Domain Expert"?
Not always! Sometimes that's absolutely the hat we wear. Other times we're a pair of fresh eyes. It depends on client needs.
great article. Event storming is good technique for learning problem domain and understanding client's system.
According to your experience, how it the best way to find this kind of jobs?
Using sites like LinkedIn? or offering your services personally?
I joined an existing consulting company. There are numerous consulting teams, all with a different focus/mindset.
If you're interested in this type of work you want to decide up front if you're looking to branch out on your own or join an existing team. If your goal is a team then LinkedIn and other such search engines are good options.
I'd also mention that consulting is fluid and if you google companies in your area that do this work they may just have an open entry form for potential candidates.