Ask HN: Is independent consulting a sustainable tech career path in 2017?

[drogonmead]

Planning my next career move...

I'm an experienced lead software engineer (streaming, big data, analytics), having worked for large tech companies as well as successful startups. I enjoy engineering as well as business strategy, management, writing, and public speaking. I've always wanted to work for myself, and I'd love to be able to combine my skills in a consulting capacity.

I'm concerned because many friends and contacts have done independent consulting only to eventually drift back into traditional employment.

Has anyone here made a successful transition from experienced employee to independent consultant? How's it going so far? Do you feel that it's going to be sustainable for the next few years?

[itamarst]

It's quite hard to say whether it's a sustainable career path in the abstract. The real question is whether you have the additional skills you need (marketing and sales) or can learn them, and whether you are interested in spending your time on doing it. Would you be happy spending 25-50% of your time just working on getting clients?

It helps a lot if you can position yourself as a specialist (doesn't mean your skills have to be specialized; technical skills are distinct from positioning: https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/01/19/specialist-vs-genera...).

I've done some consulting, tied to a specific technical niche, and switched back to being an employee. There were two problems:

1. The niche was slightly too small, so there was little competition and steady work, but not enough demand to be able to fill a pipeline completely.

2. I stated missing the engagement of actually continuing work on a project, instead of just showing up, doing a bit, and moving on.

These days if I became a consultant I would spend a lot more time on choosing a positioning that would still be specific, but allow for a broader set of clients. And ideally one where I'd feel a sense of accomplishment within the bounds of each engagement.

[drogonmead]

Great advice. Thanks for sharing.

[brudgers]

Consulting depends on the depth and quality and relevance of the consultants professional network. The measurement of each of those is "do they lead to good consulting gigs that pay well?" And by 'pay well' I mean that the checks come quickly and clear and are large. Generally speaking, nothing else matters.

The idea that consulting is working for one's self can be a bit misunderstood. Yes, a consultant works for themselves in the sense that they don't get twenty paid vacation days a year and an iPhone with unlimited data and subsidized health insurance. But a consultant works for their clients and does what they want and has no bureaucratic excuses for not doing so. When the client likes green, it's green or something better and when the client likes ponies, it's a pony or something better. And here the only measure of something better is by the client and the consultant is responsible for showing them the thing they think the client might find better and the consultant has to live with all those times that the client still wants a green pony.

My random advice from the internet is don't quit a day job until the contracts are signed and retainer checks have cleared.

Good luck.

[drogonmead]

Thanks very much.

[cxotransform]

I've worked as an independent for over 20 years. Sometimes with firms like SAP, Mendix, etc and other times direct with non-tech clients - usually the big corporates because they can afford to pay the best fees. Sometimes the big SIs (Accenture, Cap, etc.) get desperate and will pay well too, when a strategic account is at stake.

The fact that you enjoy speaking and writing is a big bonus!

Most experts believe their expertise is enough, which is often no longer true these days. So they fail to adopt an effective business approach to attracting clients, and are forced back into employment. Others get lucky for a while, but as with any business without a strategy to attract more business, the luck eventually runs out.

I'm running a webinar soon, which you might find helpful. Feel free to come along: http://iproinstitute.com

But don't give up your job until you've landed your first 'decent' gig or unless you have a healthy buffer in the bank. The last thing you want is to be simultaneously trying to grow your business and stressed about cashflow.

[BjoernKW]

Absolutely. I can't say much about the transition from employee to independent consultant because I haven't had a traditional job in more than 10 years.

I'd say that not only is independent consulting going to be sustainable for years to come but it's actually going to grow both in total business volume and in terms of importance for the software industry and the economy at large.

It's getting harder for companies both to keep full-time employees occupied with meaningful tasks in the long run and to make use of specialist expertise on the other hand. Both of these problems lend themselves to being solved by independent consultants.

In my experience those that drift back into traditional employment eventually also didn't follow the consultancy path intentionally and purposefully in the first place but drifted into that rather haphazardly, too. If you want to have long-term success in this business (or in fact any kind of business) you need to do it purposefully and have a focus on marketing and sales.

[drogonmead]

Thanks for the reply. It looks like you've managed to carve out a successful practice.

Another reply states that I'd have to spend 25% - 50% of my time getting clients. Is that the case with you? Was it the case when you started out?

[BjoernKW]

Yes, 25% is the least amount of your time you have to spend on marketing and sales in order to keep up a sustainable business and that's absolutely the case for me. When I started out I didn't do as much. Not because I didn't need to but because this was a lesson I yet had to learn. So, yes by all means, do start with that kind of marketing and sales effort right from the beginning.

[wayn3]

contracting is the future. "fulltime employment" is a concept that made sense when it meant "stay at this company for 40 years, get a pension, die".

people being "fulltime employed" for 2 years makes no sense at all. They are already contracting. They just get the worst of both worlds. Its going to go away. Especially since we are now all remote, anyway.

[auganov]

Try to gauge the potential deal flow. The initial interest usually comes from an already established network. Otherwise, it's an uphill battle. You don't want to quit your job just to find out you're bad at getting deals.