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by Raed667
1891 days ago
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I started as a consultant and moved the other way, here are some key differences I see: - "long-term" architecture of projects is non-existent on short contracts (anything less than ~2 years) - The ownership feeling is very different if you're working directly with a client, or if you work with your own team - Even if the project sucks, it's nice to know that you won't be on it forever - Networking as a consultant is great - Your manager is always planning for the next project, any "down-time" is lost revenu, so expect to spend less than a week when switching between 2 projects - I found salary negotiations simpler as a consultant, basically I knew what my manager was charging for my day. Remove some % that they're willing to live with. Then, you can do some easy math. This was within a small shop, so I wouldn't know if that would scale to big groups. |
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One challenge in particular is that I have next to zero inertia in my thinking...I will stay with an idea exactly as long as I think it's the best compromise of factors, but if I find a better idea I pivot like a light cycle in Tron. In the consulting world I always have to explain my thinking anyway so this was generally fine. In the product world I'm finding that people in my sphere build mental models of my thinking (or expect me to toe the line) and get surprised in not-great ways when that's not the case. For OP the advice might be that most people won't (likely) have a clue who you are or how you think, and the assumptions and patterns you've developed in a product org might be wildly different than the status quo from place to place. I would say overcommunicate and apply 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do' unless you see a compelling and explainable reason not to.
A related issue is that I will tend to argue multiple positions simultaneously. This might be specifically from the infosec part but I see everything as a tradeoff and unless I 'try on' a position I can't really fully appreciate the nuance. In consulting this worked because it let me test counterarguments and try to land on a well-considered place. In the product role this just tends to confuse people I think, especially if the arguments go against the party line. I don't know if there's anything valuable to extract here for OP.
I also struggle a bit with low 'ownership stamina'. Keep in mind that my average engagement length as a consultant was 2-3 weeks, but I'm great for MVPs and that's about the extent of it. For OP this really depends on your role...if you're staff aug on year contracts there's probably nothing for you to learn from this. If you're short term I think the lesson is that any tech debt or 'I can deal with that later' burden that you are assuming from a decision isn't actually going to be yours to bear. For OP, if applicable, I think the lesson here is to realize that all burdens are going to your customer so prioritize documentation, minimizing loose ends and lowering tech debt/operational costs.
Good luck! It's probably going to be stressful at first but you're going to meet a lot of cool people and neat problems along the way. If you used LinkedIn, get ready to blow that puppy up!