[2-3-7-43-1807]

> So you’re paying for onboarding hours, you’re paying for other employees to educate the consultant, and so on.

You also pay for the psychological friction and pressure that the consultant has to suffer from the fact that customer expects them to be geniuses with magical powers and the project managers planning the time line according to that.

[noitpmeder]

Hard to fault the customers for expecting that when that's how most consultants sell themselves, especially the shit ones.

[rikthevik]

Yeah, it's tough to know who can actually deliver.

I know one guy (a consultant now) who I would trust to Navy SEALs parachute into almost any technical problem and come up with a real solution. Any part of the stack, from building a physical hardware test bench, debugging firmware compiler bugs, desktop software development, to a scalable web stack. These people exist, and they're not cheap.

However, it's worth noting that no one with skills like that works at Deloitte.

[AdrianB1]

Deloitte does not hire great people. They would have to pay them great and corporate managers would rather cut themselves an arm than paying well a good employee, it is a matter of principles.

[2-3-7-43-1807]

so, where do they work?

[ganoushoreilly]

Small consultancies, usually self funded. They tend to eschew flash for substance. They're usually experts in their niche and stick with it.

[rikthevik]

Exactly. The guy I'm thinking of has a small number of very happy clients and he can choose who he wants to work with. It's funny that at the high end, it seems like things get easier. You don't have to haggle over an hour or two. You name your price and deliver super high value to people who are happy to pay.

It makes me think of "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction.

"It's about thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten."

[2-3-7-43-1807]

take it easy, pal. consultants at least those in corps don't sell themselves they are being sold.

[agent281]

If you're lucky and the consultant is experienced and has narrow scope, they can provide a lot of structure. They will also push back where applicable. If they have a wide scope and/or they don't have much experience, you are 100% correct that they have to figure it out like anyone else.