Comments on: 15 reasons why you might not want to be a consultant

By: internet job boards - wasted effort? | Favorite Home Remedies

internet job boards - wasted effort? | Favorite Home Remedies — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:23:38 +0000

[...] 15 reasons why you might not want to be a consultant The term consultant gets tossed around a little too freely… [...]

By: Weekend Roundup and Link Love - 1st Book Drawing Winner Edition | The Wisdom Journal

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:02:05 +0000

[...] from brip blap wrote a two piece report on 15 reason you might and then 15 reasons you might not want to be a consultant. Since consulting is a direction I would like to go myself, I thought these [...]

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By: 15 bonnes raisons pour ne pas devenir consultant by Esprit Riche

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:59:55 +0000

[...] J’ai trouvé cet article sur le bripblap.com, un blog de développement personnel. Etant moi aussi consultant, j’ai trouvé un très bon résumé de ce qu’est la vie de consultant. L’article original se trouve ici (anglais). [...]

By: Bubelah

Bubelah — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:44:05 +0000

I don’t remember a time when I felt that consultant is just a temp. I always regarded consultants as highly specialized agents. But maybe it’s because they never worked in my department and I had to deal with them only on a project-based level.
I, however, felt slightly more superior towards temps. But then again, some of the temps were eventually hired to a full time positions and got more responsibilities.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:58:58 +0000

You’re right, I’m one of those people who knows little about consulting but sees it as something I would love to do at some point (which makes no sense). Can’t wait to see what you have to add today!

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:50:07 +0000

@Four Pillars: I certainly can understand – I’m a consultant and a lot of consultants grate on my nerves, too!

@Fathersez: You’re right, #2 seems like a good thing. By “ridiculously” I was trying (not clearly enough, apparently) to say that consultants sometimes get a goofy level of treatment that makes regular employees resent them. But yeah, for the consultant that’s not always a bad thing!

@Trent: You are completely right – #5 shows up in my list of positives, too. I liked managing people, but it made it much harder to get things done sometimes.

By: Trent Hamm

Trent Hamm — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:32:20 +0000

#5 can sometimes be a positive if you’re self-directed – you no longer have to spend your time pushing people. Instead, you can get tasks done.

By: Coddigus

Coddigus — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:42:50 +0000

So depressing Bripblap. So depressing.

By: fathersez

fathersez — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:49:47 +0000

Bad news before the good news.

I agree with your list, though part of (2) should be in tomorrow’s list.

Look forward to that.

Cheers

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:54:21 +0000

Count me as one of those “long time employees who resent the consultant” types.

It’s interesting to hear from the other side though.

Mike

By: Steve (Brip Blap)

Steve (Brip Blap) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:31:57 +0000

Thanks for all the comments! I’m not sure everyone realizes that I’m going to talk about the upside tomorrow… there are a lot of negatives to consulting but I think there are some positive upsides, too, which I’ll cover tomorrow.

Thickenmywallet has it right. Consulting is a good way to make a living if you’ve got a lot of industry experience. If you don’t, you’re just an impediment.

@FFB: It depends on where you live and what you do. Concentrating on the financial services industry and living in New York I have ZERO need to travel unless I feel like it – which is a nice luxury.

By: AJC @ 7million7years

AJC @ 7million7years — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:03:21 +0000

Great advice, Steve! I turned down an opportunity to become an independent consultant (even though, at the time, I was a well-regarded ‘staff’ consultant for one of the most prestigious companies in the IT world) because I knew my income would be capped to:

# hours in the working week – # hours no jobs available – # hours prospecting for more jobs – # hours administering paperwork – # hours wife wants the kids minded – # ???

In other words, it’s a ‘business’ (or a job, if you’re doing it for somebody else) with no real upside … UNLESS you hire other consultants to do the work for you!

By: ThickenMyWallet

ThickenMyWallet — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:45:14 +0000

Anyone starting their career should avoid consulting unless it is the industry norm. The best way to learn about business is by doing it and learning from your mistakes. Consultants advise but rarely implement. Its hard to learn a business that way and how can you advise if you never worked “in” a business?

Its a different ball-game if you have worked for some time and then become a consultant.

By: Alex Le

Alex Le — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:46:51 +0000

I highly recommend the book “The Secrets of Consulting” by Gerald M. Weinberg (ISBN 0932633013). I’m myself a web developer and do quite a bit of consulting work besides my main job. The principles and advices in the book is very helpful and give my a much better idea of how to offer my service at higher quality, making more money while keeping both parties happy. I strongly believe that your work reflects the efforts you put in it. Your relationship with the clients depends on the communications and the level of trust that you can build. The more you invest in, the more you will get out of it.

By: Dividend growth investor

Dividend growth investor — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:02:12 +0000

I was a “consultant” once. The funniest thing that happened to me was when I tried to use the coffee machine they informed me that because I was a “seasonal employee” I couldn’t drink coffee from the machine.. It was very funny that they let me access confidential info but wouldn’t let me drink coffee.
The person that told me that (a middle finance manager) prompted me to write up a certain memo to upper management about how certain people spend their workday ( checking how much coffee is being used vs doing what they were hired to do) and to give some process improvement suggestions..
Never be rude to consultants. They could always get back at you