Software developer -> Consultant

...

[timwilky]

Yes did it several years ago.

Main skill required is bull****ting. Being able to take a clients simple requirement and turn it into a major project requiring the GDP of a mid sized African nation.

Next you use your development experience to ensure nothing is delivered that would enable the client to manage or develop the application without you.

I need to at some point make the move from Systems Engineer, to Consultant at some point. If i do it right it should double my wages.
I can talk rubbish till the cows come home too.

The HACMP DMS is triggered when the primary node fails to respond to the time out set in the Disk or Serial HB. Once this DMS is triggered the secondary node will trigger a halt and panic on the primary node that will allow it to force all the HACMP resources on the secondary node. Once this completes the HACMP RG groups, applications and service IP address will have moved and the secondary node is now the primary.... Blah.. Blah...

I was discussing with my boss the other day how the quality of the work you do seldom has any bearing on the customer satisfaction. I've had jobs go train wreck bad and the customer has been satisfied and likewise, I've had flawless jobs that they've grumbled about. I think a lot of it is how well you get on with the customers, which sadly probably accounts for the unskilled chancers who are little more than smooth-talking salesmen types you sometimes come across in consultancy.

Is it rewarding? I enjoy it, particularly on those rare occassions when the customer makes you feel welcome, co-operates fully with you and acknowledges that you made an invaluable difference once the work is complete. For everyone one of those there are many more where for whatever reason it goes wrong in some way. You develop a thick skin quite quickly mind

[timwilky]

Nods knowledgeably as Grinch confirms my initial process definition, if in somewhat over simplified. He forgot to state an unmaskable interrupt will be triggered causing a DMA transfer from the HBA, which will in turn fail if a handler has not been defined that implements all the methods defined for that abstract class.

poo smell the bovine excretia

[timwilky]

Seriously, I have worked with some damm good consultants. They are the ones that have written the books. I have also had the pleasure of kicking some out when it becomes obvious they know sod all.

The worst thing you can generally hear is the boss saying. "I think we need to get some consultancy on this one"

The nicest comment I had was from a client in Dubai. who told me I did not want you out here. but you paid for yourself in the first 2 hours. I was invited back there 5 times. and since he returned to the UK, I have done 3 jobs for him

[timwilky]

probably a pretty boy who looks good in a suit.

Oracle trained a number of their consultants on one of my projects. I was not happy to learn from a junior programmer that 2 of the guys Oracle had delivered to us had attended the same forms training course as he had.

Now there is something that really interests me. I thought about this on a couple of occasions. I think there is a big different between being a consultant for CapGemini to being a freelance Consultant. If you are freelance yes there is a large pay increase but there are also times that you are not working and living on your earnings. And from the sounds of what Tim is saying, I'd wouldn't be able to deliver the bovine excrement required.

What made you ask this RDOD. You want a new horizon or just better pay?

Well not all the money is in Consulting you know... If you come into the city you can get more money then your mate in a job you know.