Surviving Consultant Status

How does one go about SurvivingConsultantStatus? At some point, it might be nice to go back into the real world of development as part of a team working long-term on one project instead of parachuting into an organization and then leaving. Has anyone had to make this transition? What was it like?

I would recommend maintaining an awareness that the way you get treated is a function of the status you have as a HighlyPaidConsultant. If and when you become an employee, you become subject to all the constraints that impede everyone else. You can no longer breeze in, make recommendations and easily get management's attention. This has a surprisingly strong effect on your effectiveness and your motivation.

On the other hand, you no longer have to wear a suit, live out of a suitcase and carry a laptop all day. Plus, you'll be able to have normal conversations with people again about what was on TV last night and what happened at the Christmas party. --AdewaleOshineye

Hey, man -- I don't know what planet you work on, but here on good ol' Sol III us consultants roll up our sleeves and get dirty just like anybody else. In fact, if the client can't handle my appearance in a golf shirt and Dockers then he can pretty well forget about it. The client pays for expertise, not an empty -- but good looking -- suit.

Over here on Terra the clients have expectations. Since we're not there to shake their world but, to paraphrase Weinberg, to influence them at their own request we strive to be as non-disruptive as possible. If your clothing is inappropriate it won't matter how expert you are as no-one will be listening. Sad but true. If you dress the way they want then they might possibly hear what you're saying. Appearance isn't that important to me so I'm willing to dress up in a kangaroo outfit if it helps get the job done.--AdewaleOshineye

My point is that appearance is just so much fluff compared to getting a task accomplished. Perhaps your clients are easily influenced by such things as the label inside the left side of your suit jacket; my clients are impressed by a working box. Almost all (but not quite all) of my clients have had relaxed environments for the development team so that people could get involved in the daily work without worrying about how they look, who is going to be at what meetings, etc. A lot of what I do involves literally getting dirty with a piece of gear while trying to figure out how a subsystem is misbehaving or whatnot. One needs to be free to do this to keep the work flow up.

On the other hand, those few clients I have had who demanded a white shirt and tie environment even for the engineering staff had the worst products I have ever come across. Terrible stuff. Ancient Z180, 6800, and MCS-51 smarts with discrete logic and 20 year old electronics supporting them. Ick. And you still end up getting dirty, so what's the point?

I used to always wear a tie and whatnot whether the client demanded it or not. Then I realized that my clients pay for and appreciate the insight and wisdom I bring to their team, not my Saks outfit. Often I can provide some catalyst to thinking that their own folks simply can't come up with. The benefit the client gets from this far outweighs any impressions I might make based on appearance. As the Lancemeister says in the car commercial, "It's what's inside that counts."

I expect things are different when it comes to hardware. However if you're offering consulting on software development and process improvement you will spend large parts of your time interacting with the development team and management. If you want to help people change it's much easier if they're not distracted. I personally agree that it's what's inside that counts. However people are often distracted by outward appearance. Thus I take steps to make sure my outward appearance isn't a distraction. That may involve wearing a suit, shirt and jeans or a sarong. But for most big businesses the only invisible outfit is a suit. That's just the way things are. At least in the UK.--AdewaleOshineye

This WikiPage's title resonates with SurvivingGuruStatus.

You are the TeamOfOne, but not because of personality, rather because of economic considerations.

I was a consultant for a very long time. Then I was an employee for a while. Now I am unemployed.

Welcome back to where you started.

In some cases I was called in for a two week engagement that turned into an eighteen month project (great planning there). In other cases a three month contract was perpetually renewed for three years.

In most cases I got to do the same work as the employees, I just got to avoid most of the politics and HR hassles. Mostly I acted like part of the team, and avoided sensitive compensation issues. I usually got called in when the project was in dire straights, and so it wasn't a matter of a week of coding or some power-point slides to straighten things out again.

Never graduated to the big money in fluff and puff (like process re-engineering), so I can't say what that's like.

--DerekWoolverton

Back before the .COM bubble burst, when I was a HighlyPaidConsultant I actually negotiated casual dress as part of my contract. I didn't want to fly to New York on a really hot summer and wear a suit. So I walked in with jeans and a t-shirt and all the other employees instantly envied (hated) me.

I made the transition and it has its ups and downs. The best thing about being an employee is not having to fly all over, no expense reports, no burnout, and stability. But you get much less money, less respect, have to deal with more politics, and aren't nearly as productive. As a consultant, managers actually listened to me and implemented suggestions and I had orders of magnitude more positive impact on the companies.

One of the biggest challenges in SurvivingConsultantStatus is learning how to deal with the sometimes very ornery consulting companies who own one's contract with the client--assuming, as is generally the case, that one is sub-contracting on an assignment. --JohnReynoldsTheStudent