Make consulting a career choice

This article tries to provide a career path for consulting careers by making smart choices developing and nurturing skills during the early years of professional life. The purpose of this article is to outline the career options available to information technology consultants.

It is in the hands of individuals to how to design, develop and leverage their skills to be competitive in the global village of information.

Introduction

Consulting careers have gained lot of momentum since the information technology boom of the 1990s. The fundamental nature has also undergone a sea change since the year 2000. Any project execution or product development or for that matter any domain, such as accounting, human resources, finance or industries such as oil and gas, retail sector, etc, requires individuals specialised in a skill set not easily found among the employees of the organisation.

The nature of consulting is temporary and limited to project, product development and marketing.

Though consulting careers existed prior to the 1990s, the shortage of information workers during the 1990s' IT boom and flexibility in immigration policies triggered a mass exodus of qualified engineers from developing nations, mostly from South East Asia to developed nations, majorly to the United States.

The term consultant has remained same, but it is often prefixed with the demands that exist during the period. For instance, during the enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in the mid-1990s, they were called ERP consultants or supply chain consultants.

During the Y2K problems, they were called Y2K consultants. With technology advancements, there are J2EE consultants, .NET consultants, Seibel consultants, etc. There is also another cult called management consultants, more trained in devising and developing strategies for the top management in organisations to deliver high ROI (return on investment) to customers and stakeholders.

What was called pure technical consulting or IT consulting has transformed into a business consulting practice in recent years. Over the years, with organisations adopting open source and basically the technology becoming commoditised, affordable and easy to use, technology adoption is more a coincidence.

The strategy of organisations is to leverage technology to provide high value products, services and ROI to customers. A business consultant is an individual, who has a deep understanding of technology and a broad grasp of the line of businesses.

Being a consultant: Phase 1

There are some guidelines that require strict practice to make a successful career out of consulting. Consulting is sometimes like self-employment. You have to be ready for fluctuating pay checks, long hours of work, adaptability to changing client's business scenarios, flexibility to learn and adopt new technologies, jargons, process, regulations, etc., at a quick pace.

Work experience: Various experiences can be applied in future consulting projects. From necessary engineering tasks to menial jobs, you can always learn people skills. Be a student of how to understand people from varying backgrounds and ways to approach them.

Involvement with professional organisation: Professional societies can help you network with other engineers who specialise in various areas. They are a good way of keeping up-to-date with the latest information.

Learn the art of Googling: Information does not walk or run, you have to crave for information. You are young and enthusiastic; channel your efforts to acquire knowledge over a wide variety of topics. Read articles on popular Web sites as and when you have time. Keep yourself current on ongoing political, business and industry discussions.

Learn and contribute: When you learn some thing, you have to practice the learnings and contribute to the community. Just like the Vedas are impossible to master, consulting or any career for that matter is hard to excel in. Learn the art of learning and 'unlearning' as information transforms. Try to contribute to the community, by sharing information such as technical or business skills.

Career centre: Practice and learn interviewing techniques, wearing the proper attire, and speaking skills. These are necessary skills to develop to be a successful consultant.

Survival of the fittest: Darwin's theory

During initial phases, you have to be a strong minded and intelligent to understand the intricacies of consulting. You have to be flexible in your attitude, generous to your client and adaptable to changing technological and business demands of the customer. I would modify the theory to suit the consulting business. It is the 'Survival of knowledgeable adaptable, flexible and talented.'

Build and maintain consulting career: Phase 2

To reach this phase, you have worked hard and achieved the first goal. The following discusses some strategies to build and maintain the consulting career. Some of the strategies could be used in Phase 1 as well, if you are an exceptional consultant.

Learn to cultivate business: Be pro-active to solve customer problems. Take courses in marketing and selling. They will help with communication skills between managers and upper level personal as well as help you with your own development.

Writing proposals: Learn the finer points of language and try to learn the language of the customer. Shut up and listen to the client and then write it down. Try to quantify the client's needs as much as possible and avoid vague goals and objectives. Work in stages with evaluation points (milestones), which can be used to show progress to the client.

Deliver a little extra: Deliver a little more than what the client expects. This helps in getting more referrals and repeat business. This practice will generate follow-on and referral business.

Learn how to identify pertinent information: Read up on the subject at hand and find out what is considered relevant and important. Learn from previous assignments and your mistakes. If you stay focussed on your goals it is easier to decide what is pertinent and you can stay headed in the right direction.

Professional registration/certification (PMP, CAPM, technical certifications): Take the certifications as soon as possible and always practice, what they preach. Passing the certifications will always leave you with your options open.

Advanced degree: Evaluate options and try to get an advanced degree in the area of specialisation, such as MS, MBA etc. This will add lot of value on resume, problem solving and analytical skills. The problem solving, logical and analytical skills are crucial to be a successful business consultant in the ever-demanding Information era.

Professional societies: Continue being involved. Organisations such as IEEE, PMI are important.

Networking: Keeping up and sharing with classmates and friends from other organisations and industries is a good source of ideas and information.

Maintain your edge when consulting

Since being a consultant demands a lot of your time and the hours can be irregular. Following are some suggestions for coping with these conditions:

Maintain discipline for personal well being: In order to have the energy to be a consultant over the long haul, it is necessary to eat healthy food, get plenty of sleep, and perform some type of physical activity to relieve stress.

When travelling, learn how to take a break from work. You will need one schedule or routine for while you are at home and one for when you are travelling.

Maintain discipline if you are working at home: You need to separate work from home life. When starting your workday at home, do not stop for anything personal. Treat work time as mandatory and should not change work routine unless it is an emergency.

Closer to Nirvana -- as good as it gets: Phase 3

Remember that you can never achieve Nirvana in any profession. If you reach Phase 3, modestly be proud of your accomplishment. This is as close as one can get to it in life. It is always good to have choices, whether it is buying products or choosing a job profile.

After years of consulting, individuals could be client engagement manager, programme managers or delivery manager in services in consulting practices of global organisations. Better still you could practice the occupation, being a practice manager, nurturing technology, business and consultants like yourself.

The following are two options widely adopted by many experienced individuals:

Joining a consulting company; or starting own business in consulting with associates. As in every option, there are advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of my comments:

Employee of consulting company

Starting own business in consulting

The author has been working in the IT industry in various capacities, currently working for a Houston, Texas-based company.