4 ms·
Burning out and quitting my job with no plan. Through word of mouth / networking I got a few consulting gigs and things snowballed and I've been doing that for
by reboog711 9y ago
Burning out and quitting my job with no plan.
Through word of mouth / networking I got a few consulting gigs and things snowballed and I've been doing that for 18 years.
When dealing with short-term clients you learn how to swallow your ego and get things things.
While I can guide/direct on the best approach or technology, the final decision isn't always mine, and I morph to the demands of the person signing my checks.
Also learned a lot about communication, marketing, negotiations, finance, legal, and sales.
- Radim 9y agoThis! Except without the burn out, and I'd move "sales" from last to first. Looking back, being more involved in B2B sales (aka straight on the battle lines) has been absolutely instrumental for my growth. There's this stereotype (true for me) that us techies need to get better at listening to people, spotting and reconciling conflicting interests, motives and objections. Finding common grounds. An increase in empathy, balanced by a scary loss of ego. Do words like "business value" and "process" sound like pointy-haired mumbo-jumbo? They did to me, a decade ago. There's nothing like your livelihood on the line to give self-improvement a little urgency.
- jackgolding 9y agoI want to try this sometime (working in sales) for the same reason