4 ms·

Even in this thread I see a lot of people conflating consulting with working as a highly paid contractor. I accidentally fell into contracting two years ago whe

by pault 8y ago

Even in this thread I see a lot of people conflating consulting with working as a highly paid contractor. I accidentally fell into contracting two years ago when the company I was working for closed unexpectedly. I doubled my yearly income, but I'm still an employee in practice. I will say though, if you can make the leap to contracting with large companies, the pay is insane. I'm currently making about $60k/year over the highest paid salary jobs I could get anywhere else here in Austin, TX. I have to buy my own insurance, but I'm single and childless so it's not a huge deal for me.

hardwaresofton 8y ago
I'm really curious about this -- I actually left Austin to move abroad a while ago, and do contracting (which I erroneously call consulting, though I do also consult). While I plan to return to the US I never considered returning and continuing contracting. Based on what you're saying I'd expect that yearly base salary to be over 200k (based on what it was like in Austin years ago), would you mind sharing how you've found good and/or consistent clients which pay you at that rate? Is it mostly bigger companies? Smaller startups? Multiple contracts at a time?
- pault 8y ago
  Yes, around $220k this year. I got lucky through a personal referral to a staffing agency, found out how much another team member was making, and asked for that amount. I'm working with a local recruiter who sources talent for some of the bigger companies operating here. My email address is in my profile if you want to connect.
tptacek 8y ago
The distinction between "consulting" and "freelancing" and "contracting" is pretty much fictitious; it's like the consulting version of the "is it really a startup?" game.
- kasey_junk 8y ago
  Clearly staff augmentation has different tasks than expert consulting. How do you signal which you want/do?
  - tptacek 8y ago
    Consultancies take staff-aug projects (and also sometimes turn them down). It's part of the dealflow. The easiest way to signal that you don't want a staff-aug gig is to say "no" when you're offered a staff-aug gig. Advanced: counterpropose with a project proposal. People overthink this stuff, I think. The one important thing to know is that it's important to be "available"; even if you're not going to pick up the staff-aug gigs, it's probably best to entertain them (and, even more advanced: refer them out to other people), because you can only say "no" 1-2 times before people will stop asking you for anything. I don't believe "expert consulting", as apart from "freelancing" or "contracting", is a real thing in our industry.
    - playing_colours 8y ago
      Can you please elaborate on "I don't believe "expert consulting", as apart from "freelancing" or "contracting", is a real thing in our industry."? Many in this topic wrote about being a real consultant rather then a contractor in software industry. By that they mean, as I see, providing advice, recommendation to clients. I know you are very experienced in this area, so you mean one cannot be a pure consultant in software?

by pault 8y ago

hardwaresofton 8y ago

I'm really curious about this -- I actually left Austin to move abroad a while ago, and do contracting (which I erroneously call consulting, though I do also consult). While I plan to return to the US I never considered returning and continuing contracting. Based on what you're saying I'd expect that yearly base salary to be over 200k (based on what it was like in Austin years ago), would you mind sharing how you've found good and/or consistent clients which pay you at that rate? Is it mostly bigger companies? Smaller startups? Multiple contracts at a time?

pault 8y ago
Yes, around $220k this year. I got lucky through a personal referral to a staffing agency, found out how much another team member was making, and asked for that amount. I'm working with a local recruiter who sources talent for some of the bigger companies operating here. My email address is in my profile if you want to connect.

tptacek 8y ago

The distinction between "consulting" and "freelancing" and "contracting" is pretty much fictitious; it's like the consulting version of the "is it really a startup?" game.

kasey_junk 8y ago
Clearly staff augmentation has different tasks than expert consulting. How do you signal which you want/do?
- tptacek 8y ago
  Consultancies take staff-aug projects (and also sometimes turn them down). It's part of the dealflow. The easiest way to signal that you don't want a staff-aug gig is to say "no" when you're offered a staff-aug gig. Advanced: counterpropose with a project proposal. People overthink this stuff, I think. The one important thing to know is that it's important to be "available"; even if you're not going to pick up the staff-aug gigs, it's probably best to entertain them (and, even more advanced: refer them out to other people), because you can only say "no" 1-2 times before people will stop asking you for anything. I don't believe "expert consulting", as apart from "freelancing" or "contracting", is a real thing in our industry.
  - playing_colours 8y ago
    Can you please elaborate on "I don't believe "expert consulting", as apart from "freelancing" or "contracting", is a real thing in our industry."? Many in this topic wrote about being a real consultant rather then a contractor in software industry. By that they mean, as I see, providing advice, recommendation to clients. I know you are very experienced in this area, so you mean one cannot be a pure consultant in software?