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Ask HN: How one finds contracting/consulting jobs at BigCo's?

9 points by zerr 11y ago

Hello, There are people who do contracting for big companies (NetApp, IBM, Microsoft, etc...). How to find such positions? Part-time is as well rarity among engineering jobs for such companies.

dsacco 11y ago
1. Get well acquainted with managers and executives at as many vendors, firms, Fortune 500s and consultancies as possible. 2. Demonstrate usefulness and a value proposition. 3. Discreetly ask for work. To be even more concise: be an outgoing, valuable individual who is not afraid to ask for work.
philjr 11y ago
I've never done this and If you have never done it either maybe subcontracting for a larger consultancy firm might be a good place to start. Will get you in the right neighbourhood so to speak and get you talking to the right people and should be significantly easier providing you're good at what you do.
- brandonlipman 11y ago
  Interesting answer Phil. When you say larger consultancy firms do you mean firms similar to the size of Accenture?
  - philjr 11y ago
    Accenture is on the much larger end. I'd probably suggest if you're interested in pursuing a career on your own that you find a smaller boutique consultancy. You'll be closer to deals and have more insight in to how business is generated.
- chrisbennet 11y ago
  Keep in mind that if you work for a consulting shop, you will probably sign a non-compete so you won't be able to work for the same clients on your own.
twunde 11y ago
I worked at Google as a contractor. I got my position through a consulting company (a small boutique one in this case). I got the impression that the bigger companies used contracting companies just because it was easier to manage. Fewer vendors to manage, bill etc.
- zerr 11y ago
  One thing that puzzles me, those big co's have tons of engineers. One might say that they've commoditized the software development. So how come they're unable to solve some tasks internally? I'm not talking about some very domain specific tasks, where it makes sense to consult/contract some experts/academics, but there are just regular engineers working as a contractors/consultants for them.
  - philjr 11y ago
    Few scenarios I've seen * "uncool" work. Stuff noone internally wants to work on. * time critical - hiring takes time. * lack of domain expertise - development isn't all equal. Ideally you want people who understand the problem domain. * quick hit stuff - want something knocked up that'll take 3 to 6 months. Not worth the effort of resource planning internally. * budgetary - typically contractors in most bigco's (that I know of) don't come from standard headcount budget. Headcount numbers are typically one of the kpi's used to measure growth. Often times one or more of these reasons conspire together to make a compelling case to go externally.
  - twunde 11y ago
    My department used contractors like myself to support legacy software. I think there are a few reasons for it. 1. I know that hiring contractors was significantly easier than hiring full-timers. Fewer interviews, less setup time, less coordination with HR or internal recruiters. 2. The other contractors used were supporting legacy software. 1-6 months onsite of full-time work and then limited remote support afterward. 3. If you're paying top dollar and working for you has a large amount of prestige then you want to make sure that your engineers are working on the hard problems. Anything that's not related to that can and should be given to contractors. To make sure this isn't abused, I think Google only keeps contractors on for 1 year with only a few exceptions

9 points by zerr 11y ago

Hello, There are people who do contracting for big companies (NetApp, IBM, Microsoft, etc...). How to find such positions? Part-time is as well rarity among engineering jobs for such companies.

dsacco 11y ago

1. Get well acquainted with managers and executives at as many vendors, firms, Fortune 500s and consultancies as possible. 2. Demonstrate usefulness and a value proposition. 3. Discreetly ask for work. To be even more concise: be an outgoing, valuable individual who is not afraid to ask for work.

philjr 11y ago

I've never done this and If you have never done it either maybe subcontracting for a larger consultancy firm might be a good place to start. Will get you in the right neighbourhood so to speak and get you talking to the right people and should be significantly easier providing you're good at what you do.

brandonlipman 11y ago
Interesting answer Phil. When you say larger consultancy firms do you mean firms similar to the size of Accenture?
- philjr 11y ago
  Accenture is on the much larger end. I'd probably suggest if you're interested in pursuing a career on your own that you find a smaller boutique consultancy. You'll be closer to deals and have more insight in to how business is generated.
chrisbennet 11y ago
Keep in mind that if you work for a consulting shop, you will probably sign a non-compete so you won't be able to work for the same clients on your own.

twunde 11y ago

I worked at Google as a contractor. I got my position through a consulting company (a small boutique one in this case). I got the impression that the bigger companies used contracting companies just because it was easier to manage. Fewer vendors to manage, bill etc.

zerr 11y ago
One thing that puzzles me, those big co's have tons of engineers. One might say that they've commoditized the software development. So how come they're unable to solve some tasks internally? I'm not talking about some very domain specific tasks, where it makes sense to consult/contract some experts/academics, but there are just regular engineers working as a contractors/consultants for them.
- philjr 11y ago
  Few scenarios I've seen * "uncool" work. Stuff noone internally wants to work on. * time critical - hiring takes time. * lack of domain expertise - development isn't all equal. Ideally you want people who understand the problem domain. * quick hit stuff - want something knocked up that'll take 3 to 6 months. Not worth the effort of resource planning internally. * budgetary - typically contractors in most bigco's (that I know of) don't come from standard headcount budget. Headcount numbers are typically one of the kpi's used to measure growth. Often times one or more of these reasons conspire together to make a compelling case to go externally.
- twunde 11y ago
  My department used contractors like myself to support legacy software. I think there are a few reasons for it. 1. I know that hiring contractors was significantly easier than hiring full-timers. Fewer interviews, less setup time, less coordination with HR or internal recruiters. 2. The other contractors used were supporting legacy software. 1-6 months onsite of full-time work and then limited remote support afterward. 3. If you're paying top dollar and working for you has a large amount of prestige then you want to make sure that your engineers are working on the hard problems. Anything that's not related to that can and should be given to contractors. To make sure this isn't abused, I think Google only keeps contractors on for 1 year with only a few exceptions