Technical I.T Consultant

Tom|Nbk

Tom|Nbk

Tom|Nbk

Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2006
Posts
23,070
Location
N.E England
What sort of experience is needed typically for this job?, aslo what sort of qualifications are mostly needed, If anyone has any more in depth information they can post up, it would be appreciated. Thanks :)
 
Heheh 'consultant' covers the breath of the industry.

Hardware?
Software?
Microsoft?
Databases?
Accounting?
BI?
DR?
The list goes on. In short from my shortish experience in the industry consultants tend to be those who have had a few years experience in a specific technology. Degrees are often a must, professional qualifications in the subject area help, though I think the main thing is experience.
 
Hardware and Software I'd be looking to go into these are my strong points (especially hardware), salary seems to be around 40-50k, Im currently at college in my second year studying 2 A2's and hopefully another 2 AS's next year, is there a way to get into it without the Uni path or will I find it a lot harder?
 
"Consultancy" is something you generally do after you have an enormous amount of experience, you will have to gain experience in an actual IT job before you go in to any sort of consultancy.

A career goal maybe, but don't go make it your short term aim.

Unless of course you're using the term consultant differently to how I've seen it used.
 
A consultant is someone with a little tuft of grey hair they wear as proof they took the hard road and learnt the mistakes so their clients dont have to. Look at what you like to do and what you are good at and start specialising!
 
Hmm so it's more of a goal aim than somthing you could start training for straight away, well im stuck as to what I.T job would be a well paid starter for a college leaver.
 
Do some research, and go to uni. It'll broaden your horizons, both socially and for your career.

Sure you could leave now and try to climb the ladder so to speak, that's your choice. Just telling you what I'd do (and have done).
 
I work for a software development company in a development team. My development team leader used to do consultancy for the company and said he prefers his current job over consultancy no end. He said it can be very well paid but it's not the job for someone who wants to work 9 - 5:30am and then go home. :)
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Hardware and Software I'd be looking to go into these are my strong points (especially hardware), salary seems to be around 40-50k, Im currently at college in my second year studying 2 A2's and hopefully another 2 AS's next year, is there a way to get into it without the Uni path or will I find it a lot harder?
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Tom I don't think you'll be able to jump into consultancy straight after college. You would need to get some experience in your chosen field for a while and then get promoted into the role. Also 'hardware and software' is a pretty big net, I understand that just coming from college its difficult to know what bit to go into but as a customer I would be asking for a specific SQL Server consultant, a DR consultant, an Oracle consultant etc.

All of this comes from that old nugget experience. Lets say you leave college and then work as a DBA for a few years. Once you have experience in that product that spans a while, you have enough to go and consult on the product. Consultants unfortunately don't walk into a role without experience, as they wouldn't be able to consult on it :p

If you have any other questions do ask, as the firm I work for is primarily a consultancy.
 
jon86 said:
I work for a software development company in a development team. My development team leader used to do consultancy for the company and said he prefers his current job over consultancy no end. He said it can be very well paid but it's not the job for someone who wants to work 9 - 5:30am and then go home. :)
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This is very true, with the money comes the hours, spending weeks living in cheap hotels, eating hotel food, taking trains to the other side of the country. The money though, as I understand it, is not to be sniffed at.
 
jon86 said:
I work for a software development company in a development team. My development team leader used to do consultancy for the company and said he prefers his current job over consultancy no end. He said it can be very well paid but it's not the job for someone who wants to work 9 - 5:30am and then go home. :)
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I'm a consultant and this can be true, depends how you manage your time. It can be quite annoying spending time out of the office visiting clients and then having to come back to a mountain of stuff :(

I quite enjoy it, i'm not an IT consultant but similar really. Not sure how you can plan ahead to be a consultant while being at colleage, it comes with experience.
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Hmm so it's more of a goal aim than somthing you could start training for straight away, well im stuck as to what I.T job would be a well paid starter for a college leaver.
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what do you know? if it's what most tech savvy school leavers know, then the helpdesk is where you'll start. actually, without proven experience, the helpdesk is most likely where you'll start anyway.
 
A consultant brings something to a company that they cannot achieve by other means. This is usually a specific skill set for a short period of time.

I get brought in to companies to help them deliver projects or to build an architecture. Both are relatively one off events that will not be required on a constant basis. Therefore its cheaper to pay a consultant for 3 months than it is to recruit some one permanently.
 
Tom|Nbk said:
Hmm so it's more of a goal aim than somthing you could start training for straight away, well im stuck as to what I.T job would be a well paid starter for a college leaver.
Click to expand...

Training as a DBA (Database Administrator) is an often overlooked talent. You build a very broad set of skills as you frequently end up being the expert on all manner of server equipment and in particular storage. Pay scales are good meaning you can start low but frequently climb within the same company to salaries of up to around £50k.

This will also give you the background to become a consultant (again using the old definition rather than the new version where everyone is a consultant lol) or as in my case via Project Management to become a Technical Architect.
 
Sid thanks for your advice, I may have more questions later, Im wondering is an IT helpdesk the only thing i can hope to grab if i leave college with 4 A levels :( ? . Will most likely 99% hit Uni, Im just starting to get my ideas together as my college life comes to a close. Thanks everyone else for all the advice so far, It's helped open my eyes a little.
 
I am a contractor, the pay is not bad, much better than full time work but here are the down sides you may not be aware of.

Long hours, up at 7am out of work for 6pm.
No sick pay
No holiday pay
No pension pay
Most of the time 1 weeks notice.
Not sure of your next job
80% of the time, working away from home and staying in B&B's
Constantly looking for recipts to hand to the tax man.
NO room for error - you are employed as you know what you are doing. Basicly you have to be better and faster than the staff they have already, if your any good.

I would not recomend this life if you have kids, buying a house, family, large debts or you like having a social life in the week, then this is not for you.

But if you like working long hours, enjoy the job your in, enjoy meeting new people, seeing new places and can live for 4-5 weeks without an income, then its great.... i love it...

As for consultants. id expect them to have 10+ years of doing what they are asked to do, have contacts in other works for ideas and good deals. They should know what they are doing within the 2nd week of starting a new job, be able to get on with 99% of people they see and be knowaldgable about the job.

Qualifications i have found are good to have, but the experince is better. I have NVQ3 in networking, thats it, but i constantly beat people with degree's in tests and interviews, but not on spelling lol.... so i thik its the whole package in contracting/consulting - work flow management, personality and able to do the job. Fail at any 3 of them and you wont get many contracts.

Hope this is of some use......

ColiN - contracting for 10 years now :) learnt so much from when i started it scares me!
 
colinuk said:
I am a contractor, the pay is not bad, much better than full time work but here are the down sides you may not be aware of.

Long hours, up at 7am out of work for 6pm.
No sick pay
No holiday pay
No pension pay
Most of the time 1 weeks notice.
Not sure of your next job
80% of the time, working away from home and staying in B&B's
Constantly looking for recipts to hand to the tax man.
NO room for error - you are employed as you know what you are doing. Basicly you have to be better and faster than the staff they have already, if your any good.

I would not recomend this life if you have kids, buying a house, family, large debts or you like having a social life in the week, then this is not for you.

But if you like working long hours, enjoy the job your in, enjoy meeting new people, seeing new places and can live for 4-5 weeks without an income, then its great.... i love it...

As for consultants. id expect them to have 10+ years of doing what they are asked to do, have contacts in other works for ideas and good deals. They should know what they are doing within the 2nd week of starting a new job, be able to get on with 99% of people they see and be knowaldgable about the job.

Qualifications i have found are good to have, but the experince is better. I have NVQ3 in networking, thats it, but i constantly beat people with degree's in tests and interviews, but not on spelling lol.... so i thik its the whole package in contracting/consulting - work flow management, personality and able to do the job. Fail at any 3 of them and you wont get many contracts.

Hope this is of some use......

ColiN - contracting for 10 years now :) learnt so much from when i started it scares me!
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So you worked your way up I see, what was your starting point.
 
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