If you are in information technology and you have the ambition and inborn drive to be among the very best--or if you need to engage an IT consultant and want to know how to recognize the best--this book is for you. In most fields, a consultant is an expert who provides advice and guidance. Implementing the advice is up to the client. In information technology, the term "computer consultant" covers a wider range. Business expertise is frequently an even more critical element of the delivery than technical expertise. Because implementation of the consultant's advice may require highly specialized skills, the consultant may offer to manage a team to perform some or all of the IT work that needs to be done, or may even offer supplemental staff for a client. But at the other end of the spectrum, some people call themselves computer consultants when their work is exclusively technical, such as programming or network design. Exactly what is a consultant in the field of information technology? What's the different between an ordinary computer consultant and one who stands out above the crowd? If you want to be an exemplary, top of the line consultant in the IT field, what do you need to do? This book addresses these questions. Contributors include Jerry Weinberg, who is practically legendary for his keen insight, and Steve Epner, founder of the Independent Computer Consultants Association. Each chapter explores a different aspect of what it takes to be a truly excellent computer consultant and provide the highest levels of value and service for clients.
Bonnie D. Huval is originally from Texas, where she worked briefly in oil well testing and for nine years as an engineer in the Space Shuttle programme. After that, she has not stayed in any one spot more than a few years. In addition to moving abroad, she has traveled and worked across the United States, western Europe, and on brief visits to Canada and Mexico.
At one point in the 1990s her business holdings included assets in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and New Hampshire. She joked that when advisors said to diversify investments, she thought they meant geographically, so that no single natural disaster could hit them all. Then a hurricane came ashore in Texas and traveled inland across all of those assets, causing floods all the way.
She now lives in England. She has businesses in the UK and USA, and says perhaps they are still not spread out enough. Her primary work is consulting and services, often for large multinationals, with the benefit of heavy IT expertise. Her business interests also include real estate, property management and a restaurant. She publishes books and articles for small businesses, focusing on pragmatic real-world tips and information that she finds lacking in most bookstores.
