Customer Reviews

The Rational Guide to IT Consulting (Rational Guides)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I went independent at the beginning of 2005 and I found this book most valuable in my search for quick and clear information. Once you buy it, you can register the book and get access to template contracts too (which makes this book really pay for itself 10-fold).

I started up an IT Consulting business and I looked and gathered lots of info. This book was one of the pieces of the puzzle. It answered some questions I had and provided some guidance. You have to remember that no book will provide all the answers needed, but many books will provide you with most of your information needed... this is one of those books.

At just 128 pages this book is short and sweet. However, don't be fooled by the brevity. The author provides shares real-world experiences and lessons learned over a lengthy career as a consultant. There is no fluff or philosophical preaching here. The author provides information he wishes he had known when he started his consulting practice. These kinds of tips are invaluable, and this book overflows with them. Concise, well written, well done!

I enjoyed the book. I've been considering entering the IT consulting field for a couple of years and have been doing some research. This book was the first I've seen that boiled down the steps to take to get there. The book was succinct and easy to digest, yet sufficiently detailed. I especially liked the information in there about starting out by doing contract work for headhunters. Mr. Webb was the first author to suggest that, that I've seen.

Joe Webb's guide to being a consultant in the Information Technologies field is informative and, unlike many books on the subject, gives comprehensive strategies with real world examples.

I would further recommend this book for any person in the IT field not yet comfortable taking the step into consulting, but wanting to move up in IT management and / or interested in increasing his or her compensation. Joe's candid explanation and suggestions on separation of work from self, along with directed instructions on how to deal with clients would be very beneficial to the aspiring IT professional. It is far too often the case that talented and ambitious IT folks limit their own growth and potential by not mastering these two skills even though technically they improve year to year.

Book is really quick to read and offers quite a few valuable hints. Also, the template contracts you can get are worth the price of the book by themselves.
Just one word of warning goes out to people outside of North America, because several pages of the book (esp. in the Chapter 2 - Setting Up Your Business) are exclusively related to North American laws and regulations. With this said, no matter where you're from, I still think that book contains lot of universally good advices, and that it's also great to have template contracts compliant with North American standards at hand.

I will be going back to this book as I move into to the consulting phase of my career. It helped me see that the route I have chosen is the one to take.

Not much to say, it covers a lot of the "gotchas" you can expect in your first few years of working as an independent IT consultant. It offers ideas on how to do things right and how to ease yourself into the profession, which I found most helpful.

Being myself a consultant for many years I really enjoyed this guide. This short (a little more that a hundred pages) book places the emphasis very precisely on questions and problems of any consultant. And it gives solutions! This is a must-read book for any consultant regardless of his experience.