The Nomadic Developer: Surviving and Thriving in the World of Technology Consulting (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn the Real Secrets of Succeeding as a Software or IT Consultant in Any Economic Climate!

 

Despite economic cycles, the idea of using technology to make a company more efficient and competitive–or perhaps even reach a new market– is appealing to all but the most desperate and cash-starved companies. More and more often, those companies look to technology consultants to fulfill their needs.

 

There are real advantages to being a consultant. You make contacts with a lot of different people; you get exposure to many industries; and most important, unlike a software developer in the IT department for a brick-and-mortar company, as a technology consultant, you are the profit center…so long as you are billing.

 

Consulting can be hugely rewarding–but it’s easy to fail if you are unprepared. To succeed, you need a mentor who knows the lay of the land. Aaron Erickson is your mentor, and this is your guidebook.

 

Erickson has done it all–from Practice Leadership to the lowest level project work. In The Nomadic Developer, he brings together his hardwon insights on becoming successful and achieving success through tough times and relentless change. You’ll find 100% practical advice and real experiences–his own and annotations from those in the trenches. In addition, renowned consultants–such as David Chappell, Bruce Eckel, Deborah Kurata, and Ted Neward–share some of their hard-earned lessons.

 

With this useful guidebook, you can

 

• Objectively assess whether the consultant’s life makes sense for you
• Break into the business and build a career path that works
• Avoid the Seven Deadly Firms by identifying unscrupulous technology consultancies and avoiding their traps and pitfalls
• Understand the business models and mechanics that virtually all consulting firms use
• Master secret consulting success tips that are typically left unstated or overlooked
• Gain a competitive advantage by adding more value than your competitors
• Continue your professional development so you stay billable even during bad times
• Profit from both fixed-bid and time-and-materials projects
• Build a personal brand that improves your resiliency no matter what happens

 

About the Author     xiii

About the Annotators     xv

Acknowledgments     xix

Foreword     xxi

Preface     xxv

 

Chapter 1: Why Consulting?     1

Chapter 2: The Seven Deadly Firms     27

Chapter 3: How Technology Consulting Firms Work     59

Chapter 4: Getting In: Ten Unstated Traits That Technology Consulting Firms Look For     97

Chapter 5: What You Need to Ask Before You Join a Technology Consulting Firm     125

Chapter 6: Surviving     157

Chapter 7: Thriving     181

Chapter 8: Your Career Path     207

Chapter 9: Avoiding Career-Limiting Moves     231

Chapter 10: Is Consulting Right for You?     259

Chapter 11: An Anthology of Sage Advice     273

Appendix A: Consultopia: The Ideal Consulting Firm     311

Appendix B: A Consulting Lexicon     325

 

Index     343

 

About the Author

Aaron Erickson is a veteran technology consultant, writer, and technical evangelist with Magenic Technologies, based out of Chicago. He has spent the majority of his career catering to the individual needs of companies of all sizes. His strategic consulting focus has been centered around delivering high-value solutions that break new technological ground and bringing added value to both up-and-coming clients, as well as those who are already established.

 

For the past 16 years, Aaron has worked with leading-edge companies, providing prescriptive guidance to both the knowledge workers–those who actually produce the software–as well as the management side of the business, including CEOs, CTOs, and other executive staff. His experience has led him to do business with a variety of clients across financial services, supply chain, and insurance, vertical industries. His consulting mantra in recent years has been technology matters, but business results matter more.

 

Aaron is frequently invited to speak at events such as TechEd, VSLive, and .NET user groups on topics ranging from the highly technical (F#, C#, LINQ, and Functional Programming), to more business-focused topics that open the floor to an exchange of ideas, best practices, and observations about the specialized world of technology consulting.

 

Aaron has been a Microsoft MVP since 2007. He has written for .NET Developers Journal and InformIT. He blogs at both nomadic-developer.com as well as for Magenic at blog.magenic.com/blogs/aarone. Readers can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/AaronErickson.

 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321606396
• ISBN-13: 978-0321606396
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,627 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had this when I started consulting, June 17, 2009

By	Scott "Lake Villa Reviewer" (Lake Villa, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Aaron has done something amazing here. He has written a book that anyone getting into consulting/contracting needs to read and own. The advice is really timeless and technology independent. A lot of the advice in here will help those outside of consulting invest in their careers and understand how to relate to the consultants that they work with.

Through this book, the reader learns how to take off the rose colored glasses and see a firm for what it is. You learn how to figure out when you are talking to a body shop and should negotiate for a good rate for the current contract. Likewise, if you are talking to a firm like a Magenic, ThoughtWorks, or something similar, the book lets you know that you should be figuring out if you want to stick with this firm for the long haul (because they are doing the same with you!).

The book is easy to read and has the detail needed to assist a contractor in navigating their local market, a consultant in understanding how their firm works, and helps independents find good partnerships.

If your day job involves writing code or managing those who write code, you should have a copy of this on your bookshelf. Re-read this book on a regular basis-- Aaron has advice in here that you will need to see again and again. Think of the book as a Peopleware for managing your career.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone in consulting, May 14, 2009

By	James Ashley (Lawrenceville, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First a word of disclosure: I work in the Atlanta branch of the same software consulting company that the author works for.

Mr. Erikson's book, The Nomadic Developer, explained a lot of things about my own industry that I had never completely thought through before. For the most part I just enjoy developing software and my company affords me an opportunity to do it at a very high level.

The Nomadic Developer helped me understand how and why my company does this. The book is full of excellent ontologies of different consulting practices (which the author calls The Seven Deadly Firms), different valued consulting traits, as well as common consulting career-limiting moves (modelled on the seven deadly sins: Gluttony, Envy, etc.), as well as advice on how to get ahead in consulting and where one's consulting career may eventually lead.

The book is also an excellent guide for those who think they might want to get into consulting. The author paints a vivid picture of what the life of a technologist-for-hire is like and provides recommendations on the sort of people who would thrive in this sort of environment.

Having just completed reading The Nomadic Devloper, my main impression is of Mr. Erikson's affection for his topic as well as his hilarious observations on the perks and pitfalls of consulting. One of my favorite sections of the book is the Consultopia, in which the author dissects the sometimes cynical world of consulting while pretending to provide a lexicon of common consulting terms. I've you've ever chafed at being called a "resource," then you need to read the Consultopia. It will leave you in stitches.

The book finishes off with a chapter called "An Anothology of Sage Advice" in which various consultants give their best shots at explaining how they have succeeded and, almost as often, how they have screwed up in their profession.

The Nomadic Developer provides a guy-on-the-ground perspective on this extremely challenging and lucrative profession. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alot of fun, May 19, 2009

By	Thomas Cole "coletc" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Erickson takes a humorous and thoughtful look at the IT consulting world (software development). New-comers to IT consulting receive an eye-opening look into the daily life of the consultant. The narrative is written to be insightful, humorous, down-right fun. His commentary is often punctuated with a comrade's viewpoint, often a dissenting view, but I found that those sidebar items lent the book credibility. The commentary is certainly bold, but opens a window into the business which any new consultant would find irresistible to peer through.

The seasoned consultant will find Erickson's "formulas" for the consulting business to be downright witty, spot-on, simply entertaining. His terminology and use of analogy are amusing for those of us in the trenches, fighting the consulting battle. His viewpoint is unique, and I found myself considering his advice for my daily routine.