
Ask HN: Difference from being a consultant and employee? - a_lifters_life
Im considering a role with a consulting company, and a regular non-consulting position; both full time.<p>I have never been a consultant before and wondered how its different ?<p>As a consultant are you just expected to know your shit completely? Or this there opportunity to learn from others more experienced in a subject matter?<p>Thanks
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gk1
> As a consultant are you just expected to know your shit completely? Or this
> there opportunity to learn from others more experienced in a subject matter?

Depends on the company. Larger consulting firms will have different levels of
consultants--associate consultant, consultant, senior, manager, and principal
--and will pair newer consultants with more experienced ones. You should ask
the company.

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a_lifters_life
How about smaller consulting firms? e.g. > 100 employee

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mgliwka
In my experience it's mostly the same.

Since the demand exceeds the supply by far, most consultancies take on less
experienced candidates, then train them and/or pair them with a more
experienced colleague.

I've worked for several smaller consultancies focusing on different domains
and technology stacks and always learned it on the job.

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a_lifters_life
If you dont mind me asking, how do you think this helped or hurt your career?

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nickjj
I do freelance / consulting work (but I'm self employed with no employees).

Most gigs start with "ok, we have this problem..." and my job is to figure out
how to solve it. It could be anything from fleshing out technical details to
implementing the solution myself. It really depends on what the client wants.

I never worked an employee position but I would imagine if you're hired to do
either one for someone else, you would be expected to interact with your
company's customers directly as a consultant as opposed to an employee where
you'd likely only be told to write XYZ code away from any direct customers.

I learn something new on every gig I take, but I'm mainly learning from my
clients, not other consultants since I am a solo consultant. Although I do
learn from other consultants in more social means (talking with other
consultants, etc.). It's just we rarely work together on the same job and
every job is very different.

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prokes
One thing to consider about consulting companies is they charge your time to
the client by the hour, hence they want you working as many billable hours as
possible. This is measured through utilization and in my experience I had to
account for every 15 minute block of my day. This became a burden and
eventually quite stress inducing ("Why are you only at 70% utilization?"). On
the other hand, full time work is more relaxed. It is goal oriented but not
down to the minute.

On the plus side, you will generally be exposed to more and different types of
work in consulting, so you may learn and grow faster. You can also expand your
network through clients you meet who can help you down the road.

