Ask HN: Is consulting a safer career path than software engineering? - putnam
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BjoernKW
Consulting as in 'self-employed' in my opinion is a safer career path than
becoming a full-time employee.

If you're working full-time you only have one client. If you're self-employed
you usually have multiple clients at a time, which mitigates risk.

Moreover, if you work for somebody else part of that deal is that your
employer gets to keep most of the value you create with your work in exchange
for relative job security, benefits, social security etc.

Software engineering as an industry is particularly amenable to becoming an
entrepreneur and being self-employed because there's a lot less risk involved
than in many other industries (less upfront investment required; huge,
increasing demand for the foreseeable future).

Therefore the traditional argument for working full-time in order to mitigate
risk doesn't really hold for software engineering.

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bradknowles
It is vitally important to know yourself before making that kind of leap.

Some people are really good at the technical stuff, but suck at the business
side, and couldn’t keep a consulting company running profitably if their lives
depended on it.

Some people don’t want to spend eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve-plus hours a day
doing the “real” work, only to then need to spend another few to several hours
a day doing all the schmoozing, business development, book-keeping, etc...
that are necessary to running a successful consulting company.

Some people don’t multi-task well, or even at all.

These are all things you need to learn about yourself before you dive in
headfirst in running your own consulting company.

~~~
BjoernKW
I agree that knowing yourself is essential before taking any big leap. In
fact, knowing yourself is the foundation of anything in life.

I'd say though that there's no better - perhaps even no other - way to learn
these particular things than by doing them.

So, if you absolutely hate networking, talking to people and the more
technical stuff that comes with a business like bookkeeping then yes: Being a
self-employed consultant probably isn't for you.

On the other hand you might just think you hate these aspects of running a
successful business because you never really did them yourself and only have a
vague idea about them. Going down this path can be a great learning experience
that can help you discover talents you didn't know you had.

I think people tend to underestimate what they're capable of, which often is
especially true for technical types when it comes to anything related to human
communication. I've seen quite few self-proclaimed introverts and "I just want
to code." people become great presenters and teachers.

Being an employee is something of a default case so many settle for that.
Perhaps that's the 'reasonable' thing to do, especially when you're starting
out and need to learn anything at all (including the skills you might later be
selling as consulting services). It needn't be the end goal, though.

~~~
bradknowles
Agreed, these are things you need to learn about yourself, and really the only
way to do that is to try it firsthand.

Been there, done that. Hence the response to which you replied. ;)

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narag
What's the difference? Not trying to be sarcastic (I'm in my first direct
contract in more than ten years) just

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twobyfour
Do you mean management consulting vs software engineering?

Or do you mean working in software development as a consultant (contractor)
rather than a full-time employee?

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bradknowles
I’m a consultant. I do software engineering. I don’t see how these are two
different things.

~~~
suckboi
yea. The question kinda sucks but I sure could use front end software job in
Chicago. I'd be perfect for a place that could let me grow... let me
blossom... let me M A K E

