Introducing "The Nomadic Developer" - Surviving and Thriving as a Technical Consultant
I am very pleased to announce that I am now officially writing a book, through Addison Wesley, about ins and outs of the technology consulting business. The best way to think of the book is as an operating manual for your career as a technology consultant.
My motivation for writing a book like this is, frankly, I want consultants to understand this business, so they can make better career decisions. Decisions about where you work (aka don't work for BOZO, FEAR, or other swindlers) - how you get paid, how clients select consultancies, how the sales process works, and really, what makes a place like Magenic, or any other consultancy, tick.
It is an ambitious effort, to be sure. And the schedule is aggressive. We are hoping to have a book out in stores mid-2009, which in book publishing, isn't that far away, given I need to have a manuscript done at the end of January.
Here is my current plan for my table of contents. Note that this is very tentative, but should give you a sense for what this is going to be about:
Chapter 1: Going to battle
Chapter 2: Why consulting?
Chapter 3: The consultancy taxonomy
BOZO
Consulting
Somewhat
bumbling and conservative, yet makes a practice of selling dollars for eighty
cents and expecting the consultants to pick up the slack. Nice people who, generally, are not going to
go very far or expand beyond their core market.
FEAR
Consulting
Manages
consultants by fear – uses tactics that Machiavelli would blush at to keep
consultants in line. Biology – that is –
bathroom breaks go on your time report.
You would leave, but your self-esteem is so low from working there, that
you don’t.
... and so forth, you have seen these entries before... look for a dozen or so more :)
Chapter 4: The secret guide to how geek
consultancies work
Chapter 5: Getting in – secrets to what
consulting firms look for
Chapter 6: What you need to ask before you
join
Chapter 7: Surviving
Chapter 8: Thriving
Chapter 9: Some Typical Career Arcs for
Technology Consultants
Chapter 10: The Payoff
Chapter 11: How to know it’s not for you
Chapter 12: Thoughts on Consulting from Real Consultants
Appendix A: A Consulting Lexicon
The deal is done - now the big task is actually writing about 11 more chapters, an appendix, and generally, making it worth your time to purchase and read. Now the hard part.. getting it all done and written! I will say that it is an honor among honors to get a chance to not only write a book, but to get to write one on a topic that I am this passionate about.