So, You Want To Be A Consultant
A few years ago, Marcelo Andrade, PMP, was a full-time IT project manager at a manufacturing company in Brazil. Then he got a glimpse of life on the other side.
“Having worked intensively with a team of consultants for more than six months on a project, I became interested in the dynamics of their work,” he says.
One year later, he received a job offer from one of the consulting firms on the project. He took the plunge and made the switch, eventually starting up his own project management consulting firm, Eficia Consulting in Uberlândia, Brazil. “I came to the conclusion that, in the worst case, I will be adding a rich experience to my career,” he says.
For any practitioner, launching a career as an independent consultant is a gamble. Striking out on your own means wondering where the next paycheck will come from and constantly drumming up new business. It certainly comes with its advantages, though—like choosing which projects you take on and working across a variety of industries.
“You can gain exposure to a wide range of business models, products and industries,” says Pattie Vargas, PMP, principal of The Vargas Group, a management consultancy in San Diego, California, USA.
Consulting often proves to be a project management crash course.
“You can learn as a consultant in a few months what you …
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While hunting in Africa, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How an elephant got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx |
