Skills to be a Specialized IT Consultant?

fret_wimp

I have applied for a position as a specialized IT consultant ( sql server performance and troubleshooting is the field).

I passed the technical screening, and am scheduled for my interview next week.

Im worried though that I wont have the skills to be a consultant though. For a start, i know a lot of the theory behind the job, but dont have as much experience as i would like.

Also, Im good at working in teams, where you can bounce ideas off of team mates, but this job would have you in a different company every week or two, and when you go in, they expect you to be THE expert in all things SQL Server.

How do consultants deal with this "your a consultant so you must know everything" attitude? Its a lot of pressure to have a company breathing down your neck while you debug and diagnose system issues.

What if you cannot find the issue, or a resolution?

There must be some consultants on boards that can advise me on how you deal with these situations.

Thanks.

EDIT: When i ask for skills to be a consultant, i obviously mean generic skills, and not the specialized area specific skills. Thanks.

Welease

A lot will depend on your rates and the type of contracts you are being placed in,

For the type of contracts I used to deal in.. I would expect you to be self starting, confident and most importantly extremely knowledgeable about the technologies you support.. If it was a development type role then others would be around to offer some advice, if it was a performance/troubleshooting type role then it's you solo, and for the money we pay I expect you to sort the problem.

That may not necessarily mean i expect you to know the answer immediately, but I do expect you to find the answer yourself without any hand holding from me.

If you lack experience (which is the most valuable part) then make sure you know where to find the answers..

Most contracts I have hired previously have had years of experience and decided to go it alone... it may be difficult (again depending on the type of contract) if you have little experience vs contractors with more.

fret_wimp

Thanks for the response. I'l make sure to ask a lot of questions in the interview, but it sounds above my level, experience and confidence wise.

Lack of experience for the job, but to get experience you need to do the job. chicken or the egg?

halkar

Welease is correct. A company would not call in a consultant if they have no issues and they can not resolve internally if they have issues.

You will need experience in production environments and you will need to be confident with what you are doing. Database servers are the backbones of almost every business where no downtimes expected.

You need to understand not only SQL Servers but the environment they are in (servers, OSs, SANs, basic network knowledge and some internet systems knowledge (e.g IIS)). You should be able to advice changes to SANs, OSs, server hardware. You will also be confident in SQL language in order to identify poor coding and suggest changes. In most environments you will have your first impressions from day one. You will be able to identify most obvious bottlenecks within 3 days and have some answers by end of the week if you plan carefully. You will need to be very organized as you will likely to be on very tight schedule (time is money rule) .

Unfortunately knowing the theory behind the job may not be good enough to get the job done but do go for it as it will be great experience. Team work and contacts will be great help when you need advice on any areas you feel to be struggling. Get to know others and the areas they are good as well as what you can offer for them. But expect to be alone in most cases.

All the best with your interview

ntlbell

No one knows everything.

If a company expects that, then you need to look to work for a different company.

Save yourself a lot of hassel.

Your sitting in front of the biggest technical resource in the world.

If you can't find the answer, or the person who can point you the answer or to the person with the answer.

Maybe IT consultancy is not for you.

amen

if a company wants a sql server consultant there are two reasons:
1: start up company/company starting to use sql server needs someone to help them get up and running with SQL Server. you would need good sql experience, how to setup/configure sqlserver, backup strategies, best practice for securiry, sql coding standards etc At a push you might be able to pick this up as go (google!)
2: Company experiencing SQL Server peformance issues. In this scenario they most likely have issues affecting production and they need them resolved immediatley. In this scenario time is of the essense and you need to be able to identify the cause of the performance issue such as tables (lack of keys, indexes (wrong type clustered vs non clustered), disk i/o, (write/read times on disk maybe SAN controller issues), query performance (query plans, how to read them, improve performance etc), maybe incorrect hardward, maybe faulty network cards( I kid you not I have seen this), bad database access objects ( maybe using single threaded object to connect to the db ) etc. You need a good knowledge of SQL Server, Networks, programming languages, iis, com+ etc. There is no looking stuff up in this scenario you need to be hitting the ground running.

That said all you need to know is a bit more then the other guy. Lack of practical experience may hinder you though. Experience lets you learn from your mistakes and also lets you think like other programmers which can be benefical when trouble shooting issues.

Tom Dunne

I worked in a similar job up to last September, as an Oracle consultant, so a very similar type of role.

halkar wrote: »

Welease is correct. A company would not call in a consultant if they have no issues and they can not resolve internally if they have issues.

This is quite true. However, I found in a lot of places I worked, it was a case of the local IT staff walking away, with their hands in the air saying "Ok, the consultants are in, I'm outta here". That was something I was not really prepared for. You need to have to confidence, both technically and personally, do deal with situations like this where you are on your own, and all eyes are on you and the clock is ticking.

One thing you will find, though, is that you will see a lot of the same problem/problems recurring. So with time and experience, you will fix things more quickly.

halkar wrote: »

You need to understand not only SQL Servers but the environment they are in (servers, OSs, SANs, basic network knowledge and some internet systems knowledge (e.g IIS)). You should be able to advice changes to SANs, OSs, server hardware. You will also be confident in SQL language in order to identify poor coding and suggest changes. In most environments you will have your first impressions from day one.

This is another big thing. Knowing your own subject area isn't enough. I found that while working with Oracle databases, I had to sort out application servers, recommend disk layouts, work on a massive range of operating systems and even perform the odd bit of system administration (fond memory of connecting my laptop to a Sun server via serial cable, talk about thinking on your feet). You probably need experience troubleshooting stored procedures and recommending fixes to developers.

You need to be aware of a wide range of technologies and you need to be able to interpret the problems you are seeing. What a technical support person is telling you the problem is and what the actual problem really is, can be two very different things.

I must admit, when I started first, I was petrified. I really was thrown in at the deep end and told "off you go". But while it can be a baptism of fire, it can also be very rewarding. In one week alone, I could have been working at 4-5 different companies, working on both ancient and bleeding-edge technologies, so the experience is excellent.

fret_wimp

Thanks for all the replies guys.

become quite an educational thread, for me anyway. Im going to do the interveiw, but still unsure id take the position, even if i got it.

Like yourself Mr Dunne, the idea of GM's and directors staring at you, willing you to fix something you may have never saw before is terrifying.

Il update this thread once i have further info to add, in case it helps someone else in a similar situation eventually.

cronos

fret_wimp wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys.

become quite an educational thread, for me anyway. Im going to do the interveiw, but still unsure id take the position, even if i got it.

Like yourself Mr Dunne, the idea of GM's and directors staring at you, willing you to fix something you may have never saw before is terrifying.

Il update this thread once i have further info to add, in case it helps someone else in a similar situation eventually.

As a contractor you may be on your own but in a consultancy you always have other competency team members that you can bounce ideas off.

I work in a very very junior consulting role, mostly work as part of a medium sized consultancy team though.

dudara

Consultants are expected to be self-sufficient and self-starting (although able to work in teams as well).

You'll have to be adept at dealing with people, as you're probably going to encounter a range of attitudes and politics.

Technical skills are often the least of the skills needed by a consultant. It's important to be self-aware and have interpersonal, resolution, facilitiation and mediation skills.