I've been a consultant for my first client for nine months now. Atos hired me in January for a special case; a large scale IT project involving a brand new state of the art manufacturing facility where I have to work in a cross functional team composed of IT, Production, engineering, quality, etc.
I was living in Ohio at the time but taking the job would require me to move to Washington state for a year. I had never been to the west coast and having the title Business Analyst sounded awesome to me so I took the job. A couple weeks later, after meeting some fellow consultant co-workers, I hopped on a plane and moved to WA.
At the time I didn't actually understand what it meant to be a consultant. I figured it would be like any other job except that we'd be working at the client site. What I've learned is that yes, we are given work items, but that is just the starting point. We need to be able to understand the whole picture. The client is our customer, we're not there just as work horses but to be able to help them make sure they're going down the best path.
My title may be business analyst but I help out in development, training, and quality control. I've gotten to know the people who work on the project and what their special interests are.
Here are some insights I have gathered on being a consultant:
* You are providing a service
* Make the client look good, "we all need to have our foot in the door"
* Work together with the client; find a mix between providing input and telling them how to run the project.
* Add value - don't just be a wall flower!
I was living in Ohio at the time but taking the job would require me to move to Washington state for a year. I had never been to the west coast and having the title Business Analyst sounded awesome to me so I took the job. A couple weeks later, after meeting some fellow consultant co-workers, I hopped on a plane and moved to WA.
At the time I didn't actually understand what it meant to be a consultant. I figured it would be like any other job except that we'd be working at the client site. What I've learned is that yes, we are given work items, but that is just the starting point. We need to be able to understand the whole picture. The client is our customer, we're not there just as work horses but to be able to help them make sure they're going down the best path.
My title may be business analyst but I help out in development, training, and quality control. I've gotten to know the people who work on the project and what their special interests are.
Here are some insights I have gathered on being a consultant:
* You are providing a service
* Make the client look good, "we all need to have our foot in the door"
* Work together with the client; find a mix between providing input and telling them how to run the project.
* Add value - don't just be a wall flower!
