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Comment by zffr | Hacker News Reader

Can you make FAANG level money doing consulting?

Yes, and what you'll find is that the output of your work product will become magically disconnected from your pay. Management will love your ideas because they came from a consultant. Ideas which come from within the business cannot be trusted, but consultants are expensive, and therefore they are both intelligent and also correct.

Absolutely. It's just about getting into a firm that isn't doing staff augmentation and is building out things for companies. While you will be paid well, it's worth noting that the code will be shit. Worse than code sometimes. That's why the company is outsourcing. I once spent six months just cataloging all the repositories and dependencies a company had. They needed to move to the cloud but they literally had no idea what code they had. Everything worked and so they just never touched it.

Depends on the ‘consulting’ - are you giving strategic advice to the CTO’s office at a multinational? You could be making millions! Are you augmenting an SME’s team as an IC? You can make a little more than an employee after accounting for all the things you have to pay for that tend to be included as an employee.

You tend to need some really awesome work experience to get the former while the latter is fairly easy to walk into.

Easily, especially if you have a good resume.

Double, triple, even quadruple

Any guides on how to make multi millions per year as consultant?

That's the realm of extreme skill, luck, and timing. There is no way there's a cookie-cutter solution to that and if people say there is I suggest they're no different to Tai Lopez etc...

Two solutions I have seen (thanks to the news):

1. Be being a world-class academic on a hot ML topic consulting to a huge tech company at a strategic level

2. Be the prime minister of a G8 country and consult for global investment firms

If you're a software engineer or even engineering leader at a startup/SME you're not going to find these contracts unless you're in the 0.001% of the market for a niche skill that's desperately in need.

Consultants exist at every level. An individual will (should?) never make more than the client they serve. However, a team of consultants (like the ones who consult for global firms) can demand more than an individual can. Often times a lot more. They also take on indemnification and more risk. Last I checked, an engagement with Deloitte for anything costs $10M out the gate.

Yes but the question was how does one consultant earn multiple millions of dollars. The average managing directors at Deloitte earn around $500k - I don't think there's any reasonable way to earn over double the average managing directors rate at a Big 4 without being a sole contractor directly contracting with a company

Contracting != consulting.

I don't really understand what you're on about anymore. Fwiw, I am a consultant and do know the field.

Edit: Maybe you're unaware of the term https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/sole-contractor, I was talking about a single person consulting, not a contract developer or whatever

You say you’re a consultant and yet link to a definition of a sole contractor.

Again, I’m talking about consulting, not contracting. Those are different. If you don’t know the difference then here’s a definition of a consultant https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/consultant

Now, to a layman, these may look identical. To a consultant, these are vastly different things.

You are not paid on output, you are paid on outcome.

Example: I can spend 10 days consulting a startup board on how to do something and make $50,000.

I can spend 10 days coding for client X and make $5,000 tops as a contractor.

You're misunderstanding me. I'm saying it is extremely rare for a consultant to earn multiple millions a year. On the cases it is possible, they are going to be very niche individuals not going into a company via Deloitte etc but as themselves.

Start a consultancy, start making money. There’s no hard guide. No playbook on how to succeed for you personally. It’s a business, just like any other. Treat it as a business. Not a job. Build it up. Network. Showcase. Charge slightly less than you would have. Hire more people to assist in the work. Compound your time. Compound your money.

Sounds like not much different from working on ur own startup. That would be very different from coasting as senior/staff in faang

As general advice this is exagerated. You can match it yes, but quadrupling you need to be bringing something very special to the table.

Unless you mean the arbitrage of doing this from different countries with more favourable tax/COL?

Of course it is. Everyone’s mileage will vary. Not everyone is cut out to be CEO of a consulting firm. As a solo consultant, you’ll be hard pressed to charge more than they could get a FTE. As a firm, well, Deloitte, Cognizant, Pearsons, Booz Allen, all started as a consultancy or professional services spin off.

If you’re wondering how to be a consultant, you won’t get FAANG money. If you know how to be a consultant, it’s a matter of finding the right clientele and/or hiring a sales rep for their clientele.

Again a massive no true Scotsman stretch. GP asked if we could make FAANG money as a contractor and you claim four fold... If you have the network, money and sub-hire a bunch of people. Ok sure but then it's not a like for like comparison.

Most ppl in contracting are just interested in FTE work, with a better rate, tax framework, less office politics, etc. Very few want to go full Cognizant.

Has asked how he could make FAANG money as a consultant, not a contractor. Those are different.

I see perhaps somewhat lost in translation. In Europe a contractor is often referred to as an external consultant and _actual_ "Consultancy" are somewhat interchangeable terms but one is John's LLC and the other is BCG's pricetag consultants.

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