Author Topic: My first paid consulting job! (Read 1068 times)

Sabre · « **on:** November 25, 2003, 04:40:25 PM »

I'm a satellite system engineer, working for a major Aerospace Company, and was asked by another company if I'd like to do some consulting work for them on the side (all on the up and up, of course). I'm jazzed! First time I've ever been asked. Only question is, what does an aerospace consultant charge per hour? Maybe I'll get to take the wife on that anniversary cruise this coming summer after all:) (not to mention paying off the VISA card).

Mini D · « **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2003, 04:50:03 PM »

Charge a bunch. The more you charge, the better you are.

MiniD

JB73 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 25, 2003, 06:30:59 PM »

ok how many aerospace engineer consultants do you think read this board that will really tell you what they charge?

LOL
jk wtg, good luck and hope your advise is solid (i dont want a satelite falling on MY car.)

oh yeah thanks for bragging and making my life that much more miserable and without direction.

Curval · « **Reply #3 on:** November 25, 2003, 07:02:08 PM »

Consultancy in any field is where the big bucks are Sabre. Charge them a fortune.

Congrats. You must be very good at what you do.

capt. apathy · « **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2003, 07:52:58 PM »

don't forget the real $$.

now you are a cunsultant(basicly paid for your knowledge and what you tell people), so if you even talk about work at the bar your drinks are a bussiness expense.

Raubvogel · « **Reply #5 on:** November 25, 2003, 08:01:53 PM »

My sister has lots of aero-space in her head, and I never get a dime for helping her out.

Ripsnort · « **Reply #6 on:** November 26, 2003, 07:24:10 AM »

Sabre, if you can give me alittle more information on what you'll be consulting on, I can contact our technical fellow who does this same thing, but from an engineering software perspective, don't know if this will help you, but it might be a baseline (shrugs)

Anyway, my email is active, shoot me an email. I probably won't respond until Dec. 8th however, we're heading to Disney World on Friday.

AWMac · « **Reply #7 on:** November 26, 2003, 07:39:27 AM »

And you'll have enough money to carpet your garage like all them "Big Spenders" do.

Ripsnort · « **Reply #8 on:** November 26, 2003, 07:46:29 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by AWMac
And you'll have enough money to carpet your garage like all them "Big Spenders" do.

Actually, that was 1/3 cheaper than tile!

lazs2 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 26, 2003, 09:51:29 AM »

congrats... the way I would do any consulting billing is this... either don't reinvent the wheel and talk to another consultant or... find a job that matches your consulting job that is salaried and charge at about 3 times the salaried guys hourly rate.
lazs

Wanker · « **Reply #10 on:** November 26, 2003, 09:52:05 AM »

WTG Sabre!

Drinks are on you at the con next year!

Dux · « **Reply #11 on:** November 26, 2003, 10:12:40 AM »

Sabre, I'd look into the fineprint of the company you work full-time for... there may be stipulations about such things.

I work for a DoD laboratory, and they're very touchy about outside consulting.

Otherwise, good luck and charge them what you think you're worth!

AKIron · « **Reply #12 on:** November 26, 2003, 10:36:20 AM »

No idea what you should charge. I can tell you what IT consultants typically charge. $150-$200/hr for typical network design/support but I've seen it go as high as $400/hr for an AS400 guy.

Pongo · « **Reply #13 on:** November 26, 2003, 11:38:46 AM »

Normal consulting should be in the range of 3-4 times the rate you would expect as an employee in the job. If your being brought in to fight a fire or work on a fixed price project then consider 4-5 times the rate.

If your skill set is so rare that you can name your price then name your price.

Forget about giving favourable rates for your first assignements. No matter how friendly the client is at start up they expect a hell of a lot from you and every assignement has to be billable and profitable on its own merits.

If this client is asking you to bid a price on a specific task then be absolutly sure that any preliminarly activities you would need to be completed are complete and useable before you sign to deliver.

You may have expectations of what a task entails from your company that are incorrect for the same task in another company. Methodologies change alot from orginisation to orginisation.

I am an IT consultant but I would imagine that most of these issues are general to any consulting.

Sabre · « **Reply #14 on:** November 27, 2003, 01:29:23 PM »

Thanks for the feedback. Rip, I tried to email you, but when I went to your profile and clicked "Email this person" it said it had been disabled.

Dux: Yes, my company has a process I must go though for any outside employment, including consulting. I've already discussed it with my boss, and submitted a request for a Conflict of Interest Determination.

banana: First round's on me.

This effort is a fairly small contract, being exploratory in nature. The offer they made is probably less than I could get if I pressed them (though still respectably higher than my current hourly rate), but if it goes well the company will likely get a second contract for prototyping. That will be an opportunity to up the ante. Plus, they're picking up all travel expenses. So, all in all I think it will work out.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. Sorry if it came off like blowing my own horn. Like I said, I was just jazzed to be asked, and had to share it. It marks a milestone of sorts in my career. Have a happy Thanksgiving Day.