Aaron Erickson

Learn the Real Secrets of Succeeding as a Software or IT Consultant in Any Economic Climate! Despite economic cycles, the idea of using technology to make a company more efficient and competitive—or perhaps even reach a new market— is appealing to all but the most desperate and cash-starved companies. More and more often, those companies look to technology consultants to fulfill their needs. There are real advantages to being a consultant. You make contacts with a lot of different people; you get exposure to many industries; and most important, unlike a software developer in the IT department for a brick-and-mortar company, as a technology consultant, you are the profit center…so long as you are billing. Consulting can be hugely rewarding—but it’s easy to fail if you are unprepared. To succeed, you need a mentor who knows the lay of the land. Aaron Erickson is your mentor, and this is your guidebook. Erickson has done it all—from Practice Leadership to the lowest level project work. In The Nomadic Developer, he brings together his hardwon insights on becoming successful and achieving success through tough times and relentless change. You’ll find 100% practical advice and real experiences—his own and annotations from those in the trenches. In addition, renowned consultants—such as David Chappell, Bruce Eckel, Deborah Kurata, and Ted Neward—share some of their hard-earned lessons. With this useful guidebook, you can Objectively assess whether the consultant’s life makes sense for you Break into the business and build a career path that works Avoid the Seven Deadly Firms by identifying unscrupulous technology consultancies and avoiding their traps and pitfalls Understand the business models and mechanics that virtually all consulting firms use Master secret consulting success tips that are typically left unstated or overlooked Gain a competitive advantage by adding more value than your competitors Continue your professional development so you stay billable even during bad times Profit from both fixed-bid and time-and-materials projects Build a personal brand that improves your resiliency no matter what happens

Surviving and Thriving in the World of Technology Consulting

The Nomadic Developer

Kat Richardson

Naomi Hirahara

Richie Narvaez

Peter Spiegelman

Libby Cudmore

Jim Winter

Steve Brewer 

W.H. Cameron 

Reed Farrel Coleman 

Matthew Quinn Martin

Jim Thomsen

Think you can’t buy a thrill? This book proves you wrong. Katy lied. Or did she? As with the blues and Elvis and somebody else’s favorite song, it’s open to interpretation. These twelve tales interpret shady pasts, dubious presents, and doomed futures. There’s no hiding inside a hall of rock and sand from stories as deliciously wicked and terrifically twisty as the jazz-rock noir that inspired them. These masters of crime fiction heard the call and wrote it on the wall for you and me. As they name the beast, they make alive worldly wonders in characters you’ve known for decades through the hypnotically woven tapestries of Steely Dan, destined to live on as indelibly as the hallucinatory memories in the caves of Altamira. Edited by Brian Thornton with stories by Steve Brewer, W.H. Cameron, Reed Farrel Coleman, Libby Cudmore, Aaron Erickson, Naomi Hirahara, Matthew Quinn Martin, Richie Narvaez, Kat Richardson, Peter Spiegelman, Jim Thomsen, and Jim Winter.

Aaron Erickson

Books

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