Are consultants from a software vendor perceived to be more 'experts' than others?

[HealthyProtein]

Hello,

I have worked for a couple of software vendors now and the contracting I do in a software is by a vendor. The software is worldwide and there is a good pool of people who can do the job I do.

However the advantage I seem to have is I have worked for the vendor for a number of years.

Are consultants from a software vendor perceived to be more 'experts' than others? Does it bring an perceived advantage when competing with other candidates?

[WTFH]

Hello,

I have worked for a couple of software vendors now and the contracting I do in a software is by a vendor. The software is worldwide and there is a good pool of people who can do the job I do.

However the advantage I seem to have is I have worked for the vendor for a number of years.

Are consultants from a software vendor perceived to be more 'experts' than others? Does it bring an perceived advantage when competing with other candidates?

No, or at least not necessarily.
Experience is very important, but if that experience is only with one client, then it's not that broad.

I have worked with other contractors in the past who have worked for companies such as Oracle and while it's nice to see that on their CV, it's the companies and roles they have done since leaving that are of more interest, unless the job they were doing at the vendor is exactly the same as the role they go for at the client, or they add in "yeah, I designed/wrote that bit"

[northernladuk]

It depends on...

What you did at the vendor,
Who your client is
What you will be doing at the client
Whether you've got a good CV
How good you are in the interview
If you have plenty of previous experience in general

As a stand alone differentiator it's not that advantageous IMO.

[HealthyProtein]

Very insightful replies, thank you both.

So let's say you did consulting at the vendor for 2.5yrs and you worked with 20+ customers from various sectors from finance to NHS and the engagements were anything from ad-hoc 2hrs Webex to 3 month engagements from a technical point of view to more advisory roles, how about then?

And during that time you used the bench time to get exposure to other products, professional accreditations in appropriate subjects as well.

[Eirikur]

Hello,

I have worked for a couple of software vendors now and the contracting I do in a software is by a vendor. The software is worldwide and there is a good pool of people who can do the job I do.

However the advantage I seem to have is I have worked for the vendor for a number of years.

Are consultants from a software vendor perceived to be more 'experts' than others? Does it bring an perceived advantage when competing with other candidates?

No
I worked for a certain technology vendor (which was the market leader at the time in that technology) for 5 years in a perm role and only got contracts to work for clients that use competitive products, never got one which uses the technology of the vendor I worked for

[northernladuk]

Very insightful replies, thank you both.

So let's say you did consulting at the vendor for 2.5yrs and you worked with 20+ customers from various sectors from finance to NHS and the engagements were anything from ad-hoc 2hrs Webex to 3 month engagements from a technical point of view to more advisory roles, how about then?

And during that time you used the bench time to get exposure to other products, professional accreditations in appropriate subjects as well.

It depends. You are a business now and it's not all tick box. So many factors. We can't just give you yes or no answers. For example. Now you've said just 2.5 years which doesn't makes you an expert so another variable etc...

What are you going to do with these answers as well? Is it just for your interest again or will it affect your decisions going forward.

Forget the bench learning BTW. If you don't have demonstrable experience it won't make a difference.

I think you are struggling with the fundamentals of selling your skills to be honest.

[HealthyProtein]

It depends. You are a business now and it's not all tick box. So many factors. We can't just give you yes or no answers. For example. Now you've said just 2.5 years which doesn't makes you an expert so another variable etc...

What are you going to do with these answers as well? Is it just for your interest again or will it affect your decisions going forward.

Forget the bench learning BTW. If you don't have credible experience it won't make a difference.

I think you are struggling with the fundamentals of selling your skills to be honest.

I am looking to learn and understand so I can be better informed in how to operate.

[HugeWhale]

Made me think of car mechanics.
Many people take their cars to a BMW main dealer (and pay £80 an hour) because they believe they're getting a better service, when in fact they're getting a worse service as all the decent mechanics have left and set up on their own. They're paying £80 an hour for an apprentice to work on their car. But still they take their cars to main dealers rather than the scruffy guy with a garage under a railway arch who charges £40 an hour.

Why do they do this? I think it's because the guy under the railway arch isn't selling himself properly. He should play on his main dealer experience, scrub up, keep his garage to main dealer standards, maybe put some nice pictures of Beamers on the wall, make out professional invoices, wear spotless overalls....

[eek]

I think to an extent it depends on the software vendor. I can only speak for the one I currently contract for but the overall knowledge of the people there is greater than I've encountered elsewhere.

[SeanT]

Why do they do this? I think it's because the guy under the railway arch isn't selling himself properly. He should play on his main dealer experience, scrub up, keep his garage to main dealer standards, maybe put some nice pictures of Beamers on the wall, make out professional invoices, wear spotless overalls....

In the example given, the person you describe is like an independent specialist, but then if a certain car brand goes out of fashion they'll have to retrain / retool or not have enough work on (I'm sure there's a profession this is a good analogy for, think it begins with a "c"...)