Mailbag: Consult or work in-house?

Dear David,

I am really happy that your site exists and inspire many of us to learn to code even with a non-coding background. Many thanks for your efforts to do it in your free time, and also big thanks to your wife who probably supports you in this hobby, otherwise you won’t have enough time and energy for this many valuable posts.

Please let me ask a career related question. I think everyone can gather some pros and cons whether work for a consultant/third party implementing company or for an end user, but I wonder what do YOU think. From the perspective of what and how deep to learn and experience about SFDC, what would you say what are the pros and cons in your opinion?

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Awesome Person

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Dear Awesome Person,

Thanks for the shout-out to my wife! She puts up with a lot from me to sustain this hobby of mine!

This question often pains me as I think about it a lot. I’ve never worked for a consultancy and I’ve always personally gone the in-house option because, well, I’m not really the consulting type of personality. I don’t fit the culture whether that’s a good thing or not!

The reason it pains me is because most of the best people I know in the industry are consultants. Also, they’re often the highest paid. Being a part of so many different types of projects really expands the range of your knowledge. It makes me wonder what I’m missing out on by choosing to work on in-house teams.

On the flip side, there are things from a Salesforce technical perspective that are difficult to learn as a consultant. Like it is when raising a family (I imagine), I want to build something that will grow into something beautiful in the long-run. A consultant could feel the same way too, but since they’re more project based, they tend to think of things in terms of a sprint rather than a marathon.

My jealously indicates to me that most people will learn more as consultants =)

Best of luck in your decision!
David

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