Hints for consulting when the thought of doing sales may scare you. Given at SLC R User Group May 2019

1. Consulting for Introverted Developers
@__mharrison__

2. About Me
● School / work in Bay Area
for 8 years
● Ran Utah Python for 5 years
● Author of multiple Python
and Pandas books
● O'Reilly video author &
instructor
● Corporate training &
consulting through
MetaSnake
● UofU / Stanford Professional
Education Professor

3. MetaSnake
● http://metasnake.com
● Get technical people really understanding Python
● Get Python programmers grokking intermediate &
advanced skills
● Get technical people training on Data Stack (SQL,
Pandas, Machine Learning, Jupyter, Viz)
● Consulting (AI route planning, Loan delinquency, Course
classifcation & churn, Code review, MVP for commercial
real estate marketplace, Architecting ad reporting and
predictive services)

4. Like

5. Don't Like
● Sales
● Large groups

6. Advice for a youngster
Go work for a company that rhymes with:
Cramazon, Ficrosoft, Kroogle, Frapple, Tracebook

7. I might not be to talk advice from
"There once was a young man":
● First job
● After frst job

8. Consulting
People pay you for your expertise

9. Why Consulting?
● Money
● Time
● Do what you want

10. Why not?
● Sales
● Marketing
● Running a company
● Competing with a race to the bottom
(computers/people)

11. First Order
● Get an accountant
● Form an LLC
● List it on your LinkedIn

12. If you decide to go solo
● Find a good (health) insurance broker

13. 3 Things
Inspired by Drew Conway
Stats Progamming
Expertise

14. 3 Things
Attitude Invest in Self
Invest in Others

15. Attitude

16. Abundance Mentality
There is more than enough work to go around

17. Attitude
"There once was a young man whose friend was
speaking at all of the conferences and he wasn't..."

18. Conferences
Attending a conference is mostly a waste for me

19. Conferences
Speaking at a conference is completely different

20. Conferences
My best pro tip for introverts at conferences is: be
a speaker.
It sounds wild, but you get time to practice and
plan ahead of time, and then people will
approach you and you'll already have something
to talk about.
-- @valeriecodes

21. Conferences
I expect to get business from this talk

22. Source of Work
I get pitched all the time on LinkedIn, but 90%+ of
my work is from my network or conference work

23. Attitude
Write down and review your goals!

24. Invest in Self

25. Invest in Self
Let me tell you the story of a boy who wanted to
create the frst Python series for Pluralsight ....

26. Invest in Self
On Linux

27. Invest in Self
Buy/use correct tools

28. Invest in Self
Let me tell you the story of a boy who decided to
create a book from his conference tutorial...

29. Invest in Self
● Book is a business card
● Self-publishing is easy
● Publishers want good content

30. Invest in Self
Become a leader

31. Onion Skin of (Open Source)
Participation
● Heard of
● Use
● File bugs/use mailing list
● Submit PR
● Committer

32. Onion Skin of Participation
Let me tell you the story of a colleague who
wanted to become a Core Python committer...

33. Become a Leader
● Meetup
● Sharing
● Blogging
● Presenting

34. "Effectiveness of Public Work"
● Blog
● Tweet
● Contribute to Open Source
● Give Talks
● Record Screencasts
● Write a Book
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jk7216yr30ztpdp/DavidRobinson-RStudio-2019-old.pdf?
dl=0

35. Invest in Self
● Get enough sleep
● Exercise
● Mental Health

36. Better Developer
The secret to becoming a better developer?
Get more sleep.
-- @kvlly

37. Invest in Others

38. Abundance Mentality
There is more than enough work

39. Abundance Mentality (2)
It's a small world. I personally know most of the
other Python trainers (who also consult and write
books). They are not my competition.

40. Attitude
Rather than pitching everyone your service, ask
"What can I do for you?" (w/o expecting
payment).

41. Mastermind Group
Connect with people who do similar things or
who are doing what you want to do.

42. Clients as "Others"
● Give clients a fair price
● Be willing to drop clients

43. Invest in Others
Be charitable:
● Donate
● Teach at schools

44. My Offer
If there is something I can do for you, let me know
in person after talk.

45. Book
Helpful book:
The Coder's Path to Wealth & Independence by Mark
Beckner

46. Summary
Attitude Invest in Self
Invest in Others

47. Thanks!
Reach out on:
● @__mharrison__ (twitter)
● LinkedIn
Check out my latest book at
http://effectivepycharm.com