After two years in my current job I’ve decided to move on and set myself up an independent consultant. I’ve set up my own company and if you go to the website:
…you can see the formal write-up of what I want to be doing (cool domain name isn’t it?); it’s basically short engagements working with Analysis Services and MDX. My thinking is that there are lots of people out there who are working with Microsoft BI tools and for the most part being successful with them, but who might from time-to-time run into problems writing difficult calculated members or designing their cube and who need someone with my specialised skillset to help out for a few days or weeks. This is the kind of thing I enjoy doing most – in fact, it’s what I’ve been doing for free for people who post questions on the newsgroups, leave comments here or who email me direct for the past few years. I also want to add a bit of variety to my work: apart from the consulting, I want to do some training (I’m going to be an associate mentor with Solid Quality Learning), speak at conferences (see you at SQL Connections in Nice), and maybe develop for sale some Microsoft BI-based packaged solutions in conjunction with my friends in the UK BI mafia. I’d also be interested in working with MDX on other OLAP servers that support it – I’m sure there can’t be many Essbase or SAP BW consultants out there that know MDX, for instance.
Since I’m based in the UK that’s where I’d prefer to do most of my work, but I’m willing to travel anywhere necessary. However I’m going to experiment with attractively discounted rates for customers who will let me work from home: I know that in the BI world the data we work with is a precious commodity that you can’t simply email to all and sundry, but on the other hand I feel that some problems can be solved without ever seeing the data, sometimes without seeing the cube, so I’d like to see if I can make that model work.
Usually at this point in the "I’ve got a new job" blog entry the writer apologises for the fact that he’s going to be much busier in future and won’t be able to blog as much as he used to be able to do. Not true for me: I intend to blog more. I’ll be building into my schedule days of sitting at home, doing R&D, reading, blogging and answering questions on newsgroups. There are three reasons for this: 1) if I was away working all week, every week my wife would kill me, 2) it’s the only way I’ll be able to keep up with all the new developments in the world of Microsoft BI, and 3) what better way is there than blogging to reach my potential customer base?
So if you’ve got a problem and no-one else can help, and if I’m available, maybe you can hire me. Drop me a mail on info@crossjoin.co.uk to find out!
Chris, good luck in your new career – I\’m sure it\’s destined to be a Non Empty CrossJoin()! I\’ve been lucky enough to recently have attended SQL Server 2005 classes conducted by Solid Quality Learning (Erik V and Dave F) – you\’ll be in good company! Wonder if you\’ll also be working with Mark Hill, who branched off on his own, not too long ago?
Yes, I know Mark although last time we spoke he claimed to be booked up for the next year or so! I\’m sure we\’ll work together at some point. One of these days we\’ll have to meet up too…
Does this mean you will FINALLY grow a beard (all good consultants have beards)?
Chris, very best of luck to you. What you\’re doing is precisely what I\’ve been toying with doing over the last year or so – from my perspective the challenge will be finding enough bits of ad-hoc work to make it worthwhile, vs. just going out and getting a six-month contractor gig. I\’ll be very interested to hear how it goes for you. Good luck!
Hi Chris,
Congratulation, I wish you the best in your new career !
Hope to see you again soon !
Cheers,
Lionel BILLON
WINSIGHT – http://www.winsight.fr
Change is a good thing – good luck with your move – I am sure that with your knowledge, experience and passion – you will be booked with clients easily !
Chris,good luck..