Robert J. Garza
IT Consultant
Chimera Software
- How long have you been consulting?
Since April 1999. (after the Internet bubble burst)
- How did you get started as a consultant?
It was a matter of necessity. The Internet bubble burst, I and many others were laid off from work. There were no “corporate” jobs and I didn’t feel like going back to government contracting. I received a call from an “IT Services” company and they had a client that needed an Oracle developer who could double as a project lead.
The job wasn’t a "company" job but a contract job which I had not done before. I had other jobs that had a large consulting component as part of a government contract. This felt the same except it was for a company (rather than the government) and the pay was not bad. I had health insurance through my wife’s job so all of our benefits were covered.
Later I had jobs as a Technology Advisor and an Operational Specialist for the Army Medical Department at Fort Sam Houston. This led to a contract as a Technical Solutions Officer for a small company. I wrote proposals and designed technical solutions. Things started to slow down so my last task there was to fill in as a programmer to modify an open-source product called Moodle for the human resources department at UT-San Antonio. Once the project was over I was laid off.
This led me to start a small business to do consulting on Moodle and related open-source technologies. The main reason I wanted to start a company was that I truly believe that Moodle is a solid technology and a great product. It is just hitting in the United States so, basically I am in on the “ground floor”. My first client is UT-San Antonio. Instead of a consulting job I agreed to become a temporary part-time employee because of the timeline and due dates. It was faster to hire me as a temporary part-time employee rather that go through the bidding process.
- How do you spend a typical workday?
Right now Wednesday, Thursday and every other Friday I work at UTSA. The rest of the time is working on building the business. Everything right now revolves around networking and marketing. Identifying target markets and determining if they have a conference and sign up as a vendor and/or presenter. My next endeavor is to start the Texas Moodle User Group (TexasMoodle.org) which should make more people aware of Moodle in Texas. The next thing I am pursuing is working with the Texas Computer Educator Association (TCEA) to teach course centered on Moodle and maybe start an online training portal for them. Other activities are trying to find contacts within target markets and create a “white paper” or a marketing perspective that appeals to them (basically lots of “pros” and very little “cons”) but is still truthful.
- How many hours a week do you work?
19 hours a week at UTSA and about 40-45 hours on the business.
- What else do you do?
Not much more in relation to being a consultant or with work. The rest of my time is devoted to family. I have been married for 3.5 years and our son is almost 2 so he is a handful. But I do find time to participate in my brother’s fantasy football league, I also do some needlepoint from time to time (according to many craft people in Austin…I am quite good at it) plus I find a little time to play my saxophone.
- Do you like being a consultant? Why or why not?
I like it because I have more control while on the job and people have a tendency to listen to your recommendations. By default, you are "the expert" ...most of the time.
The biggest con is maintaining the pipeline of contract work.
- If a customer wants something that is out of your realm of experience, do you try to learn what they want or have them contact someone else?
Try to learn what they want.... Absolutely!!!!
The first thing that you want is for your customers to trust your opinion, trust your expertise and most of all…trust YOU! If you can be given a week to determine a solution or at bare minimum the “pros and cons” then at least you have given the customer a direction and a better position to make a decision. So even if they go with someone else you at least received a piece of the pie and gained some more trust.
- How do you stay on top of industry trends?
Follow the community boards and conference materials for your target markets. Take a look at competitive products and determine what are their priorities and direction. Determine your direct competitors and try to beat them in price and expertise. Find out what is preventing people from using your product or service and create a plan to work around it. Read industry trade magazines and understand the market issues that are being reported on.
|
