How do you know if IT consulting is right for you?

At some point in an IT professional’s career, they may face an important decision: to stay in standard IT roles, or make the leap to consulting.

According to industry market research company IBISWorld, 2.4 million people worked in IT consulting in the US as of 2025. Billy Hollis, a partner at consulting firm Next Version Systems, told IT Brew on the sidelines of Live! 360 Tech Con in Orlando that he went into IT consulting in the mid-90s because he was someone who was easily bored and liked to be challenged.

“It’s not just a job,” Hollis said. “If you’re really interested in solving problems, you get to solve more.”

What exactly is consulting? The word “consulting” may conjure different images for different IT pros. However, Hollis describes it as using tech to help a company solve a specific issue.

“For me, consulting is applying technology to solve people’s problems,” Hollis said. “That’s the short sentence for it.”

Pros. Émile Cabot, a principal consultant and Microsoft MVP at TriCon Elite Consulting, told IT Brew in an interview after a panel at the show that consulting offers individuals a lot of flexibility because they have “some measure of control” over their workloads.

“I’m working long hours because I want to take a big break next year with my kids that are graduating school,” Cabot said. “I have the flexibility to do that.”

Although he estimated he spends around 80% of his job working with two different products, Cabot added, his workflow varies and continues to be engaging.

“What’s different as a consultant is the challenges every organization has: different implementation issues, different adoption issues, different training issues,” Cabot said. “It’s these scenarios that’ll prevent us from feeling stagnant.”

Cons. Despite its perks, the world of consulting isn’t for everyone. Solo consultants need to juggle backend operations, like branding and payroll upkeep, to keep their business afloat.

“If you don’t link up with these consulting firms, then you do have to do all of your own marketing,” Cabot said. “You do have to make sure that your brand is out there.”

Hollis added that growing a business as a consultant isn’t an overnight process.

“It takes you two or three years to build up a reputation and pipeline of clients and things like that,” Hollis said. “Most people struggle for several years, and you have to be prepared to bite off on that.”

IYKYK. How do you know if consulting is the right career move for you? Hollis said it may be an appropriate option to consider if you are an individual who gets bored easily, as it is a good alternative to the corporate world.

“You won’t be bored in the consulting world,” Hollis said. “If you do it right, you’re doing new things all the time.”

Cabot compared those destined for a career in consulting to Neo from The Matrix, who carves his own path and solves incredibly complex problems for humanity. He said these are individuals who are the go-to person for crises on their team and have built the expertise to troubleshoot complex problems.

“When you get to that stage, you know that you’ve plateaued yourself inside of your group and it’s a good place to start looking to see where you can advance your career.”