Finance-Software

How ironic is it, then, that one of the best "real-world" computer books written this year won't do a damn thing for your computer experience, but could well add thousands to your salary or save you from possible bankruptcy?

If you're thinking of making the break and going freelance--a dream many techies share--consider the MCSE Consulting Bible. It's a priceless resource that is stuffed to the gills with honest, useful advice on all levels. Want to know what sorts of psychological tactics you'll need to pursue if you want to be successful? Check. Need to know how to plan, bill, and seek new employees for your business? Check. Want to know what sort of clients you should seek out, how well your business should be doing by a certain point, and what specific certifications are desirable for what niche markets? Check, check, check--and this is all given with outside opinions from experts, and backed by the opinions of author Harry Brelsford, a man who is healthily skeptical about your chances for success. But he'll tell you, frankly and honestly, what it takes.

The book is split into essentially two sections. The first part deals with what it takes to be a successful consultant, and has separate chapters for methodologies, writing proposals, managing (and hiring) staff, retirement strategies, customer service, and garnering good referrals, among other things. These sections are written engagingly, backed by a lot of personal opinions. But to bolster those opinions, in every chapter there is a "Guest Sermon," where Brelsford finds an expert in the field and asks him for his or her take on the issue at hand. Also scattered through the book are "Ask the Expert" sections, in which the author responds to various e-mails he's gotten over the course of his career.

Most of this is very well written, except for the portions where he recommends using software. The chapter on writing proposals, for instance, offers some general guidelines on proposal writing, but is little more than a walk-through of how to use Microsoft Proposal Builder--admittedly, there are some sample proposals in the appendices, but it would have been more useful to see, say, a bad actual proposal rewritten into a winning one. Likewise, the section on project management is mostly a Microsoft Project walk-through with a thin coating of the basic types of projects. Anyone who's software-savvy enough to get their MCSE doesn't need tutorials--they need an understanding of what they need to accomplish with the programs, and here the bible falls slightly short.

The lack of substance in these areas, however, is easily outweighed by the solid information in other areas. Brelsford tells you how to think in terms of profitability and always have an eye for the bottom line--something many outwardly professional techies forget. And he's realistic, knowing that it takes a lot of money to stay on top of all the certifications, a lot of nonbillable hours to keep your skills well-honed, and a lot of erratic schedules to work effectively with customers from the frenzy of first installation to the slow trudge of occasional patch updates. He gives advice with the full understanding of the unique restraints of the techie professional, and tells you how to work around them.

The latter half of the book gets specific in dealing with various areas that MCSE consultants tend to specialize in, and here too the book is useful--though probably not quite as useful as the first half, since anyone with the experience to go freelance probably already has a fairly well-defined area of specialization. Still, it breaks down most of the major fields--DBA, developer, small business, enterprise consulting, dot-com, Exchange--and tells you what sorts of talents you'll need to have in order to make it. What sorts of tasks will you be expected to accomplish? What kind of personality do you have? What certifications are de rigeur? If you're looking to cross over, this book should help you immensely.

In short, this is a solidly researched and well-written career book that is easily worth the money whether you're looking to go freelance or looking for ways to improve your existing business. Highly recommended. --William Steinmetz