Niche skills

[Fred Bloggs]

The thing about niche markets is that it's great while you're in demand but very tough when you're not.

The way I look at things is that you have to coin it while you're in contract. So if you ever manage to get that amazing £rate then use the opportunity to save and build a serious nest egg.

Then you worry less if you are out of work for a while looking for the next contract.

Some people would rather earn £300/day forever, while others have the mentality to earn £600/day for only 6 months of the year.

It's also useful to know the client base and build a network with other contractors/consultants.

I find myself having a better standard of living working as a process engineer at ~£400 a day for 44 weeks a year (the last 4.5 years) than I got when I was doing Maximo @ £650 a day for 4 days in 18 months!

[ChimpMaster]

The thing about niche markets is that it's great while you're in demand but very tough when you're not.

The way I look at things is that you have to coin it while you're in contract. So if you ever manage to get that amazing £rate then use the opportunity to save and build a serious nest egg.

Then you worry less if you are out of work for a while looking for the next contract.

Some people would rather earn £300/day forever, while others have the mentality to earn £600/day for only 6 months of the year.

It's also useful to know the client base and build a network with other contractors/consultants.

[Fred Bloggs]

Well Maximo is now a part of IBM and I actually saw a nice contract doing that recently here in Germany. I've just spent the last couple of years doing a lot of Maximo work and if you look at products such as CCMDB, BCPM, SRM, etc. from IBM you'll find that it is now integrated into them so there is quite a bit out there, just need to know the right TLAs

Yes, however, Maximo has changed completely from the system that I knew about 6 years ago. My skills are in the engineering side rather than the IT side. I got an email from a pimp who had an old CV of mine and asked me about Maximo a few months ago. When I looked Maximo up to see what it was like these days, I didn't recognise it.

[darmstadt]

I had a similar experience with a package called Maximo, v4.x it was back then. I learned it as a permie bloke and got lots of promises about lucrative jobs with Maximo resellers. I eventually managed 4 days over an 18 month period so gave it up as a bad job. It was interesting work, but just a tad too niche it seems.

Well Maximo is now a part of IBM and I actually saw a nice contract doing that recently here in Germany. I've just spent the last couple of years doing a lot of Maximo work and if you look at products such as CCMDB, BCPM, SRM, etc. from IBM you'll find that it is now integrated into them so there is quite a bit out there, just need to know the right TLAs

[Fred Bloggs]

I had a similar experience with a package called Maximo, v4.x it was back then. I learned it as a permie bloke and got lots of promises about lucrative jobs with Maximo resellers. I eventually managed 4 days over an 18 month period so gave it up as a bad job. It was interesting work, but just a tad too niche it seems.

[TheFaQQer]

So are a lot of us. You must have been in the special class in the portacabin...

of

Oh, wait....

[ratewhore]

Doh... I am a product of the Thatcher education system... I do apologise

So are a lot of us. You must have been in the special class in the portacabin...

[dx4100]

have

Anyway.

Doh... I am a product of the Thatcher education system... I do apologise

[NotAllThere]

Go through their partner listing and sell yourself: http://www.gensym.com/?p=partner_listing_gensym

[NotAllThere]

£750 a day ?? What the hell could of taken so long to miss out on that pay day

have

Anyway.

Try contacting the vendor and see if they ever take on freelance consultants. Try to become one of their partners (I just looked at their webpage). Contact the people you used to work with and see if they know any companies that use it - and then contact those companies directly.

Otherwise it's a question of being registered with a large number of agencies.

[dx4100]

£750 a day ?? What the hell could of taken so long to miss out on that pay day

[d000hg]

I have 3 years experience with a technology called Gensym G2 from a previous job, I didn't know at the time but it seems to be about the most niche technology in the world.
I almost got a contract for about £750/day using it recently but things took so long to sort out the client managed to find another guy. So I believe skills this niche can be potentially very lucrative... but how do you find work using them?
A bit of searching turned up virtually nothing in the entire world when I looked, and I cannot find a single forum or discussion group based around the technology where you might make some contacts.
Has anyone else got skills this rare, and if so what's the best way to find work using them? Just make sure it is clearly marked on your CV so database searches will find it?