During one of the lectures in one of my college courses, a cool doctor (shout-out to him) mentioned that virtual IT consultants were going to be in high demand.
No, these aren't people who bypassed IT education - they are IT consultants who work virtually.
So, what exactly is this?
Well, a virtual IT consultant is a person, as I like to put it, with broad IT knowledge, capable of diagnosing any problem and solving the most basic ones. Those that require more "unproductive" work, such as the unfortunate task of reinstalling Windows, are outsourced by this virtual IT consultant to a specialized company.
Why is this practical?
It's plain IT outsourcing. It means taking these services outside, where the cost inside the company would be too high. An essential aspect, however, is that the person handling this should have an idea of what's wrong, how much time it might take, and importantly, how much they should pay for a particular task.
The company benefits from this by reducing IT infrastructure costs - one IT consultant with a good "address book" is enough. The IT consultant benefits by having a good job and not getting bogged down in Windows issues, while external companies benefit from an influx of service recipients.
A Real-Life Example?
I had the opportunity to work in such a company at the end of the food chain, and I would occasionally meet these virtual IT consultants. They always had other software on their minds - but that was good because it was within their competence. The company I worked for focused on problem-solving. The collaboration was fine.
In Conclusion:
I humbly admit that I could serve as a virtual IT consultant myself. Diagnosing any system (as I mentioned in my note about Windows) is no problem. After my studies, during which I was fed several gigabytes of theoretical knowledge, I have a perspective ranging from bus and processor operation diagrams to integrated management system concepts. Need a virtual IT consultant? Want more information on the subject? Feel free to contact me!
Best regards,
Piotr Lemiesz - Your Outsourced Virtual Blogger