How Solo Consulting Frees Developers From The Grind

How does consulting free developers from the grind?

Consulting frees you from the grind by flipping the relationship: you stop being a pair of hands executing someone else’s roadmap, and you become the person who solves a specific business problem on your terms. When that shift happens, the things that make tech feel like a hamster wheel—constant skill-chasing, layoffs, invisibility, complaining culture, and being talked down to—start losing their power.

Twelve years into my own software career, I was on my third so-called “consulting” project when I cracked open my laptop to track my time for the day. Suddenly, I stopped and thought, “Wait a minute, I’m still tracking hours, rushing to hit deadlines, and nobody consults with me on anything. In fact, I’m still having to prove that people should even listen to me!”

That moment planted a seed, but it took me six more years to see the truth: software development would always be a grind unless I started working in a whole new way.

That was 15 years ago. Since then, I’ve consulted for over 20 companies and I’ve coached over 140 developers to help them survive the tech industry. And in this article I want to show you exactly how true consulting is something few developers understand. It’s actually the antidote to everything that makes tech feel like a grind.

The easiest way to understand this is by using an acronym.

And what better one to use than GRIND itself.

Why does being a generalist keep me stuck in the tech grind?

Being a generalist keeps you stuck because you’re constantly learning new tools for someone else’s priorities, so you never get paid like a master—and your value keeps getting reset to “whatever you did on your last project.” A premium consultant doesn’t chase buzz; they specialize in solving one major business problem, and the technology becomes the vehicle, not the identity.

I remember about 15 years ago, I was refreshing my resume to get it up to date. As I was reviewing my experience, something jumped out at me. I had a list of technical skills a mile long, but most of them weren’t valuable anymore. And even if I had a chance to use them again, I would be incredibly rusty.

When I was honest with myself, the only thing that mattered was what I just did on my last project.

After working in tech for 30 years, I can tell you one thing for sure: most companies do not value people with a variety of experience. They only care if you can help them with their current problem.

So why are so many developers generalists then?

Because the entire tech industry is driven by buzz. Whenever a new technology comes out, the companies that created it, they need an excuse for people to use it. And most developers will just jump at the opportunity to learn new technology on any project. As employees, we get sick of taking orders and we want a distraction to cope with it.

But that’s exactly how corporate culture keeps you trapped.

Since you’re constantly learning new tools, you never get paid like a master. I know it feels like being able to do anything gives you job security. But the truth is, this is exactly why companies will never pay you what you’re actually worth—only what your role is worth.

And it only gets worse as your career goes on. All the things you learned in the past become useless. And so you get stuck on this hamster wheel, constantly running to keep up with what’s changing.

But when you become a premium consultant, you focus on solving one major business problem. You either help companies grow, be more efficient, improve user satisfaction, or you help them deal with risk and regulations. The technology you use is up to you.

You’re offering the company a business solution on your terms.

That’s the major difference: you only use new technology to solve the business problem you specialize in, not whenever your employer decides they need you to switch gears.

And in the Consulting Offer Workshop, this is one of the first shifts I help you make—getting clear on the business problem you actually want to be known for solving.

How do I stop relying on layoffs and employers for stability?

You stop relying on employers for stability when you decide to become a business instead of a technician—because stability doesn’t come from the company “being loyal,” it comes from you owning your leverage, your offer, and your ability to create outcomes a market will pay for.

I’ve coached developers who went through two layoffs within a single year. And most developers I’ve coached have had more than one layoff over their career.

With that kind of instability, it’s only logical to start asking yourself some tough questions:

• How much money do I lose each time I get laid off?
• How much risk am I taking on every time I get hired as an employee?
• And eventually: is it even possible to have stability in the tech industry?

Well, the good news is it’s actually easier than ever to have stability today. But to have that stability, you’ve got to take a cold hard look at the truth.

As a premium consultant, you’re not just a technician. You’re a business.

And if you’re anything like me, people have been telling you for years, “Developers just aren’t good at business.” It’s a load of crap.

Sure, there are new things to learn. You’ve got to create a compelling offer. You’ve got to market and sell it to people. And you’ve got to incorporate, invoice clients, and do taxes at the end of the year.

But here’s the thing: developers learn faster than most people.

And with AI, we’ve all got the power of marketing, sales, and business advice at our fingertips. This is stuff that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars—and years of work—to even begin to use just 5 years ago.

So if you want to have stability in your career, again, there really are no excuses. It’s not a matter of your skill. It’s a matter of making a decision.

Own your tech career by crafting a premium consulting offer in 4 evenings that’s worth $300+/hr

Are you willing to stop outsourcing your future to a system that doesn’t care if you thrive or not?

The change you want can start today, but only if you’re willing to take ownership for your success.

And in the Consulting Offer Workshop, we treat that ownership like a practical process—not a hype speech—by building an offer you can actually stand behind.

Why do developers feel invisible even when they do great work?

Developers feel invisible because the work stays trapped at the task level: “I built the thing,” but nobody connects it to outcomes leadership cares about. When you become a premium consultant, your offer is the business value—so the value gets communicated upfront, and you move from invisible to invaluable.

I remember one day I showed up at a strategy meeting for a company I worked for. It was in a dark conference room and I knew about half the people who were there.

A manager I knew got up in front of the group and began sharing some big results he got.

There was only one problem.

He didn’t do any of it.

It was all my work!

With my stomach in knots, I started thinking about how to confront him. But as the meeting went on, I was shocked to learn something as he spoke.

I was the one who did the work, but he was the one who connected it to business results—and that’s why he got the credit.

Like many other times in my career, I had done great work, but I didn’t communicate its value.

When you become a premium consultant, your offer is business value. The technology used to do it is the details.

If you don’t make a company more money, more efficient, help them satisfy their customers, or reduce their risk, you will always get treated like a cog in a giant machine.

But if you’re willing to put the company’s problems first, that’s the moment you go from being invisible to being invaluable.

That’s also why “doing great work” isn’t the same as being seen as valuable. It’s not that the code doesn’t matter. It’s that the company doesn’t buy code. They buy outcomes: growth, efficiency, user experience, risk reduction. If you want to be treated like a partner, you have to learn to speak like one.

And in the Consulting Offer Workshop, we spend time helping you map what you’ve already done to those outcomes—because most developers have created far more business value than they’ve ever been trained to name.

How does “normal” developer culture trap me in complaining and helplessness?

Developer culture traps you when your tribe normalizes victimhood—because it feels good to be understood, but it quietly trains you to accept powerlessness as your identity. Consulting requires a different tribe: people who stop bonding over what sucks and start building leverage.

I used to go out to lunch almost every day when I had a high-paying job in the city. At the table with other developers, we would all complain about the same things:

“The manager doesn’t listen.”
“So and so got promoted and didn’t deserve it.”
Yada yada.

As humans, we’re not fulfilled unless we’re part of a tribe.

But it took me years to learn the tribe I was a part of was keeping me trapped.

My co-workers had accepted their fate as victims. It felt good to know people who shared my pain. But the problem with being a victim is you accept helplessness as normal.

When you become a premium consultant, you need an entirely new tribe—people who are challenging the status quo by refusing to complain about it.

Look, it doesn’t help you succeed by focusing on things that suck that you can’t change. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth.

Most developers are not going to understand what you’re doing if you become a premium consultant. Their identity is still wrapped up in being an employee, a generalist, and a complainer about the industry.

So if you decide to step out of your comfort zone, just be prepared. By being different, you will have people that will think you’re crazy.

The question you’ve got to ask yourself is this:

Would you rather be accepted by a group of people who’ve given up, or respected for choosing something better?

And in the Consulting Offer Workshop, a big part of what we do is give you that “new tribe” environment—so you can practice thinking like a consultant around people who are doing the same.

Why do I feel forced to be deferential as an employee?

You feel forced to be deferential because employment rewards obedience: you get paid to follow direction, even when the direction is flawed. Consulting flips that—your job is to lead with a solution, set the terms, and only work with clients who want the outcome badly enough to trust your process.

When I coach other developers, one of the things they complain about is this:

“Why do I have other people telling me what to do when they don’t even know how the technology works?”

Well, the truth is, as an employee, that’s just the nature of the relationship. You’re not being paid to get better at making decisions.

You’re getting paid to get better at being obedient.

And the better you get at following orders, the harder it gets to lead.

But when you become a premium consultant, you never ask clients for permission. You offer a solution and they either do it your way—or you find a different client.

If you approach consulting like an employee, you will fail.

You can’t just let clients throw any problem at you and just do it. You have to shift from taking orders to leading your client.

And if you can do this, you’ll get public testimonials and clients will seek you out.

This is how you shift from being a task doer to someone who creates real value.

That’s one of the most uncomfortable transitions for experienced developers, by the way. Because being “good” in corporate often means being agreeable, being flexible, saying yes, taking on more. Consulting requires boundaries and clarity. It requires you to believe your process is worth following.

And in the Consulting Offer Workshop, we build the beginnings of that leadership through the offer itself—because a clear offer forces you to lead with outcomes instead of reacting to random tasks.

What’s the real antidote to the tech grind, and what do I do next?

The antidote to the tech grind is becoming a premium consultant with a clear, repeatable offer that delivers business outcomes—because it breaks the cycle behind the grind: you stop being a generalist, stop relying on employers for stability, stop being invisible, stop normalizing helplessness, and stop being deferential. But the shift doesn’t happen just because you understand it; it happens because you build something real.

Frequently asked questions