An experienced consultant’s toolbox isn’t full of just technical acronyms – Rakettitiede’s founding members, Marko Saaresto and Arttu Ylärakkola, reveal what Rakettitiede consultant are made of.

A consultant needs to have a variety of knowledge and skills in their toolbox to succeed and enjoy their work. The core skills of Rakettitiede consultants include:

Service orientation
Teamwork skills
Broad technical expertise, and
The desire to learn new things.

But why these skills?

The array of core skills is actually based on clients’ needs and interests. The decision to hire a consultant often arises from the need to solve a specific phase of a software development project, strengthen the team’s expertise or even take it to the next level.

While core skills can be learned, honed and polished, everything is based on curiosity and interest in new things. “An innate passion for learning can take a consultant very far,” says Arttu Ylärakkola, one of Rakettitiede’s founding members and a consultant himself.

Always prepared!

At the heart of a consulting mindset lies service orientation.

“Consulting requires the ability to provide guidance and help.” - Arttu

“Consulting is a service industry. Everything starts with wanting to serve the client and help them move forward not only in terms of technical problems but also more generally,” says Marko Saaresto, another founding member of Rakettitiede. Get this right and consulting will be a delight.

A consultant knows a lot but not everything. Arttu points out that an innate passion for learning is key to success in consulting. “And once you understand what’s happening under the hood, you can apply your skills more broadly,” he says.

“Consulting requires the ability to provide guidance and help,” Arttu adds.

When a Rakettitiede consultant joins a client’s team, they typically face a core problem that requires understanding the context:

Which of the client’s services or products is it connected to?
What needs to happen first for the core problem to be solved?
What challenges lurk around the corner once a solution is found?

Being able to provide insights beyond your core area builds trust with the client.

How do you open this thing?

Without relevant and sufficiently broad technical expertise, the moon suit can start to feel uncomfortable. “The challenge with consulting is that you need a strong skillset, but you can’t specialise too deeply in a specific area,” Marko says.

*Consulting requires communication skills. Marko stresses that creating significant products and services is always a joint effort, not a matter of individual heroics.*

Over-specialisation can backfire on a consultant because marketing highly specialised skills can prove difficult if potential assignments are scarce. Skills need to be transferable so that the consultant can use their expertise to solve a variety of problems.

“Often, the client needs comprehensive support, even if the assignment concerns a very narrowly defined problem. Basic understanding of various technical entities and the ability to learn new things are required,” Marko explains.

The total number of technologies that may appear in different coding projects is so vast that you can never know everything. A consultant’s expertise is measured, among other things, by how quickly they can adopt a technology they’ve only encountered recently.

A consultant knows a lot but not everything. “But once you understand what’s happening under the hood, you can apply your skills more broadly,” Arttu says.

No shame in asking

Teamwork and communication skills are highlighted in consulting work. “None of the significant products and services we’re involved with in consulting can be handled by just one person. They are a joint effort,” Marko says. You don’t need to be an extrovert, but your social skills should be strong enough to ensure successful teamwork.

When you can easily integrate into different teams and clearly express your thoughts, you develop a consulting mindset. “My best advice for consultants is to get to know the client’s team. This makes solving the challenges together more enjoyable and effortless,” Arttu says.

“None of the significant things we’re involved with in consulting can be handled by just one person. “ - Marko

Communication skills don’t refer to just water cooler conversations. “A consultant changes teams and works with different stakeholders at the client, so the ability to articulate things at different technical levels is key,” Arttu adds.

Working in a team teaches you to tolerate imperfections and incompleteness. “For example, processes vary from client to client and are also likely to be constantly evolving. If you want to be a consultant, try to expose yourself to as many teams, environments and ways of working as possible,” Marko says. This will help a consultant stay calm in any situation.

Are consultants like chameleons?

*Jartza says that in addition to technical skills, a consultant should look at the big picture and understand the entire lifecycle of the service being developed to better serve the client.*

You could say that. Consultants get to be part of different teams and roles. Understanding the client’s overall situation feeds into the ability to learn new things. The challenges clients face are often complex, so solving problems requires a broader perspective and the ability to see how things are connected. “If you view things too narrowly, you misunderstand and miss out on a lot,” Marko says.

“No matter how good a coder you are, you should always consider the lifecycle of the service or product being developed. What is needed to get the final product out? Apart from coding, what skills do I need to serve the client better?” adds Rakettitiede’s consultant #1 Jari “Jartza” Tulilahti, who has an impressive track record in working with embedded systems.

A consultant’s skillset is their most valuable asset. “The ability to develop and articulate your skills – strengths, areas for improvement and interests – really boosts your career,” Arttu says.

A Rakettitiede consultant never has to face these matters alone. What’s more, we ensure our consultants remain competitive by taking care of their skillsets.

What are little consultants made of?