I do cybersecurity consulting. Specifically, Web Application Security which I charge $350/hr for and make about $300k/yr from this.
I am usually brought in when a competitor gets hacked and the company gets scared or as part of a high quality penetration test.
My experience is mixed between cyber security and fullstack development. This led to me having a very deep knowledge of how to properly consult companies regarding potential vulnerabilities.
After selling my YC W20 startup, I carved out a niche of building MVP’s for other startups.
I was worried I wouldn’t be able to differentiate myself from race-to-the-bottom dev shops, but I’ve been making it work.
I have a ton of relevant experience around helping companies launch products 2-3 months ahead of schedule, which is really important when starting something new. Often times you only have a vague idea what your customers want, so you need to move quickly & validate what they need.
I don't think you need a niche for consulting at $250,000+ a year. Even with aggressive industry pricing, you'll gross that on the principal owner alone. My firm charges fair rates, and that's just typical business.[1]
I have 10+ YoE, and I'm currently working in ML at Big Tech. I regularly get contacted by recruiters offering 100+ $/hr contracts unsolicited. I'm pretty sure those are bottom of the barrel rates and I would be able to get much better rates if I was actively looking.
250k a year in the current market doesn't sound like a lot.
$250k is a lot of cash, but doesn't go far in Cali these days.
Primarily because we are getting taxed to the max, 51%, without the tax breaks like babyboomers of y'ore.
Even in Texas, taxes are still pretty extreme considering how we don't get that much more from the Government compared to 20 or even 40 years ago. The average American life looks the same or worse over time, if you adjust for efficiency gains due to technological advances.
“The firms, which do not publicly disclose their pay scales, will increase annual base salaries for MBA graduates in the US from $175,000 to between $190,000 and $192,000, according to people familiar with the matter.
Top performers will be in line to receive more than $250,000 in their first year when performance-related and signing bonuses are included.”
High-performance distributed systems for capital markets. Basically started in capital markets and sought out to work on the most business-critical applications, acquiring skills along the way.
I have a friend who does ML-Ops consultancy - basically help startups set up domain-specific ML pipelines and such in the cloud. He doesn't make over 250k+, given that this is in India; but he makes more than enough to get by.
I am usually brought in when a competitor gets hacked and the company gets scared or as part of a high quality penetration test.
My experience is mixed between cyber security and fullstack development. This led to me having a very deep knowledge of how to properly consult companies regarding potential vulnerabilities.