Examples of high-value specialised consulting?

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]

[1]: https://www.andrewmcwatters.com

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.

Pick a complicated software package, database, etc.

There you go.

High-value general consulting pays $250k+ cash to 2yr+ consultants.

High performing 1st year associates can get $250k all-in.

McKinsey, Bain and BCG lift pay as talent war heats up https://on.ft.com/3CJyH6W

“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.

Government cloud Technical Architecture and just grew organically to 2-3 people. You get more $ from sticking around and waiting for opportunities.

It can be a slow grind though.

COBOL

Legal Marketing for Plaintiff Law Firms.

SAP consulting