IT Consultant - The Modern Day Shugyosha

In the times of feudal Japan, a samurai would travel through Japan in Musha Shugyo.  These wandering Samurai are not to be confused with Ronin, or “Masterless Samurai.”  Ronin are samurai who have been expelled by their master, or their master has been killed in battle.  A shugyosha is a samurai who has left his family and school to travel from town to town, taking challenges and learning at various schools to hone their skills.  This time is also used to seek a daimyo to serve.   The shugyosha would carry only a few supplies, their swords (or weapon of choice), and would hire themselves out for food or money.  During this time, the shugyosha would not be protected by his family or school.  The most famous shugyosha was Miyamoto Musashi.

Being an IT consultant is much like the life of a Shugyosha. Being a consultant and being a samurai require a lot of training and skill. There are good consultants and bad consultants, just like there are skilled samurai and unskilled samurai.

Like a shugyosha, a consultant travels from place to place. We very rarely stay with one client for very long, but there are rare occasions where the conditions are right for an extended contract. This is just like Musashi, who stayed for extended periods with certain daimyo, but would never become retainer. We both travel light. Each of us carries a few tools of our trade: for the shugyosha it was their weapon. For the IT consultant, it is a laptop.

We both perform tasks for payment in our area of expertise. The shugyosha did work, such as being a body guard or mercenary, or in the case of very skilled shugyosha, training a daimyo’s retainers. Consultants also perform tasks related to their specialty. The shugyosha specializes in war, and the consultant specializes in various areas of information technology.

Sometimes, we, as consultants, are given complicated tasks that challenge our limits. This is like the shugyosha who challenges other warriors to better himself and learns from each encounter. The best consultants use each client as an opportunity to learn, expand their knowledge base, and hone their skills as developers and architects.

Just like the shugyosha who seeks a daimyo to serve, consultants can travel from client to client seeking a company to join on as an employee. Just like becoming a retainer under a daimyo, taking a position on a company can be beneficial. The consultant receives benefits, just as the shugyosha received protection under the daimyo. Just like the shugyosha, the consultant is no longer a consultant when he accepts a position within a company.

Consultants are like shugyosha in the way that we must earn our own name, so that a good reputation precedes us. We are so much alike it s uncanny, except instead of being masters of warfare, we are masters of Information Technology.