Your village called. The idiot consultant is missing.

About the insane knowledge requirements of modern IT consulting.

The world of consulting has undergone a seismic shift in the past few decades. What was once considered sufficient knowledge and skills for a consultant has consistently risen to dizzying heights. It's as if the village has called, but the idiot consultant is nowhere to be found.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane:

• 1990s: To be a credible consultant, you needed to know programming languages like Turbo C++, Turbo Pascal, or Visual Basic. Oh, and some basic SQL skills didn't hurt either. HTML was emerging as a new standard for web development, and CGI scripts were the way to interact with web servers.

• 1998: You needed to be proficient in the Waterfall model, creating a lot of Design documents, project plans and large budgets. Visio, Project Professional were the tools of the day. ASP (Active Server Pages) was gaining popularity as a server-side scripting technology.

• Early 2000s: Java Servlets became a popular choice for web development, offering a more robust alternative to CGI scripts. The first versions of .NET Framework were released, introducing ASPX as a new way to build web applications.

• 2000s: By the dawn of the new millennium, you also had to possess excellent communication skills to effectively interact with clients. PowerPoint presentations became an essential tool in your arsenal. And, of course, who could forget the importance of sobriety? Excessive drinking and hangovers at work fell out of fashion.

• 2010s: The Full Stack Developer emerged as the ultimate hero. You not only had to develop applications but also manage servers. Windows Servers were all the rage, but their popularity waned towards the end of the decade.

• 2011: jQuery became the go-to JavaScript framework, until it suddenly lost its luster with the rise of other frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.

• 2012: The "idiots" took over, touting digital transition leadership, innovation, and mushy ideologies. Budgets ballooned, and skilled professionals were pushed aside.

• 2015: To remain relevant, you needed to be a Full Stack Developer, with expertise in every JavaScript framework under the sun. Virtual machines, which had been around for 15 years, became a necessary skillset. REST became the norm as the javascript frameworks needed to be fed.

• 2016: NoSQL databases, specifically Document Databases, became the new kid on the block. Git emerged as the preferred Version Control System (VCS), and Apple laptops transcended their niche popularity among a specific demographic to become mainstream.

• 2017: Agile and Scrum methodologies took center stage. Corporations invested heavily in training consultants to be certified Scrum professionals. The clueless Product Owner began to overshadow the Project Manager, and the amount of "bullshit" people with plenty of ideas but no actual skills started to dominate the landscape.

• 2018: Containers using Docker became a must-have skill. Young, ambitious developers took over lead roles, enforcing strict coding standards and reviews that often led to frustration rather than improvement. NPM packages bloated projects, and developers lost control.

• 2019: Mastery of Atlassian products like Jira became essential. You needed to know how to set up projects on a Jira board, maintain documentation, and configure sprints and workflows. Linux Desktops finally became usable, and Ubuntu gained popularity for work purposes. Windows, on the other hand, bloated itself with Telemetry. Microservices had been all over and first projects started to be overly bloated with the new Monolith - the gigantic unmanageable microservice collection hell.

• 2020: Proficiency in Kubernetes was added to the ever-growing list of requirements. Linux was now the de facto standard. Oh, and you also had to learn how to address people correctly, using their preferred pronouns.

• 2021: You needed to know how to install a Linux server, update it, maintain it, and configure all components locally using Docker.

• 2022: The Full Stack Dev was overwhelmed with reinventing the wheel, such as DevOps and YAML configurations. Development velocity suffered as a result.

• 2023: Penetration testing and OWASP security aspects became essential skills for Full Stack Developers.

• 2024: You're expected to know everything, plus AI integration to make your work obsolete... err, more efficient. And now, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is another requirement. Unified memory has also become a game-changer, allowing astonishing amounts of GPU memory for local AI development.

The question remains: how can we expect new consultants to absorb this vast amount of knowledge?

The answer lies in AI taking over the load. However, this means we're left with mediocre work, sacrificing quality or velocity due to the sheer volume of skills required. We've lost our server and network specialists, leaving Full Stack Devs to handle everything themselves, including monitoring and securing environments.

The village has indeed called, but it seems the idiot consultant is still missing in action.