I’ve been at a tier-1 tech firm in India for a while now as a Senior SWE (5+ yoe). Pay is great, but life circumstances are pushing me toward moving to a Tier-2 city where remote Big Tech roles basically don't exist. Moving to another country is not possible for me due to personal circumstances.
Instead of taking a massive pay cut for a "standard" remote job, I’m considering specialized consulting. My background is low-level C++ systems, concurrency/multi-threading, and distributed infra. I also have a good hold on DSA (~2k rated on codeforces, 2x ICPC regionals).
I’m trying to figure out if it’s realistic to hunt for $100/hr - $150+/hr gigs in this niche or if I’m dreaming. Is there a consistent market for fractional Staff-level "performance" guys, or is it mostly just one-off fire-fighting?
If you're in the systems/infra consulting space, I'd love a reality check on:
Where do these clients actually hide? (Boutique agencies? Discord?Any other platform?)
Is it actually possible to beat a 1.5Cr+ (~160k$) corporate job?
Appreciate any "don't do it" or "here's how" stories.