Jobs/roles related to creating with Airtable

General Discussion
1

Here are some types of jobs / roles I have seen related to creating with Airtable.

  • In-house developer. This person is typically an employee or a long-term contract worker who builds and maintains Airtable bases for a single company.

  • Standalone consultant. This person works as a consultant providing build/maintenance/advice services related to Airtable to multiple clients. This person might bill hourly, per project, or work on a retainer. This person might sub-contract out some parts of a project but does most of the work oneself. In addition to doing Airtable work, the person must also take on all the aspects of running a business.

  • Agency owner/manager. This person runs an agency that has multiple developers. This person typically handles more of the “business” side of the agency versus the hands-on development.

  • Agency developer. This person works for an agency doing development work for the agency’s clients. This person does not have to handle the business side of nurturing leads, billing, contracts, etc.

  • Project manager. This person could work for an agency or for a large company. This person manages the pipeline of projects and developers.

  • Third party service/product provider. This person or company develops a third party add-on to Airtable, such as an extension or a service that uses the web API. Common third party services include (but are not limited to) portals, forms, document generation, and backups.

  • Training. This person produces training material for Airtable. I haven’t seen this as a primary job, but it is a common service / product.

Here are some career paths related to working with Airtable

  • An employee in a company starts using Airtable and turns into an in-house developer.

  • Someone learns Airtable and decides to switch careers to become a standalone consultant or an agency developer.

  • An agency developer decides to spin off to become a standalone consultant.

  • A standalone consultant decides to grow into an agency by hiring other developers.

  • A standalone consultant or agency developer decides to become an in-house developer. For an standalone consultant, this may be a switch to working for a former client. For an agency developer, this would not be working for a former client.

  • A developer using other platforms learns Airtable and adds Airtable related services to his toolbox.

It is possible to mix and match the different roles. For example, over the years, I have worked as a standalone consultant, agency developer, third party product provider, and an in-house developer.

Here are some factors to take into consideration when deciding on a path or a potential career change

  • Do you enjoy hands-on development or do you prefer the business side of things?
  • How do you feel about running a business?
  • How do you feel about managing employees/sub-contractors?
  • Do you want to work for a single company or a wide variety of companies?
  • Do you want to teach or create training material?
  • How important is a stable income?
  • Do you have an idea for a third-party add-on?

What other roles/jobs have you seen related to creating with Airtable?
What has your career path been?

9 Likes
2

I’d love to hear more about your and others’ career paths! Is there a specific category / sub-forum dedicated to this?

Mine was super traditional communications/PR career path until a Chief Communications Officer wanted a way to consolidate all our many calendars, PR plans, media lists, etc. into one single source of truth. I was the lucky volunteer since people knew about my interest in data and coding to figure out how we could do that in Airtable. I liked that project so much that I finally mustered up the courage (took me 5 years) to quit corp comms and shift to my own business supporting enterprise comms organizations with Airtable. We’ll see how this expands and evolves down the road.

3 Likes
3

Thanks for creating this fantastic & valuable post, @Kuovonne! :cowboy_hat_face: :horse_racing:

We have a Welcome and Introductions subcategory, which is part of the Show and Tell category.

But this thread that Kuovonne started is also a great place for people to continue the conversation! :slight_smile:

4

Thanks for listing these @Kuovonne! I have a question for those of you who are listed on Airtable’s expert network (@Kuovonne @ScottWorld ,…): What’s your experience with it? Are you getting lots of clients, and more important the right clients, that way? I’ve been working as a consultant for close to two years now and would love to be listed there at some point. Thanks! :slight_smile:

1 Like
5

Back when I was consulting, I was a bit of an oddball. I got some leads, but I found that my best clients were from people who had already researched me and knew what I did. The program has also undergone some changes since the initial cohort and I no longer know how they add people.

1 Like
6

Hi @rupertxyz ,

Sorry for the delayed response on this!

I would say that being listed in Airtable’s consultant directory has had a relatively decent impact on my business. I’ve been listed in the directory since it originally launched in March 2022, and I have gotten 8 new clients out of it since that time. So that is about one new client every 2 months.

But Google searches still provide me with the majority of my new clients.

1 Like