# Frequently Asked Questions
> Frequently asked questions about working with RJJ Software: costs, engagement length, credentials, agentic development, security, industries, and how to get started.


I am often asked the same questions, so I have gathered the most common ones here. If you do not see your question below, [schedule a consultation call](/schedule-consultation/) and I will answer it directly.


## Frequently Asked Questions
### Working with me

**How do you differ from traditional IT consultancies?**

I sell decisions, not hours. I work directly with the people setting business strategy on the choices behind a technology investment, so the spend tracks against an outcome you can name.


**What size companies do you work with?**

Most of the work is with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and high-growth startups in the 10 to 100 employee range. I also take on enterprise engagements when the scope is specific; one of those was modernising the database systems for a globally recognised motorsports team.


**How quickly will I see results?**

Most clients see something useful inside the first two to four weeks: an architectural review surfaced, a stuck decision unblocked, a problem framed differently. Larger programmes take longer, but I try to land one tangible win early so the engagement is paying for itself before the bigger work lands.


**Do you require long-term contracts?**

No. Engagements are project-based or run month to month. The next month gets booked when the current one has earned it. Nobody benefits from a retainer that has stopped being useful.


**What does an engagement cost?**

There is no rate card. Workshops, technology due diligence, and architecture reviews are fixed price, quoted after a discovery call surfaces the actual scope. Ongoing work runs on a monthly retainer. For an SME, the fractional Chief Technology Officer (CTO) model usually works out at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire while keeping senior technical input in the conversation.


**How long is a typical engagement?**

It depends on the service. Fractional CTO retainers are 2 to 4 days a month on a rolling monthly basis. Technology due diligence and architecture reviews are one to two weeks, fixed price. Strategy workshops are anywhere from half a day to two full days. Training and embedded agentic development work is shaped around the team I am working with.


**How do I start a conversation?**

[Book a consultation call](/schedule-consultation/) directly. I reply to enquiries within one working day, and the first call is free.

### About RJJ Software

**Were you a Microsoft MVP?**

Yes; I held the [Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Developer Technologies](https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/mvp/profile/0ff8fe6a-4b4c-ec11-8f8e-00224827f7fc) for four consecutive years. The award recognises independent technical contributors who put work back into the developer community: podcasts, open source, talks, and similar. It is renewed annually rather than granted for life.


**What awards has RJJ Software won?**

Most recently, [Best Strategic SME Tech Consultancy 2025](/news/rjj-software-recognised-as-best-strategic-sme-tech-consultancy-2025/), and the [West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Education Award](/news/rjj-software-wins-education-award-at-west-and-north-yorkshire-chamber-of-commerce-raising-the-bar-awards/) for the training and mentoring work I do alongside client engagements. Before those, Most Visionary Software Development Managing Director in 2023.


**What podcast do you host?**

[The Modern .NET Show](https://dotnetcore.show/). It is the longest-running podcast about modern .NET development; eight seasons since 2018, 194 episodes published, and aggregate listens just over 1.3 million across all platforms. Guests have come from Microsoft, GitHub, and the wider .NET community.


**What open-source projects do you maintain?**

[OwaspHeaders.Core](https://www.nuget.org/packages/OwaspHeaders.Core) is the one most people end up using. It is a security-headers middleware for ASP.NET Core applications, currently sitting at over 1.9 million downloads from NuGet. The rest of what I put back into the .NET community lands as podcast episodes and conference talks rather than code.


**Are you remote, or do you work on-site?**

RJJ Software is [remote first](/our-remote-first-policy/). Most engagements are fully remote with regular video calls. I travel for embedded delivery, workshops, or anything that genuinely benefits from being in the same room. Otherwise the time and money are better spent on the actual work.


**Where can I read about previous client work?**

The [case studies](/case-studies/) section covers public engagements, from a [database modernisation for a globally recognised motorsports team](/case-studies/optimizing-racing-technology-enhancing-database-communication-with-an-entity-framework-core-upgrade/) through to a [twelve-month AI adoption programme at Ligentia](/case-studies/higher-quality-shipped-faster-ai-adoption-at-ligentia/). A handful of engagements are under non-disclosure and I can talk through those by phone if relevant.

### What I do

**Do you help teams adopt agentic development and AI-assisted engineering?**

Yes. Four years of it so far, across personal projects, open source, and client production code. The longest example is a twelve-month engagement at Ligentia that closed in May 2026 with a 75% improvement in their DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) feature-delivery numbers; [the case study](/case-studies/higher-quality-shipped-faster-ai-adoption-at-ligentia/) has the detail. Current shape of the client work is some mix of training, workshops, and embedded delivery on real codebases. I am also writing the underlying workflow up as a series; ["Just Throw AI At It" Is Not a Strategy](/blog/just-throw-ai-at-it-is-not-a-strategy/) covers the thinking behind it.


**How do you approach security?**

Security goes into the architecture from day one rather than as a layer bolted on at the end. Reviews cover threat modelling, data-flow analysis, and what the dependency tree quietly brings with it. I also maintain [OwaspHeaders.Core](https://www.nuget.org/packages/OwaspHeaders.Core), a security-headers middleware that has now passed 1.9 million NuGet downloads. That keeps the recommendations grounded in what is actually shipping in production rather than what looks good on a slide.


**What industries have you worked in?**

Across nearly twenty years, the list looks like:

- Manufacturing
- Artificial Intelligence
- Data Analytics
- Gaming and Video Games
- E-commerce
- Motor Sports Racing
- Aerodynamics
- Recruitment
- Law
- Logistics and Global Trade

The sector usually matters less than the question being asked. Some translation is always needed, but the underlying engineering questions are mostly the same ones.


**Do you provide implementation services, or only consulting?**

The headline service is strategic consultation, but I have stayed close to the code for almost twenty years, which is what makes the strategic calls reliable. I can guide architecture, stack selection, and implementation choices; for the actual building I pair with your existing engineers. Consultations typically cover:

- Architecture patterns and technology stack selection
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) strategy
- Cloud infrastructure planning (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform)
- Microservices and containerisation guidance (Kubernetes, Docker)
- Security and compliance frameworks
- Development team structure and processes