Re: Programmers VS Consultants

I would like to note here that before I was a consultant - back when I was a 
I.S.
Mgr. I came across a consultant that felt making the code difficult to follow 
was
job security. She consulted for this company for 5 yrs before I came in. She 
had a
bad attitude and lousy coding techniques. However, instead of adopting an 
attitude
that all consultants are lousy because of it, I saw this as this individual was 
a
lousy programmer - simple as that.

Larry Bolhuis wrote:

> <Snip>
>
> > (I.E. A PRGRAM OR SYSTEM THAT WILL REQUIRE THE CONSULTANT
> > AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, SO THE PROGRAM OR SYTEM IS DESIGNED TO BE OUTDATED FROM
> > DAY OF IMPLEMENTATION).
>
>   Years ago there was a famous football player named Bronko Nagurski.  When
> Bronko
> retired from football he opened a gas station.  Ol' Bronko had incredibly high
> repeat business, especially considering he had a simple gas station.  Now why 
>do
> you suppose he had such strong repeat business?  Whas it great service? Not
> really.
> Was it great pricing? Nope.  How about a superior location? No, not that 
>either.
> It
> was because when ol' Bronko screwed your gas cap on, he was the Only One who
> could get it back off!!
>
>   While this may have worked for Bronko, it is NOT the way most consultants 
>(or
> contract programmers) get and keep repeat business.  You need to instill in 
>your
> customer the confidence that you can complete the task required. You also need
> to teach them as much as they want to know.  In many cases this act alone 
>proves
> to them two things: 1) They DO need you for the work because they don't
> understand
> and 2) You do know what you are doing becuase you are willing to explain it to
> them.
>
>  - Larry
>  (Consultant and sometime Contract Programmer)
>
> --
> Larry Bolhuis         | What do You want to Reload today?
> Arbor Solutions, Inc  | Don't throw your PC out the window,
> (616) 451-2500        |  throw WINDOWS out of your PC.
> (616) 451-2571 -fax   | Two rules to success in life:
> lbolhui@ibm.net       | 1. Never tell people everything you know.
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