Re: AS/400 job market

Excuse me, but I am the owner of a consulting firm and I disagree with your
statements.  We have frequently moved on to other projects for the same
client and we are consultants not contractors. I quite frankly I take this
as a compliment. The clients like our work, know we have a high degree of
integrity and we tend to develop long term relationships with them. We also
have some clients that just need a "once and done" quick turnaround project
and as a general rule tend to not use consultants often. We have helped them
out as well. However, of all our clients we have only had 2 that did not
extend the relationship with additional projects and they were both
conversions from one system to another - quick need and done type scenarios.
----- Original Message -----
From: <DAsmussen@aol.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 12:01 AM
Subject: Re: AS/400 job market


> Evan,
>
> In a message dated 1/27/00 2:00:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> spanner@ihug.co.nz writes:
>
> <<snip>>
> > While I agree with most of what you say Dean, I just can't swallow this.
We
> >  had a thread on this consultant/contractor crap not long ago. Your
quote
> >  stereotypes people by an arbitrary designation. It's a matter of
semantics
> >  whether someone is a contractor or a consultant. I have worked as a
> >  contractor and would be apalled to think I was perpetuating the need
for my
> >  position.
> >
> >  Thanks for the narrow minded insult.
>
> Not intended to be an insult at all.  You are obviously a consultant that
has
> accepted the equally arbitrary assignment of the "contractor" designation
by
> his client.  I've been called "contractor" several times myself by various
> clients, but had no more chance of getting "renewed" than does a US
President
> after two terms.  Clients often attempt to "shoehorn" consultants into the
> contractor title, merely because their organization does not differentiate
> between the two.
>
> IMO, consultants come in to perform a specified task (hopefully passing on
> relevant knowledge to in-house staff in the process) and leave when that
task
> is complete.  Contractors, on the other hand, accept a more amorphous
> assignment such as "maintain this system" or "support this system while
our
> staff learns and implements something else".  A consultants' job is
discrete,
> while a contractors' is open-ended.  A consultant is a specialist, while
the
> contractor is more of a generalist.  That said, you cannot generalize
> _either_ of the positions -- my quote reflects the market at general, but
not
> in its' entirety.  _MOST_ contractors _DO_ attempt to find another job at
the
> same client when their original assignment is over, while _MOST_
consultants
> are more than glad to move on to something else.
>
> If you wish to expound on what you found "narrow minded", I would be more
> than happy to reply...
>
> Regards!
>
> Dean Asmussen
> Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
> Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
> E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com
>
> "Winners never quit, and quitters never win." -- Vince Lombardi
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