Re: Consultants who have to work on junk equipment

Hank,

In a message dated 98-11-16 02:31:23 EST, you write:

<<snip>>
> One of the things that was pointed out to me was that the high salaries they
>  were paying for the contract coders was making the regular staff jealous,
so
>  they felt justified in giving the new people poorer conditions to work in. 

Errr, Errrrrrr, ERRRRR!  Numero uno problemo mis amigo -- the existing staff
should _NEVER_ know what your people are making!!!  In the first place, it's
none of their %$##@&* business (do they know what their co-workers make?).  In
the second, it undermines your ability to work effectively with the in-house
staff.  The latter arrangement (in those rare instances in which they're not
completely worthless) can save both you and your client _TONS_ of time and
money.  Whoever "let the cat out of the bag" regarding your compensation
should be taken out and flogged, regardless of whether they worked for you or
the client.  Even if you want them, you cannot ethically hire any member of a
client's staff, so what good does it do for them to know your billing rate?

While I'm personally opposed to our industry working at any one site for more
than a few months, I'm also opposed to employers that subsidize worthless
employees with our services instead of giving a deserving employee a perm job.
We definitely fill a need for "one-time" jobs like Y2K or mentoring staff on a
new application/platform, but for the love of Pete just "toast" people that
refuse to work or learn new methodologies.

>  My reply was that I was there to bring the project in on-time, under-
budget,
>  and with a very high level of quality. The quality of the workplace would
>  reflect the quality of our production. If they want junk work, write it
into
>  the contract, and we'll deliver it in the junk environment. 
>  
>  Funny thing is, the manager that I fought this battle with - he's one of my
>  best references.

And they always will be.  Don't ask for more than the "real" employees get
(like the "Big 5" do), but don't accept less, either.  Managers respect
someone that will stand up for their people, especially if they do the same
for theirs.  If you walk in with the "I can help you" attitude instead of the
"I'm better than you" attitude, you'll win friends and influence people.
Otherwise, you can watch the client switch between the other "Big 5" as each
one proves worthless...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason the human race has not
achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be
'meetings'". -- Dave Barry
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