Re: Consultants who have to work on junk equipment

Kris,

In a message dated 98-11-17 10:38:51 EST, you write:

> An interesting point there, about not working for more than a few months.
>  However on big projects, especially in the current climate where staff are
>  in short supply, you're tenure at a site tends to be long, and as I've
found
>  most of the perm staff accept you as one of their own, even though you may
>  earn a tad more than they.

True.  In my line of work, ERP implementation (formerly MRP II, formerly MRP,
formerly manufacturing systems), the average implementation time established
by Oliver Wight back in the '50's hasn't changed from the stated average of
18-24 months.  I accept this norm and don't mind the time spent.  What I _DO_
mind is spending _MORE_ time because:  A) the company refuses to pay their
perm folks what they're worth, so they leave and take their knowledge with
them; B) their perm folks can't differentiate a positional parameter from a
seating position, but the company won't fire them so they stay; C) the company
doesn't reward their employees or recogize their contributions, so they leave
and take their knowledge with them; D) the company refuses to embrace proven
modern technologies, so their people get bored, leave, and take their
knowledge with them.  In short, I _DESPISE_ working for companies that force
their good people to leave, and keep me around to train everyone else who
usually have already proven themselves incapable of learning.  I effect the
knowledge transfer, but that knowledge transfers to a company that doesn't
need _ME_ because they hired someone that already knows what they're doing.

Admittedly, this is a very selfish position for me to take.  I lose potential
clients because they now have experienced personnel on site.  I also get stuck
at client sites that have nothing more to teach me, yet cannot maintain
experienced staff.  In the immortal words of Steve Martin - "PARDONNEZ MOI"!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- the difference between a
consultant and a contractor is that a consultant strives to eliminate his/her
position, while a contractor seeks to perpetuate his/her's.

>  As for knowing more than the permanent staff, that comes with the job. You
>  move around as a contractor and you pick up more. Most permanent staff I've
>  met accept this and are willing to learn from you, as long as you remember
>  that you don't know everything and they can teach you a thing or two. Lets
>  not forget, it is by moving around and picking up knowledge that you know a
>  bit more.

Also true.  That's what they hired you for.  However, I've worked in shops
that knew absolutely _nothing_ about the AS/400 that ended up teaching _ME_
things.  There was one former "mainframer" that could hook up a coffee pot to
the /400 and get meaningful information back from it with no help at all from
me.  He was _JUST DARNED GOOD_.  I miss that...

Regards,

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

"A man can fail many times, but he is not a failure until he begins to blame
somebody else." -- John Burroughs
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