Tuesday, April 15

Lesson Learned from Contracting, Revisited - SQL Server Central

Lesson Learned from Contracting, Revisited - SQL Server Central (requires free registration, sorry about the annoyance)

This is an excellent article looking at contracting/consulting from an experienced consultant's perspective -- without being anti-business in favor of being pro-consulting.

Contract consultants, a role I've occupied fulltime many times in the past, fill a need. Sometimes, they seem like a quick solution to a difficult problem. Hiring/managing consultants is most certainly not the same art as managing internal employees.

I've known complete dweeb consultants, charging ridiculous rates when they couldn't figure out VB6 dropdowns on their own. On the other hand, I've known consultants that really twinked my noggin, gave me a new perspective on things. Unfortunately, we're not all in the latter category, and far too many businesses have had bad experiences with the former.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I cannot access the article, but I agree. Contract work pays the bills, and for many industries insures efficient response to changes in the marketplace. Take mortgage brokers. They're In the press, unfortunately, but for the million different niche banks that cater to one market or another, the broker shifts with the need of market, allowing banks to save money on employee pay, and paying brokers a fee instead, when their products are in demand.

Matt
exportanalytics.com

Unknown said...

Here is a link to a good article about what it takes to be a good consultant - http://www.angrycoder.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=327.

Andrew Badera said...

Michael unfortunately your link got cut off. Could you provide that in tinyurl form by any chance?