On Sun, Sep 09, 2007 at 11:30:37PM -0500, Les Mikesell wrote: > Consultants don't mind having more billable hours... And they probably > prefer that the companies paying them have no in-house expertise. Please be careful generalizing. I'm a consultant, and my goal is to always do things as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, AND to have clients develop self-sufficiency. Essentially, my purpose is to put myself out of work at any given client. This isn't silly, nor is it facetious. For one thing, no matter how often I try to get people to become self-sufficient, it usually doesn't happen. Either they don't listen to me (too often), or less often, they DO develop in-house skills and staff, but I still have skills that are useful in other areas. However, in a few cases, I've helped find, hire, train, and then walk away. I still get called in on some of these; others, I just give a ring every six months or a year and check that everything's OK. They are good references, and I'm still available is something comes up. Only short-sighted, incompetent consultants try to milk clients for hours and try to keep them dependent. This builds resentment that will build over time and, eventually, bite 'em in the nethers. Cheers, -- Dave Ihnat President, DMINET Consulting, Inc. dihnat@xxxxxxxxxx
