Free Advice or Free Consulting

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Free Advice or Free Consulting

Grant Fritchey

SSC Guru

Points: 398882
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May 12, 2010 at 8:40 pm

#138926

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Free Advice or Free Consulting
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
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SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004324 More actions · Answer 1

Heh... Crap! This forum wouldn't let me give this article any more than 5 stars and it wouldn't let me vote more than once.

On all fronts, well said, Grant.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

ziangij SSCrazy Eights Points: 8066 More actions · Answer 2

ziangij

SSCrazy Eights

Points: 8066

May 13, 2010 at 12:56 am

#1166662

very well said... absolutely correct...:-)

D.Oc SSCrazy Points: 2875 More actions · Answer 3

Steve should ban those words (URGENT or IMMEDIATE HELP or NOW) to appear in the title.

-------------------------------------------------------------
"It takes 15 minutes to learn the game and a lifetime to master"
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality."

nigel. SSChampion Points: 11636 More actions · Answer 4

D.Oc (5/13/2010)
Steve should ban those words (URGENT or IMMEDIATE HELP or NOW) to appear in the title.

Particularly when they are in upper case.

Nice editorial Grant, a polite rant if ever I saw one 🙂

Now, if only the appropriate people would read it. Along with the one that says, " ... to help us help you please provide DDL, example data, results ..."

Nigel
How to post questions

Gail Shaw SSC Guru Points: 1004504 More actions · Answer 5

Consultants don't want to work for free? How unfair of them. They should remember there are people stuck in jobs they can't do, and drop everything to give these people everything. Jobs may be at stake! </sarcasm>

Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

jorge_gomes98 SSC-Addicted Points: 486 More actions · Answer 6

Olá,

não me parece que seja tão drástico colocar "Urgent" nos pedidos; aliás, desta forma, pode-se sempre tentar ajudar as pessoas com alguma ordem de prioridade.

No entanto, acho que muitas vezes as pessoas abusam da ajuda, pensam que os outros são criados deles e querem a toda a força que lhes façam o trabalho.

Assim não dá! Para isso que paguem a uma empresa.

In other words, if people wants the job done totaly and imediatly they must pay. nobody is slave!

WayneS SSC Guru Points: 95460 More actions · Answer 7

Very well done Grant! There was a lot of "yeah!" moments in there.

Thanks!

Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes

If you can't explain to another person how the code that you're copying from the internet works, then DON'T USE IT on a production system! After all, you will be the one supporting it!

Links:
For better assistance in answering your questions
Performance Problems
Common date/time routines
Understanding and Using APPLY Part 1 & Part 2

Tobar SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4876 More actions · Answer 8

As long as you "send ... some coffee and a tasty snack " I would be happy to negoiate a price!! Truthfully being one of those dreaded <sarcasm> consultants who want to get paid I would happily negoiate a price for someone else to pay!

About FTEs and consultants who "want to get paid"? FTEs are getting paid for their advice also, they are just not being paid by the person who benefits. Either way, the asker should understand the reality of the situation.

Great article Grant.

<><
Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.

LutzM SSC Guru Points: 107049 More actions · Answer 9

Excellent job, Grant!

The only question that remains open is: Where to draw the line?

But I guess it's almost impossible to answer...

Interview questions, test/homework, almost complete projects, several hundred lines of uncommented and unformatted code, urgent request and the like are easy to put in the "no-go box". But where should consulting begin instead of forum assistance?

Lutz
A pessimist is an optimist with experience.

How to get fast answers to your question[/url]
How to post performance related questions[/url]
Links for Tally Table [/url] , Cross Tabs [/url] and Dynamic Cross Tabs [/url], Delimited Split Function[/url]

bwillsie-842793 Ten Centuries Points: 1359 More actions · Answer 10

Spot on!.

My favorite personal experience for my days as a consultant was the 15 year old kid that wanted me to rebuild his mothers operating system in the next two hours before she got home so that she wouldn't find out he had been downloading porn/viruses.

And, expected me to do it for free because "Microsoft pays you to put Windows on the computers you sell."

Larry C Default port Points: 1493 More actions · Answer 11

Great article! I hope this is read and advice taken by those who expect someone to hand them the answer on a silver platter.

Lowell SSC Guru Points: 323518 More actions · Answer 12

D.Oc (5/13/2010)
Steve should ban those words (URGENT or IMMEDIATE HELP or NOW) to appear in the title.

No! those are my favorite threads!

"URGENT" posts are like a train wreck or a car accident for me...i just HAVE to slow down and look, just to see the devastation that exists that someone hopes a miracle one line script of code can fix.....

Lowell

--help us help you! If you post a question, make sure you include a CREATE TABLE... statement and INSERT INTO... statement into that table to give the volunteers here representative data. with your description of the problem, we can provide a tested, verifiable solution to your question! asking the question the right way gets you a tested answer the fastest way possible!

TravisDBA SSCoach Points: 15780 More actions · Answer 13

Great article Grant! You are the man, and Yes! I get this all the time too. I have a standing motto when it comes to this kind of thing with people. "I will show you the way by lighting up your path for you, but you are the one that has to ultimately walk through the woods, not me." Many times, they do. But there have been some that have just shook their head and stormed off. Those people, generally don't come back. They go find someone else to do their work for them. 😀

"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

TheSQLGuru SSC Guru Points: 134017 More actions · Answer 14

Good stuff - too bad it won't actually be read by any of those who might need it. 🙁

Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service