November 4, 2009 at 11:45 am
I like that reply Tom.
As far as approach, if you have a boss that isn't open to outside help then you are largely screwed. You will not get a full solution in forums like this one. You can get individual questions addressed, but you aren't going you be able to say help me setup replication from start to end and expect people to hand-hold you through the entire process.
If you have a boss that expects a junior DBA or developer to know everything then you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm lucky I have never worked for one of those, I fully admit that there are things I don't know AND that there are limits to what I DO know, and I don't mind saying that I am not sure about something because I don't have knowledge or experience in it. But if it is similar to something else I might say, "this is kind of similar to X which I have done and it could be solved with Y". This helps set the listeners expectations, I am not saying it is the same as X but for most of us similar does not equal same, so the listener is hearing that you aren't sure. But if it is too far outside my experiences I say that too, but that if we need an answer I'll research it and get back to them. That research will likely involve a google/bing search, and if warranted posting to forums like this for input when I know enough to ask questions that might make sense.
If you know that your company is struggling to make payroll, then don't even bother, it isn't going to happen. There are rare occasions but not often.
For bosses willing(open?) to bringing someone in it is best to be able to articulate how you came to the conclusion that you needed help. Including online research and speaking with the technical folks around you office. Be able to state what experience you are looking for and that the inhouse experience is either non-existent or so minimal as to be non-existent. Also timelines can help drive this. If you need an expert and you have a tight timeline and there is nobody available in-house, you are in a bad situation, and the earlier you bring this up the better.
I have to admit that while there are a lot of good SQL resources out there as evidenced by the big contributors on this forum, there are a LOT of people with weak experience in the consulting world, and the less knowledge you have the harder it is to gauge a consultant during an interview. I would also say that if I needed to bring somebody in there are several here I would be comfortable bringing in.. They have shown their wealth of knowledge and I have a better view of their capabilities than I could get from a 30-60 minute interview with a contractor. Maybe that is a question we should be asking, what SQL community forums do you participate in and ar eyou an active participant. For future employee's I'm not sure how legal that is, for contractors I'm pretty sure it is legal since they don't work for you.
CEWII
November 4, 2009 at 12:29 pm
The work environment is so over-comparmentalised with walls between different functions that the problem can't be solved without an organisational change...
This has been my experience as well, and I would add that organizational change that is really successful long term comes from the top down with all levels embracing the change. It has been my experience that change that occurs only in the middle and lower echelons never lasts. The first sign of trouble the change just gets thrown out the window by upper management and things revert back to chaos. I have even seen managers that feed off dissension, in-fighting, and chaos in their departments. However, they usually don't last long, or they just get promoted out of their department. The Peter Principle at its finest. 🙂
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
November 5, 2009 at 3:25 am
weitzera (11/4/2009)
That's a pretty well thought-out Reply Tom. Got any pointers on how to avoid these risks? (Other than not taking the job in the first place 🙂 So, when you come to the realization that you do need additional help to fill a temporary or unexpected need, what would your approach be?
No real pointers on how to avoid the risks, apart from the obvious one of checking up carefully on any prospective employer before taking the job. And of course you should try to avoid becoming overspecialised - reading a wider range of technical material, spending some of your time on experimentation (if the job doesn't include this, use some of your own time; personally I have always managed to end up in jobs that specify study and experimentation and research in the job description - they don't always pay as well as boring hack jobs but they do pay enough and they are far more fun).
When you do need to get something in, produce a written report for your boss explaining what and why (one page of A4 in 12 point type is the maximum length for this, unless there is something really complicated). It should include a cost estimate for getting consultants in, and a cost and risk estimate for trying to do it in-house without external help. And produce also a note detailing the pre-contract evaluation procedures that you recommend should be followed when hiring consutants. This should include checking up carefully on any "consultants" before contracts are signed; try to make sure that even if you don't have control over who is hired there is a serious check on competence - resumes of all consultants potential should be reviewed, references pbtained from previous customers; if consultants are provided by a large firm the contract should specify named individuals so that these checks can be done (references from the firm's customers for the individual consultants as well as for the firm should be sought), also look at what reputation the firm has, and you definitely want to know where the individual consultants fit into the firm's TO (if they are in the sales support department or the training arm expect the worst, unless what you want is advice on training). Just producing these documents will make it clear to all but the stupidest of bosses that you are doing the right thing, and often it will cause you to become part of the consulant evaluation process.
Tom
November 5, 2009 at 3:43 am
Elliott W (11/4/2009)
I have to admit that while there are a lot of good SQL resources out there as evidenced by the big contributors on this forum, there are a LOT of people with weak experience in the consulting world, and the less knowledge you have the harder it is to gauge a consultant during an interview. I would also say that if I needed to bring somebody in there are several here I would be comfortable bringing in.. They have shown their wealth of knowledge and I have a better view of their capabilities than I could get from a 30-60 minute interview with a contractor.
Yes, very much yes - even though I only discovered SQLServerCentral a fairly short time ago there are already a lot of people I would be extremely comfortable bringing in (except that I maight be ashamed to let them see some of the rubbish I have allowed to remain in systems I inherited:blush:).
Maybe that is a question we should be asking, what SQL community forums do you participate in and ar eyou an active participant. For future employee's I'm not sure how legal that is, for contractors I'm pretty sure it is legal since they don't work for you.
That strikes me as a really excellent question - I might even want to ask it pre-interview so that I could look at the guy's contributions before the interview. I think it's a question you can ask prospective employees as well as contractors - at least over here you can. The various EU directives on employees rights don't prevent it (as far as I can see - I'm not a lawyer). Of course non-participation isn't going to rule someone out but good participation is going to be a very favorable indicator.
Tom
November 5, 2009 at 4:09 am
I wish people would distinguish between a consultant and a contractor, there is a world of difference and it annoys me no end. most people I know associate a consultant as someone who is from an outsourcing company, and I cannot think of a bigger insult than to compare me to one of them. Most consultants in my experience have very little sql understanding past the basics. Keeping in topic, there is always going to be issues regarding asking for help, I have always said that it is better to ask rather than risk anything happening to the database systems.
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