Xen virtual machines and ntp

[hike]

On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:35 AM, mark <m.roth2006 at rcn.com> wrote:

> George Magklaras wrote:
> > mark wrote:
> >
> >> Let's also not forget that consultant rates are higher than employee pay
> >> rates, *and* there's the loading for the consulting co itself; the
> result
> >> is that it costs a company *more* for a consultant than for an employee.
> >>
> >
> > I swear I did not want to get into this but I can't :-) . Consultants do
> > cost more than employ rates, but every descent non corrupt management
> (from
> > the technical lead to the Director or whatever) makes a decision to
> employ a
> > consultant to either stop the company from loosing money or jumpstart the
> > company to higher earnings. Capable consultants do not just cost more,
> they
> > bring more value. If the opposite happens, management is either corrupt,
> > clueless or contracts did not have clauses to role over bad consultants.
>
> *sigh*
> First, the arguments I've heard for consultants include the idea that "it's
> easier to get rid of them than a Real Employee".
>
> And I've worked as both an employee and as a consultant. I've usually been
> considered valued. How would *I* "bring more value" as a consultant than as
> an
> employee? Or, for that matter, trust me, I've seen consultants I *really*
> didn't want to be working on systems or code.
>
> It seems to me that there *is* too much willfully ignorant management
> (along
> with Dilbert's Pointy-Haired Boss, and along with, apparently, 90% or so of
> HR)
> who have no idea of what the people who work for them do (it all falls
> under
> the heading of "a miracle occurs here", and trust me, several times, I've
> been
> that miracle, and the hours that it took...).
>
> Of course, it *is* those (as a buddy of mine likes to put it) clue-hostile
> managers who *don't* get rid of the bad employees *or* consultants, and
> confuse
> salary/rate with quality.
> <snip>
> > (Ex consultant, current employee :-) )
>
>        mark, currently between positions :-(((
>
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how do you bring more value as a consultant over an employee?

(1) as highly paid experts, consultants are listened to and their advice is
listened to; the employee is just "overhead".  rember, a memorized O'Reilly
book is worth more than a Ph.D. any day.
(2) as a consultant, you can leave any time you want; as "overhead", the
employee can be tossed out like waste paper.
(3) as a consultant, you have a "contract" and can't be screwed-with; as an
employee, you are a control-freak's plaything.
(4) as a consultant, you have your own insurance; as an employee, we can
yank your insurance any time we want (control freaks R us!).
(5) as a consultant, we can't really reduce you pay without your approval;
as an employee, we can reduce your pay rate to what we think you are worth
($0, for instance).
(6) as a consultant, you can brown-nose your way into $100K contract; as an
employee, we can tell you to shut up and get back to work.

 all managers pretty much suck.
of course, all people pretty much suck.
the task is to suck less whether you are a mgr/phb or an employee (a.k.a.,
kinda normal jane or joe)