Xen virtual machines and ntp

[mark]

hike wrote:
> 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 :-(((
>> 
>> -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe
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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. 

ROTFLMAO!!!

Sorry, but I, and most other consultants I know, get listened to once in a
while; in general, we do what our manager tells us to do. Except in a *truly*
management clusterf*ck, I've not seen a consultant offer better advice, though
I have, once or twice, seen one listened to when an employee who said the same
thing was ignored.

> (2) as a consultant, you can leave any time you want; as "overhead", the employee
> can be tossed out like waste paper.

Huh? Sorry, dunno where you've been but where I've worked, it's the other way
around - it's the consultant who can be told "bye-bye" without a second
thought. (And that includes tiny companies like Ameritech (former Baby Bell)
and AT&T.)

>(3) as a consultant, you have a "contract" and can't be screwed-with;
> as an employee, you are a control-freak's plaything. 

What? That's not been the case anywhere I've worked, nor what I've heard from
most folks I've worked with. We won't even talk about the former Anderson
Consulting (now Accenture), who *literally* treat their people as consumables.

> (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!).

At this point, I'm really mind-boggled. First, I've *always* worked as a W-2,
and all the consulting companies I've worked for offered me insurance, which I
always took, since it was *much* cheaper than anything I can find (that is,
assuming anyone will take me, as I'm a) older, and b) had a serious medical
condition a few years back). I've *never* seen insurance yanked from an
employee, anywhere, not in a career that's coming up on thirty years.

>(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).

Again, I can't imagine what you're talking about. I've had a salary increase
that was promised on hire not happen, but that was when they froze everyone's
salary (we'll ignore the execs bonuses).

> (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.

Really? Hey, cool, can you tell me where I can get a $100k contract, since I've
never made that much.
> 
> 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)

Well, no - I've had some *very* good managers, who actually knew what I was
doing, and valued me for it. There are *always* jerks and MBA's....

	mark