Re: [tlug] Re: Why Vista Sucks (was: linux: it's becoming ubiquitous)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Josh Glover writes:
 > On 05/04/2008, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen@example.com> wrote:

 > One of the problems with these online bidding sites is that the market
 > is flooded with contract programmers in Eastern Europe (and elsewhere,
 > but Eastern Europeans tend to a) speak English well enough, and b) be
 > of a more entrepreneurial mindset), where the cost of living is low,

This is the relevant issue, to my mind.  People who complain (I don't
mean you, but it's too common, especially in that often-despicable
CPSR crowd and Richard Stallman) that they are being underbid by
Irish, Croatian, and Indian programmers are basically revealing that
they were born in a rich society and think that endows them with an
inalienable right to grow up rich at others' expense.

 > who typically underbid talented engineers and win.

That's not a problem, if that's what the customer wants.  The first
time it happens, the cost of fixing it up is called "tuition".  The
second time it happens is called "revealed preference".

 > The resulting code is certainly not as good as what a professional
 > engineer would build.

<religious leader du jour> on a toy unicycle, Josh, you of all people
should know better than that.  Would you like to tell me how badly
"wget" sucks?  The author's name is Hrvoje Nikšić, and I bet you know
what that unpronouncability means.

 > Steve, do you have any idea how the hot-shot consultants (Fowler,
 > Beck, et al.) work? How do they get hooked up with customers?

I don't know about software, but typical paths in management
consulting include

1.  Getting poached by another firm, then deciding to stop in the
    middle and hold up *both* wannabe employers for more money,

2.  Bailing out of a large consulting firm and getting caught in an
    updraft (ie, taking your portable billings with you),

3.  Having a well-known column (or write professional papers, etc) and
    eventually turning occasional moonlighting solicited by people who
    read them into a daytime business,

4.  Being very familiar with your target industry, figuring out how to
    solve common problems, and selling your methodology to the
    customers who need it by cold-calling the relevant upper managers,

    and

5.  Schmoozing at professional meetings and business conventions,

among many others.  Read Richard Bolles _What Color Is Your Parachute_
for lots of hints.  The only thing that's different between looking
for a new job and being a consultant is that the consultant can't stop
looking no matter how many jobs he already has.

Once you're known as a hot-shot, of course, people come to you.  It's
sort of like "if you're clued enough to know you need me on your own,
you're clued enough that I can do you enough good to make it worth
paying me."  Ie, the people with solutions are matched to the people
with problems in some way.