On Fri, Dec 06, 2002 at 09:24:57PM -0500, Russell Hires wrote:
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> This is a good idea, but we need to be careful about sending Linux people out
> who aren't "qualified." I don't necessarily mean RHCE's, but some basic
> modicum of knowledge/experience so that Linux doesn't become a bad word
> because of a bad experience.
>
> It's also important that missionaries who do go out prevent people from
> looking over their shoulder as installation/support takes place. This can
> make doing any troubleshooting or even basic installing difficult, and can
> lead to a bad experience....
>
> Maybe we could have a "Suncoast LUG Certification?" Nothing so thorough as
> RHCE, but basic minimum level of expertise? I would recommend this even if
> people were going out for free.
>
> Sound good?
>
I completely understand your concerns, but umm, let's see. That would be
more work for... let's see... that would be-- _me_. ;-}
I don't want to put SLUG in a position to have to pass judgment on
people's qualifications. In fact, doing so could make us liable if
things go badly with a client. It's a lot of work to create qualifying
tests or criteria, and I'm not qualified to even do it. Plus, we're not
talking about consulting large companies here; this will generally be
moms and pops and such. The type of work shouldn't be that involved. No
setting up wireless Linux LANS for 300 employees. If you want that, you
should go to a big Linux company to set it up.
I've dealt with consultants for many years, and even was one over a
decade ago (not a computer consultant). It's always a mixed bag.
Sometimes they know what they're doing, sometimes they haven't a clue.
Consultants often get a well-deserved bad rap. That's the nature of the
game. A guy can have certificates up and down his wall and still be
clueless. My brother has been through at least one bankruptcy and has an
MBA, and I wouldn't give twelve cents for his business advice. What's
perhaps worse is that consultants vary widely in their interpersonal
skills, which can have as much effect on customer satisfaction as
anything else.
No, the idea here was to frame this like these Linux missionaries are
just guys who know Linux, not ubergeeks. SLUG would carefully disavow
any knowledge of their skills, and inform potential "customers" that
they use them at their risk.
As for looking over their shoulders, that's always a problem, and one
that can't be easily resolved. In fact, this might be an _opportunity_.
One of the complaints I hear from people who get help at meetings is
that the fellow helping them did all this magical stuff, and they don't
know how he did it. Even though they _were_ looking over his shoulder.
My advice would be to slow down and let the person try to grasp what
you're doing.
That brings up another point about consultants. I know this is going to
fly in the face of conventional wisdom about consultants, but here it
is: Your job as a consultant is to work yourself out of a job. A lot of
consultants design what they do so that, while they've fixed the
problem, they've still left the customer hopelessly dependent on the
consultant. That's good for their income stream, but ultimately bad for
the customer. A better approach is the educate the customer while you're
helping him, so that the next time he has a problem, he can solve it
himself. There's plenty of business out there, so when this customer
doesn't call you anymore, you just go out and get another one. And then
there are the customers who don't want to know and would rather pay you.
Fine. Let them pay you until doomsday. Or until they figure out it would
be better for them to hire their own in-house guy.
Of course, if someone can make a compelling case for "SLUG
certification", I'm open to the idea. But so far, it doesn't seem
viable.
Paul
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