Richards.Bob wrote:
I suppose that some of the contractor resentment stems from the fact that the local staff may or may not have had the necessary skills or time for the project at hand, and then some "hired gun" comes in making more money than the local staff. Nature takes its course and emotions come into play, especially if the local staff perceives that there is not a good reason for their presence or that their skill set is not really any superior to the locals own talents.
In my first full-time programming job in California, I made the acquaintance of a contract programmer who made roughly three times as much as I did. I could program circles around him and he was always coming to me for advice. I never felt any resentment towards him, probably because I believe so strongly in free enterprise. The way I saw it, if he could make three times as much as I was making with lesser skills, then I ought to be able to figure out a way market my skills for more than twice his pay! He taught me a valuable lesson...
In my current job heading up R&D here, I have had mostly bad experiences with contract programmers. I think many people adopt a different attitude about a project when they know they won't be around to support it. Cutting corners and "shoehorning" borrowed code are the unmistakable mark of a contract programmer. They get results. But those results are IMHO nearly always disappointing, especially when looking at the price tag. The exception is a full-time programmer that worked on a product for years before moving on. Contracting them on an hourly basis to update those programs has always worked out extremely well.
Disclaimer: I have no experience whatsoever with hiring sysprogs, whether full-time or contract.
-- Edward E Jaffe Phoenix Software International, Inc 5200 W Century Blvd, Suite 800 Los Angeles, CA 90045 310-338-0400 x318 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.phoenixsoftware.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
