Business Objects/ Crystal Report Contracting

[MarillionFan]

Re: BO & Crystal

MIS. Nice Niche. Good call. Means you may come up against me at some point.

"very tempting but I am going to bide my time " But then again - once a perm.:rolleyes

See. This is the second Crystal contract I have offered on this board in as many months.

No-one here but us chickens. Chicken. :rolleyes

[funkzig]

BO & Crystal

You're right - I am a bit chicken, but I do have a family to support plus my perm job is very cushy at the moment so its a bit of a leap of faith!

cheers again

[DimPrawn]

Re: BO & Crystal

Reporting is not just the front end report tool. Infact that is the trivial aspect in many cases.

The skill in reporting is

a. Understanding the business requirements
b. Identifying the best way to present the data.
c. Locating the data sources within the org.
d. Designing DB schemas optimised for efficient and flexible reporting such as star and snowflake designs. Tuning the DB for fast reporting.
e. Extracting, transforming and loading the data using SQL and other tools into these structures.
f. Summarising and aggregating data using SQL and/or OLAP
g. Generating the front end reports using a tool such as Excel, Crystal, BO etc.


You need all these skills to make money as a contractor IMHO.

[funkzig]

BO & Crystal

Totally agree.

Regards

[funkzig]

BO & Crystal

So, now we've established what one requires to be successful in this area , back to my original question - are there enough contracts out there to survive and make the move from being a permie?

8o

[thunderlizard]

Re: BO & Crystal

If you "survive" it'll be by selling yourself into clients, convincing them that they need somebody like you: not by waiting for contracts already "out there" to advertise themselves.

[DimPrawn]

Re: BO & Crystal

I think so. It won't make you rich but you'll do okay versus permie.

[funkzig]

FAO Thunderlizzard

Apologies for my ignorance but what do you mean by selling yourself into clients?

Do you mean to agencies? hence they give the job to you before they advertise?

Cheers

[MarillionFan]

Re: FAO Thunderlizzard

"I think so. It won't make you rich but you'll do okay versus permie."

Depends. I turnover 100k a year doing it. But that depends if you think thats a lot of money I suppose. :rolleyes