Contract going sour

[aussielong]

I wish I could think like that. Sadly I do lack people skills, and my focus is purely technical. My problem here is that on the one hand they ask to my opinion, and on the other don't actually want it, and giving it gets people's backs up.

Firstly, I never criticise any work that i don't know the history of. Most developers do things for good reasons. It's a matter of finding out the reasoning and the history.

Also, you have to settle in to a team and work out the lay of the land before you go in boots first. Some people you will be able to openly argue with and they will be ok with that. Others you will have to approach on the quiet - they may not like having their hard work openly criticised.

How do you actually gauge the ability of the permies from a contractor interview?

I don't think you really can suss out the technical strength of the interviewers during the interview - since they will be asking you questions on stuff they know about.
I find usually that if an apparently cool job is easy to get - there is a reason for that.

[suityou01]

Firstly, I never criticise any work that i don't know the history of. Most developers do things for good reasons. It's a matter of finding out the reasoning and the history.

Also, you have to settle in to a team and work out the lay of the land before you go in boots first. Some people you will be able to openly argue with and they will be ok with that. Others you will have to approach on the quiet - they may not like having their hard work openly criticised.



I don't think you really can suss out the technical strength of the interviewers during the interview - since they will be asking you questions on stuff they know about.
I find usually that if an apparently cool job is easy to get - there is a reason for that.

Ok, so I may have been hard on myself here. I do have enough people skills for the basic stuff. I have been here a while, get on with everybody very well, and know a good deal of the history. I have been asked to give my technical opinion on a process that is in a lot of trouble. The BA in charge is cacking herself and is not listening to a word I say because it has big cost implications. It would be far easier for her to try and sweep this lot under the carpet like she did last November. It has come back to haunt her. If she would just listen she would see I am trying to help, and can take a pragmatic short term view as well.

The developer in question and I have had a good heart to heart, and they are satisfied this is not some sort of witch hunt, and that I sympathise with the pressure they were put under to develop it, and that given their time over they would do things a lot differently. This is about consolidating what we have in the short term, and planning for the future in light of new business requirements.

The problem here is the BA in charge is running scared, and in spite of my requests for budget allocation, she does not appear to be getting the arm around the shoulder I would expect from her seniors. This may be for a reason, I do not know, and to be honest is politics I would do well to stay away from.

I have a technical interest in this only, and am filing my report and then my invoice, which seems to be the advice in this thread which makes sense to me.

IME, most companies crank out code on a shoe string, and wonder why the house of cards collapses at a later date. In permiedom I have been on the receiving end of a department outsource, and in contractordom have been that outsource. Nothing ever changes, unless someone speaks out. And then again, you would need someone to listen.

While bean counters rule the world, everything will be done for much cheapness plenty quickness. Not such a bad thing as from time to time it means a gig to go in and mop up.

My only concern here was, if you want my opinion then let me give it. If not then tell me and we can all save time here. I really don't care either way.

[Mich the Tester]

How do you actually gauge the ability of the permies from a contractor interview?

Always ask some questions yourself, and listen to clues in their questions. Once when an 'IT Manager' saw my CV and remarked that I had 10 years of experience with DB2, Oracle and MS SQL Server including 5 yrs as a DBA and then asked 'can you write SQL statements' it was clear to me I'd be working for an idiot.

[aussielong]

My only concern here was, if you want my opinion then let me give it. If not then tell me and we can all save time here. I really don't care either way.

1/You may have been employed for head count. Use the budget or lose it.

2/They may not be interested in your opinion if its not in line with theirs.

3/They may not be seeing it from an engineering view point. What you say may be technically correct but may be irrelevant to the bigger picture success story.

4/The people that have the poke to fix this problem may have bigger fish to fry perhaps.

5/ You may all be laid off. The people in power may know that it's not worth fixing the mess because it's all going to be someone else's problem soon.

[suityou01]

1/You may have been employed for head count. Use the budget or lose it.

2/They may not be interested in your opinion if its not in line with theirs.

3/They may not be seeing it from an engineering view point. What you say may be technically correct but may be irrelevant to the bigger picture success story.

4/The people that have the poke to fix this problem may have bigger fish to fry perhaps.

5/ You may all be laid off. The people in power may know that it's not worth fixing the mess because it's all going to be someone else's problem soon.

Wow.

[TykeMerc]

I could have sworn that we'd discussed this issue recently, a few weeks ago perhaps?

There was some good advice given then if I recall...

[zamzummim]

1/You may have been employed for head count. Use the budget or lose it.

2/They may not be interested in your opinion if its not in line with theirs.

3/They may not be seeing it from an engineering view point. What you say may be technically correct but may be irrelevant to the bigger picture success story.

4/The people that have the poke to fix this problem may have bigger fish to fry perhaps.

5/ You may all be laid off. The people in power may know that it's not worth fixing the mess because it's all going to be someone else's problem soon.

[NotAllThere]

... Females are very a good at this (how many times has your wife been able to turn something that was her fault in to your fault?), ..

NEVER!

It's always been my fault. Oh............ I see..............

[MPwannadecentincome]

I could have sworn that we'd discussed this issue recently, a few weeks ago perhaps?

There was some good advice given then if I recall...

WHS

and I think someone asked then - where is the project manager in all this - looks like he/she has done a runner?

[suityou01]

WHS

and I think someone asked then - where is the project manager in all this - looks like he/she has done a runner?

I don't remember discussing this exact issue. The BA is the project manager. It's a weird set up. Basically the head of department has the BAs to manage requirements gathering, project management and line management. Then the plebs report into the BAs. I do not have a line manager obviously, but this is how it works for the perms.