Experience with SQL Server 2008! Must be 2008!

[nomadd]

so what benefit will I see if I upgrade ?

Sell it to me

Lazy b'stard: Explore Windows 7 features - Microsoft Windows

[darmstadt]

I don't quite understand what it is with UK companies, contractors and HR. Every contract I have had here has not involved anyone from HR, in fact it has not involved anyone apart from people in the area I would be working in. If a project or team is going to need external sources then that is built into the budget by the department head and they are responsible for the hiring and firing, sod all to do with HR. A contractor is seen as if they were just another piece of equipment or software required in the team. I think in nearly every contract I have had I have never, ever interfaced with anyone from the company who is not directly connected with what I am working on. Maybe its just a UK thing (and they say the Germans are bureaucratic!!!)

[Gentile]

HR numpty; 'I'm looking for a tester and I see SQL Server experience in your CV, but it's very important to have experience with SQL Server 2008! Do you have that?

Could have been worse. Could have been SQL Server 2010 they asked for. I hate it when I have to pretend technologies exist to get a gig.

[Gentile]

I don't quite understand what it is with UK companies, contractors and HR. Every contract I have had here has not involved anyone from HR, in fact it has not involved anyone apart from people in the area I would be working in. If a project or team is going to need external sources then that is built into the budget by the department head and they are responsible for the hiring and firing, sod all to do with HR. A contractor is seen as if they were just another piece of equipment or software required in the team. I think in nearly every contract I have had I have never, ever interfaced with anyone from the company who is not directly connected with what I am working on. Maybe its just a UK thing (and they say the Germans are bureaucratic!!!)

That sounds pretty much like my experience of the UK.

[Mich the Tester]

I don't quite understand what it is with UK companies, contractors and HR. Every contract I have had here has not involved anyone from HR, in fact it has not involved anyone apart from people in the area I would be working in. If a project or team is going to need external sources then that is built into the budget by the department head and they are responsible for the hiring and firing, sod all to do with HR. A contractor is seen as if they were just another piece of equipment or software required in the team. I think in nearly every contract I have had I have never, ever interfaced with anyone from the company who is not directly connected with what I am working on. Maybe its just a UK thing (and they say the Germans are bureaucratic!!!)

Maybe it's Rhineland management that values knowledge of the subject matter and pushes expertise up the hierarchy to facilitate decision making, and has resulted in Germany being the most succesful economy in Europe since the war and almost the only country in Europe that isn't bust and on its arse; just try applying for a senior job at BMW, Daimler Benz, Siemens, Bosch, AEG or VW Group with a degree in 'Communication Studies', 'Human Resources Management' or 'International Marketing Cackness'; they won't even interview you without MEng, MSc or relevant professional qualifications. HR are there to manage permie employment relationships, not to do purchasing for technical projects because they wouldn't know where to start, in the same way as engineers aren't sent to negotiate with trade unions because they wouldn't know where to start.

Here in NL we're in between the two and sometimes have the worst of both worlds; in the government and the old state owned corporates everything has to go through the 'process' according to the 'protocol', HR numpties, secretaries, receptionists all give their opinions until the best people are eliminated and the boss man has to either approve or start the whole procedure all over again to find a decent contractor. Occasionally though, Dutch companies have the best of both worlds; flat informal structures, decisions taken by experts and a lack of bureaucratic cack; those tend to be the succesful companies, unsurprisingly.

[Freamon]

It doesn't matter much anyway unless you're a DBA (the size of the DBAs can get pretty huge)

FTFY

[Ignis Fatuus]

I don't quite understand what it is with UK companies, contractors and HR. Every contract I have had here has not involved anyone from HR, in fact it has not involved anyone apart from people in the area I would be working in. If a project or team is going to need external sources then that is built into the budget by the department head and they are responsible for the hiring and firing, sod all to do with HR. A contractor is seen as if they were just another piece of equipment or software required in the team. I think in nearly every contract I have had I have never, ever interfaced with anyone from the company who is not directly connected with what I am working on. Maybe its just a UK thing (and they say the Germans are bureaucratic!!!)

No, I had that in France once. I just gave HR their form filled in honestly, e.g.
# Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years? - still contracting using the same skills.
# What Do Want From Your Career? - to continue contracting using the same skills.
etc

The actual PM looked at it and laughed, then apologised for having to go through HR.

[Ignis Fatuus]

WNATS

7 is better than Vista, says the tester. (well, better than a kick in the teeth)

I think it's MS's marketing strategy, just as they did with windows 95 and then NT; make a really tulip product and sell it to everyone while keeping a good version on the shelf and then sell that and take the credit for 'a huge improvement'.

From the beginning. Gates pretty well invented the idea of software as a costly shrink-wrapped product. Sold MS BASIC full of bugs, then sold bug fixes as "improved versions" at further cost.