Reply to: A Bob Tale!

[Sausage Surprise]

Are you Wilmslow in disguise?

No but I knew him

[redgiant]

FTFY

+1

[GB9]

Morries, bratfort?


Sent from AIX using vi

In my case, if it had been a Northern based supermarket in a location near Pudsey and not named ASDA, then I couldn't possibly admit to it.

If investors knew what was happening there they would (should) have a fit.

[Project Monkey]

Wow, I just got auto-edited I had no idea this site was so clever.

[Project Monkey]

He who dares wins Rodney.

From your post, it appears you delivered on all your projects and were quite successful. You would have been extended if it wasn't for bob. In my experience, decent project managers are rare as rocking-horse tulip.

Those who can - do,
those who can't - manage,
Those who can't manage - project manage.
Those who can project manage - PICK UP GIGS REALLY EASILY BECAUSE THE COPETITION IS SO tulipE!

If you are one of the exceptions to that rule then turning down that extension was a great move (obviously I am unaware of your financial situation). I don't think the market is that bad, if you are good at what you do you will find work.

FTFY

[NotAllThere]

I know one company that got a PM through BobCo. After 3 days on site, he decide he'd had enough of BobCo, and quit. So BobCo got a contractor in. After 2 day on site, he decided out-of-uk contracting wasn't for him, so he quit. So BobCo got another contractor. This one had been PMing across Europe for several years. After a week, he quit.

Now, the company is great place to work - I've done many contracts there. So... I can only assume the problems lie with BobCo.

[TheFaQQer]

Sounds like the very place (in a tulip area) I left last month. Utter Bob fest....

Are you Wilmslow in disguise?

[stek]

Sounds like the very place (in a tulip area) I left last month. Utter Bob fest....

Morries, bratfort?


Sent from AIX using vi

[Sausage Surprise]

Because without price, they don't have a business model.

BobCos selling point is price per seat per day. What they don't say is that they require at least twice as many days. That is for the client to find out themselves.

Recent experience at a struggling northern based supermarket was of the BobCo wanting 76 people (split between on and off shore) to deliver something that should have been done by fewer than 20 and at a cost of twice what it would have been had they used day rate contractors. Bit of a shock to them, but by then it was too late as all their eggs were in Bob's basket.

Sounds like the very place (in a tulip area) I left last month. Utter Bob fest....

[mos]

Those who can - do,
those who can't - manage,
Those who can't manage - project manage.

[GB9]

I suppose what I'm most surprised about with this, and feel free to call me naive, is the short sightedness. Why choose price over quality every single time?

Because without price, they don't have a business model.

BobCos selling point is price per seat per day. What they don't say is that they require at least twice as many days. That is for the client to find out themselves.

Recent experience at a struggling northern based supermarket was of the BobCo wanting 76 people (split between on and off shore) to deliver something that should have been done by fewer than 20 and at a cost of twice what it would have been had they used day rate contractors. Bit of a shock to them, but by then it was too late as all their eggs were in Bob's basket.

[SimonMac]

I suppose what I'm most surprised about with this, and feel free to call me naive, is the short sightedness. Why choose price over quality every single time? Surely good PMs will improve the reputation of this company with the client, thereby improving the relationship and increasing the chances of extending their contract on site? Isn't that worth paying a little bit more in some cases?

And yes, the client has a lot to answer for as they screwed BobCo. on their rate, then kicked off when they couldn't retain the people they wanted.

Anyway, a good lesson for the first gig! I'm not suggesting any of this is news, just sharing. I'm generous like that

Because they get to see the result of price on their spreadsheet now, quality can take time to shine or not as the case may be

[donjuan75]

I suppose what I'm most surprised about with this, and feel free to call me naive, is the short sightedness. Why choose price over quality every single time? Surely good PMs will improve the reputation of this company with the client, thereby improving the relationship and increasing the chances of extending their contract on site? Isn't that worth paying a little bit more in some cases?

And yes, the client has a lot to answer for as they screwed BobCo. on their rate, then kicked off when they couldn't retain the people they wanted.

Anyway, a good lesson for the first gig! I'm not suggesting any of this is news, just sharing. I'm generous like that

[donjuan75]

Cognizant at GSK Brentford?

Ive had similar and worse, bob co actively lobbies against you and puts changes in which mess the projects up. And so on.

Cognizant really are <mod snip>

I can reveal once I'm out of here

[donjuan75]

?

Well, you proved them wrong - they got you for that rate, so you managed to set their expectations that this is the going rate for someone with your skills in their sector and location.

If contractors keep going in low, then it can only hurt the rest of the industry - I used to get agents telling me "oh, the role pays £x" and when I'd tell them my rate, they would try to convince me to take a massive hit on the rate. It's when the market is swamped with people desperate that they cut to stupid levels that we all suffer.

They got me for that rate for 1 year only. They trained me on their processes and then gave me a workload greater than all the other PMs. Then after a year, I decided it wasn't worth continuing at that rate. I don't think this is unusual. And their expectations are now up to date, surely, what with me leaving and transitioning to another new guy who will take 4 months to get up to speed.
First time contractors often take a low rate, as they don't always know the market very well at that point.