Reply to: HP sucking up contractors

[Hercule]

only just found this thread.
I've recently finished a contract with HP ES as well. All that has been said above sounds very similar to the experiences i've had.

Funny enough i had been hired twice for the same job by them. First time they cancelled my contract after two days because some management genius decided that all contractors need to leave immediately. Later i was asked to come back, which i did but luckily i was able to negotiate a higher rate this time...
In the meantime, a couple of million quid were blown through the chimney because the project was actually about cost savings and getting old and expensive infrastructure out the door. go figure

[Dark Black]

I had a contract with HP last year - had a bad feeling right from the start when then kept me waiting for 3 months claiming my clearance needed re-doing (it didnt but they re-vetted me anyway)..

When I did finally start, everyone had to endure a weeks "induction", permies and contractors alike - I'd had to wait an extra few weeks as apparently they "save up" new starters for a monthly induction (you couldn't make this stuff up).

The first day of "proper" work on site I was shown to a project team only to be told they didnt have any work... (why then FFS did they take on contractors?). After a few days of reading docs etc I got moved to another project which turned out to be 'C' code bug fixing... (it was advertised as a C++ / Java dev role).

I managed about 4 weeks in total, including the "induction" before I binned them. The final straw was being asked to sign-off on a quality review for something I'd not seen or had no idea about ("oh we just need a sig for the paperwork" they said, "not on your life mate" was the reply) - they were fairly peeved when I gave them a weeks notice - they were expecting 4 weeks and the agent hadn't told them I'd negotiated that down to 1 week before I started (alarm bells were ringing even then).

Never again.. rates are fairly pants too.

[jmo21]

Worked for HP Enterprise services for about 2 years, there were plenty of decent guys working there but the entire operation model is flawed. Account managers are selling ridiculous SLAs at low cost to win the contract. Then they try to assemble the support teams from various delivery centers across the globe based on the cheapest offer, usually ending up with mostly Indians from Bangalore.

There were clients who deliberately endured the constant outages and SLAs breaches, because the penalties received from HP were often greater than the cost of the contract, so they were actually earning money at HP expense.

No one cared that much as long as most of the revenue was secure in the form of US Government, US Navy etc multi billion contracts. But these started to dry up and HP started falling apart.

That sounds depressing

[sal]

A couple of places I've been they had been providing dev & support teams but turns out they bid too low to get the contracts then found out they couldn't do it and make a profit. One place it was said they had paid £4m to buy themselves out of a bad contract early.

Worked for HP Enterprise services for about 2 years, there were plenty of decent guys working there but the entire operation model is flawed. Account managers are selling ridiculous SLAs at low cost to win the contract. Then they try to assemble the support teams from various delivery centers across the globe based on the cheapest offer, usually ending up with mostly Indians from Bangalore.

There were clients who deliberately endured the constant outages and SLAs breaches, because the penalties received from HP were often greater than the cost of the contract, so they were actually earning money at HP expense.

No one cared that much as long as most of the revenue was secure in the form of US Government, US Navy etc multi billion contracts. But these started to dry up and HP started falling apart.

[Batcher]

A couple of places I've been they had been providing dev & support teams but turns out they bid too low to get the contracts then found out they couldn't do it and make a profit. One place it was said they had paid £4m to buy themselves out of a bad contract early.

[tomtomagain]

[QUOTE=Dethmask;2034131]

Actually, I have worked for 2 big corporations and found exactly the opposite. Loads of energy, people listened, the IT teams worked as one unit, even though they were spread around the UK. Loved it. Only left one due to staff cuts that left me with so little life, I might as well have life in the Server room!!!

I do appreciate different places, different experiences, but this is the first truly "sleepy hollow" company I have worked in. Praying the new year brings me the ticket out. Either that or I shall insist on a bed in work!!!

The other factor is that HP is in complete crisis. It is far, far too big and it's core markets have been eroded.

It cannot compete on hardware against the Chinese, its not got much differentiation between it and the other service providers ( Wipro et al ) and it hasn't got a decent "mobile" story.

It doesn't own any decent corporate tools ( SQL Server, Oracle ,SAP ) and so it's being slowly eaten up by the cloud.

[Dethmask]

Running back to the city is beginning to appeal.

Been there, done that, ran back to the city after a few weeks.

You could literally walk into this place and fall asleep for the day and no one would notice because they were all doing the same thing.

Terrible CV Killer.

Yeah, you hit that one on the head. I can blag it as harder to a interviewer, but I was out last night and some 70yr old retiree warned me about being complacent in a dull, pointless job. OMG. OAPs are telling me to get the hell out. I might just have to listen to you people a little more seriously!!!

[Dethmask]

[QUOTE=tomtomagain;2033322]

That isn't just a HP problem. That is big corporate.

Actually, I have worked for 2 big corporations and found exactly the opposite. Loads of energy, people listened, the IT teams worked as one unit, even though they were spread around the UK. Loved it. Only left one due to staff cuts that left me with so little life, I might as well have life in the Server room!!!

I do appreciate different places, different experiences, but this is the first truly "sleepy hollow" company I have worked in. Praying the new year brings me the ticket out. Either that or I shall insist on a bed in work!!!

[Brussels Slumdog]

Did a few months remote with them years ago. My designated computer arrived the week my contract ended. Thank goodness I found an old computer lying around on one of their sites as I wasn't allowed to use my own computer.

[jmo21]

THIS

Revealed during the interview that it wasn't a contract, but a perm role.

Ouch, had you agreed a rate before the interview?

I'd be pretty raging either way.

I'd like to think I would just walk out, but I'd probably just say "There's seems to have been some mistake... etc" and say goodbye.

[vadhert]

Been there, done that, ran back to the city after a few weeks.

You could literally walk into this place and fall asleep for the day and no one would notice because they were all doing the same thing.

Terrible CV Killer.

[jmo21]

[QUOTE=Dethmask;2033213]

Well let's see, they bring you in at short notice, onto a tulip project which has no plan or chance of succeeding, you spend 90% of your time fighting the idiocy & undoing their damage. Then you get asked not to attend site, but you hold them to the termination clause, only to be threatened by them that they'll try to cause you IR35 hassle (even though outside!) with Hector.


***************
I am buried in with HP contractors in a "glass bubble" somewhere in the UK. It is truly a place where techies come to die quietly in a corner. Average age of people here, between 53 and 126! The lethargy and pointlessness of the place is staggering. So much money is being thrown at this attempt to streamline some processes that basic common sense would sort in a heartbeat. No documentation, no passion, no point. Good money, short days and so little managerial interaction it is frightening. As long as you don't talk loudly and produce a little work once or twice a week, no one cares.

Tell me not all HP environments are like this? Tell me that in other places people work hard for a purpose and produce some good stuff. I am hearing the quite the opposite. Shame, it could be a great company, instead of the graveyard that I endure. Hoping the new year will bring a local contract and my ticket out of purgatory!

Heard the Erskine site is like that.

[tomtomagain]

[QUOTE=Dethmask;2033213]

Well let's see, they bring you in at short notice, onto a tulip project which has no plan or chance of succeeding, you spend 90% of your time fighting the idiocy & undoing their damage. Then you get asked not to attend site, but you hold them to the termination clause, only to be threatened by them that they'll try to cause you IR35 hassle (even though outside!) with Hector.


***************
I am buried in with HP contractors in a "glass bubble" somewhere in the UK. It is truly a place where techies come to die quietly in a corner. Average age of people here, between 53 and 126! The lethargy and pointlessness of the place is staggering. So much money is being thrown at this attempt to streamline some processes that basic common sense would sort in a heartbeat. No documentation, no passion, no point. Good money, short days and so little managerial interaction it is frightening. As long as you don't talk loudly and produce a little work once or twice a week, no one cares.

Tell me not all HP environments are like this? Tell me that in other places people work hard for a purpose and produce some good stuff. I am hearing the quite the opposite. Shame, it could be a great company, instead of the graveyard that I endure. Hoping the new year will bring a local contract and my ticket out of purgatory!

That isn't just a HP problem. That is big corporate.

[Dethmask]

HP - where contractors go to die

[QUOTE=sgxluk;1908591]Well let's see, they bring you in at short notice, onto a tulip project which has no plan or chance of succeeding, you spend 90% of your time fighting the idiocy & undoing their damage. Then you get asked not to attend site, but you hold them to the termination clause, only to be threatened by them that they'll try to cause you IR35 hassle (even though outside!) with Hector.


***************
I am buried in with HP contractors in a "glass bubble" somewhere in the UK. It is truly a place where techies come to die quietly in a corner. Average age of people here, between 53 and 126! The lethargy and pointlessness of the place is staggering. So much money is being thrown at this attempt to streamline some processes that basic common sense would sort in a heartbeat. No documentation, no passion, no point. Good money, short days and so little managerial interaction it is frightening. As long as you don't talk loudly and produce a little work once or twice a week, no one cares.

Tell me not all HP environments are like this? Tell me that in other places people work hard for a purpose and produce some good stuff. I am hearing the quite the opposite. Shame, it could be a great company, instead of the graveyard that I endure. Hoping the new year will bring a local contract and my ticket out of purgatory!

[northernladuk]

Well let's see, they bring you in at short notice, onto a tulip project which has no plan or chance of succeeding, you spend 90% of your time fighting the idiocy & undoing their damage. Then you get asked not to attend site, but you hold them to the termination clause, only to be threatened by them that they'll try to cause you IR35 hassle (even though outside!) with Hector.

Some piece of businness as a company.

Plus the pimps look about 12 & have no clue!

How can the agency be blamed for the clients project problems?