This editorial was originally published on Nov 9, 2007. It is being republished as Steve is on vacation.
I was talking with a friend the other day about the consulting business. We knew someone that was running a small consulting business and got an offer for a job. He had someone available that knew something about the project, but wasn't what most of us would call a guru. However the plan was to send this person because they were available and could probably do the job.
My friend and I debated a bit about the ethics here. We've both done consulting and know many people who have as well, sometimes getting themselves in over their heads on assignment. So for the Friday poll, I'm looking to see what others think?
How much leeway should consultants have?
It used to be that consultants were people that had spent decades learning some trade and then moved on as paid experts in the particular area in which they'd spent most of their career. Somehow in the IT world, maybe with our accelerated cycles, we've gotten to the point where someone graduating from college can be a "consultant", billed out to companies at very high rates.
I'm not sure of the ethics here. If you take the assignment and do a good job, learning as you go, does it matter? If you can't answer all the questions from the client and need to research, should the client get a break? Or are you mis-representing yourself?
I'll say that I've applied for jobs that may have been a little beyond my skills, and learned them as I went, but the employer usually knows this and it's a full time job, they should expect to train me, etc. But for consultants, you are usually paying "expert" rates, so you should get expert service. I know I've billed people lower amounts or even skipped billing them if I haven't performed well.
I have friends that just go out there, expect to get paid, know they don't know everything and kind of adopt a "caveat emptor" attitude. I have others that wouldn't take a consulting gig if they didn't know the material very well and thought the job was well within their skill set.
I think this is one area where our industry could use some maturity, but I'm wondering what you think. Let us know.
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