[AccessD] freelancing job sites (OT Reply)

Ahhhh.   Sounds like you jumped right into the line of fire.  It always
amazes me when I hear these stories.  Life doesn't have to be that hard
and miserable.  

Rusty


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mark Simms
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 8:47 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] freelancing job sites (OT Reply)

Well, what happened was that the battle between IT and the user
department had already been going on for a while.
Then, they (users) hired me. Their expectations were to automate some of
their processes that were highly manual and error-prone. I was very
technically astute to the dismay of the IT department who knew that
someone with Excel or Access experience could never improve anything
there. I knew what was needed....it was simply authorization to the SQL
Server database's tables and views. It was as simple as that.
First thing IT did next: they banned MS Access !
Second thing IT did: they gave me a crappy old instance of SQL Server
2000 (they could have given me 2005 !).
It got worse....the test database they gave me was the FULL PRODUCTION
database....some tables over 200 million rows.
It was all linked together...so I had to figure out how to create a
usable subset. Otherwise, every query I ran would take over 1 hour to
complete.
Very little documentation existed as well. This just got worse and
worse.....sabatoging, etc.

Trust me...I got in the middle of a battle between 2 vice
presidents....there was no chance of winning that one.
In the end, I still got a great reference from the end user department.

> Getting way OT here, but whether or not it was true what you were 
> saying about the IT department, did you really believe they would keep

> you on after what you had done? Even if the end users already had 
> issues with their IT department, what the company didn't need was 
> someone flaming that fire.  Typically an outside contractor is brought

> in to help get caught up on projects or do projects that require 
> skills that the IT dept. is lacking in, which shows a willingness to 
> ask for help.  Sounds like you burned a bridge and lost any chances of

> working for that client again.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> Rusty


--
AccessD mailing list
AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
**********************************************************************
WARNING: All e-mail sent to and from this address will be received,
scanned or otherwise recorded by the CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.
corporate e-mail system and is subject to archival, monitoring or review 
by, and/or disclosure to, someone other than the recipient.
**********************************************************************