IC-RHCE-engineers was Re: [ic] Taking a Poll

cfm@maine.com cfm@maine.com
Thu, 19 Apr 2001 09:44:36 -0400


> 
> So, if I wanted to hire a consultant for the same project Mike
> helped me with four years ago, I would for certainly  only
> choose people who have built larger malls, are certified IC engineers,
> have a long-time .nix system admin experience and can prove they have
> working experience in Perl (may be that should be proven too by a
> test). (I just make that as an example, I don't look for any consultant)

etc....

This is all just regular business.  There is always someone down
the street that says they will do it for less.  There are others
who won't do it without a certain infrastructure, maybe Oracle, maybe
not RedHat.  That's true in every business.  MaineStreet does not
work by the hour, we won't install services on third party systems,
and we would not take on a client who did not have an adequate 
infrastructure or the ability to maintain the system.  Those
are business policies we set to maximize "fit" with our clients.

Certifications help some.  They are best in a volume situation 
for commodity services.[1]

Personally, I think the issue is moot.  The market for 
do-it-yourself commerce setups is about dead.  It's going to
go cold the moment merchant banks start asking about firewalls
and data integrity.  It's already hard for a do-it-yourselfer to 
compete with the likes of Yahoo! or zShops.  Those are only going 
to get better and the bar is going to go higher.

cfm


[1] FWIW, I would not pass a RedHat specific certification and 
it's likely no one here would pass any useful IC certification.

-- 

Christopher F. Miller, Publisher                             cfm@maine.com
MaineStreet Communications, Inc         208 Portland Road, Gray, ME  04039
1.207.657.5078                                       http://www.maine.com/
Content management, electronic commerce, internet integration, Debian linux