There are times when it's appropriate to demand honor through the lost practice of dueling. I sometimes wish that I had ceremonial pistols by which another individual and I could march off ten paces and then test the nation's health care system. This usually happens when I have to work with a consultant.
I believe that "consultant" is a business practice somewhere between politics and late night TV talk host working with NBC (that reference will be really dated in a year). Basically, you can't be sure whether they're lying, incompetent, or merely trying to take your place. In any event, working with a hired consultant is sometimes like sticking your genitals in a blender.
In certain tech departments, consultants are simply a way of life. Certain networking needs or specific skill sets are required but training a staff member may not be a good investment, either in money or time. If something only needs to be done infrequently or once, it probably makes sense to bring in someone else. However, that person is seen as *the* guru. He or she is *the* expert. Somehow, we find a way to forget that he or she has been brought in for one job. We only need one aspect of their expertise, usually.
Frankly, some consultants only have one area of expertise. It tends to be something necessary and lucrative, but too esoteric for other people to bother with. Because this works out so well, they can become complete and utter morons in other areas of basic knowledge. This is my experience with consultants.
I'll occasionally have a consultant come in and make a remark about some network feature that I'm administrating or a computer that I've configured or a repair that I've done. Great. You know what? You're the database guy. Go work on the damn database. I haven't found any useful criticism from an offhand remark from a consultant because they don't have any clue what our system is. Most of the time, things work a certain way for a reason. I haven't seen any consultants that we've needed often enough to actually get to know the network and needs of the users.
Unfortunately, consultants are "experts." I have to take the time to evaluate all of their helpful tips, regardless of how asinine they are. Most of the time, it sounds like someone read a back page article in a tech magazine and decided to share the wealth. Jackasses.
