The job I used to have.

I wanted to rant about how bad the job I used to have was, except they still owed me money. And it looked like they could go out of business any time. Well they still might (well really they are going, it’s just a question as to when) got out of business; but I have my cash!

So let’s talk about Option nOne for second. Why are they going out of business; when not to long ago they where they 3rd largest mortgage lender in the country. Well I can’t speak to the market forces and securities failure rates.

But I can talk about their complete lack of computer ability. They have proven beyond a doubt that these current ideas are false:

1) Manager who manage technical people don’t need to be technical.
2) Outsourcing saves money.
3) Use of open source software saves money.
4) Consultants can back-fill technical short comings.

If you think any of the above are true, and you are a CEO; I have a prediction for you. You’ll be out of business within a six months, a year tops. Fortunately no CEO’s read this blog, so that is kind of a safe wager.

First point. Putting someone who’s non-technical in charge of technical people shows the wisdom of putting Rosie O’Donnell in charge of a cookie factory. I’m sure the factory will turn out a lot of product; not much is going to make it to the store. Honestly, do you think someone who doesn’t understand polymorphism is going to be able to understand when the developer tells them they need to make another interface? The technical people resent it, and the non-technical people think they should make just as much as the technical people they manage.

Second point. Your out-sourcing partners are not your partners; they are your enemies. They want all your money, and want to do as little as possible to get it. This sounds just like your competitors. Your new India buddies know you can’t do the work yourself (otherwise you wouldn’t be talking to them) and they know you have little choice but keep up the pretense of paying them for work; while they keep up the pretense that they are working. They don’t want to succeed, if they do, you’ll never need to pay them again.

Third point. This falls into the rule you get what you pay for. If it’s free, you probably paid too much. Java is not free; Linux is not free, Apache is not free and it not very good. While it might look that you can get these without paying anything, once you try and do something with them; oh you’ll pay. Out-the-nose. Option nOne’s Java implementation ended up costing Millions. Some went to Sybase, and some more went to BEA.

Last point is Consultants. They are like Out-Sourcing, they don’t really want to succeed; if they do, you won’t need them anymore. They know that, and so should you. There are two thing that I loath; simply because they start the Consultant buffet; Oracle and PeopleSoft. I’ve never seen so many fancy cars as outside an Oracle workshop. They demand a lot of money, and now that all your company data is locked up in there databases; you’ll have to pay whatever they demand.