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Consultant News
THE MAGAZINE FOR EXPERT IT CONSULTANTS NO. 30 2012
Consultant Morten Fenger
Mindset
matters
Michael McLaughlin
What
clients want
Consultants on
continuing education
Consultants
have to be
on the beat
Stacie M. Kartes, Saxo Bank
Only room for the best
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Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Magazine for IT consultants
ISSN no: 1604-878
Legally responsible editor:
Søren Rode
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4
Editors:
Jeanett Wolff
Tina Lee
[email protected]
Mindset
matters
Graphics and design:
Tina Lee
[email protected]
Only room
for the best
Photography:
Jeanett Wolff
Tina Lee
Photographer Anders Debel
Publisher:
ProData Consult A/S
Circulation 3,300
Printing:
Chronografisk
ProData Consult Copenhagen
Stamholmen 157
2650 Hvidovre
Contents
Pages 4-7
Mindset matters
Consultant profile: Morten Fenger
ProData Consult Århus
Hasselager Centervej 9
8260 Viby J
Pages 8-9
What clients want
Article by "guerrilla consultant" Michael W. McLaughlin
How the client
explained it
How the project manage
r
understood it
How the analyst
designed it
How the programmer
wrote it
Pages 10-15
Only room for the best
Interview with Stacie M. Kartes,
Senior Project Manager, Saxo Bank
Tel: +45 43 43 11 71
[email protected]
How thewww.prodata.dk
business
consultant described
it
www.konsulenter.dk
Pages 16-17
NEWS: Souped-up CV site
We've put the pedal to the metal on the CV site
Page 18
My greatest challenge
Website in Arabic
Page 19
From malware maker to
JavaScript developer
Consultant profile: Kamil Trebunia
Page 20
Consultants have to be on the beat
Consultants on continuing education
Page 21
Notes and news
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How the project
was documented
Website in
Arabic
Consultant News
– new international edition
The magazine has existed as a Danish publication
for a decade and as we now have more consultants abroad than in Denmark it is only fitting that
we publish an English version.
in mind, I urge you to visit our new and greatly
improved CV site and update your CV and
availability so that your CV will be ready and
searchable when we have a job opening.
We are constantly working to improve our site –
the ambition is nothing short of having the best
and most user-friendly CV site in the industry. We
think – in all modesty – we have come a long way
towards achieving this, as further described on
pages 16 and 17 in this magazine.
As well as being posted to you quarterly, the
magazine will be available online through our
consultant sites: www.itconsultants.pl,
www.it-konsulenter.no, www.konsulter.net,
www.konsulenter.dk and www.it-consultant.com.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have
input, ideas or opinions about Consultant News.
Your input is valuable to us. Thank you for being
part of the ProData Consult network – the expert
IT consultants.
ProData Consult has a strong northern European
presence and increasing activity in Sweden, Norway, Poland and Germany, as well as Denmark.
With growth rates this year of +500% for ProData
Consult Poland and Norway, the pipeline for the
autumn looks very busy and promising. With this
Søren Rode
CEO, ProData Consult Group
Welcome to this first International Edition of
Consultant News, ProData Consult’s quarterly
magazine for affiliated IT consultants about IT
consultancy, to a large degree by IT consultants
and exclusively for IT consultants.
What operations installed
How the client was bille
d
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How it was
supported
What
clients want
What the client
actually needed
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Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Mindset
matters
How do consultants advance their careers?
Most of them choose their jobs based on their
interests and available opportunities. Project
manager Morten Fenger has also used that recipe
for success. But he has also discovered a secret
that has made him a talented consultant with an
excellent reputation among clients.
Consultant profile: Morten Fenger
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Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Morten Fenger's
current assignment
The project, which is being
implemented for a large publicsector client, is an ERP system,
a finance and HR system, that
will impact the everyday lives
of 20,000 people. Fenger is the
sub-project manager for the
change component, quality
manager for the delivery, and the
technical project manager.
He is also responsible for making sure the infrastructure is
installed and for coordinating
and communicating training for
the employees involved.
the client relationship. The productive meeting, for instance: how to structure, conduct
and wrap up a meeting and how to properly
initiate a dialogue. Fenger explains:
'These were things I didn't know I needed
courses in. But if you use the tools, it gives
added value for the clients and that's actually
all there is to it'.
According to Fenger, IT projects generally
lack project managers and consultants who
are good at facilitating, managing processes
and handling situations that have gone off
track for one reason or another. This is someFrom the University of Copenhagen to KPMG
thing he sees when meetings are a disaster
After earning his MSc at the IT University,
Morten Fenger landed his first IT-related job at and consultants get sick of unprofessional
clients.
the University of Copen'But that is actually the
hagen. He started in user
'But that is actually the
consultant's bread and
administration and ended
consultant's bread and
butter – helping clients
up project managing the
butter – helping clients with with challenges they
implementation of a great
challenges they cannot
cannot overcome on their
many projects. This is
overcome on their own.
own. That is why it is vital
where Fenger discovered
to be able to read the
that he is a project person
That is why it is vital to be
client and handle opposiwho thrives on responsibilable to read the client...'
tion. There is a set of tools
ity and solving complex
Morten Fenger
for that and they really
problems. After eight
make a difference. You go
years with the University
into a meeting, acknowledge the challenges
of Copenhagen, Fenger was offered a job
and find some tenable solutions'.
in process and project management and
financial analysis at KPMG. Going from the
public world of the university to KPMG's
Important tools
highly professional and sales-focused reality
The tools Morten Fenger acquired at KPMG
was quite a change.
were not a revelation for the project manager,
'If you are taken on as a consultant at KPMG,
but they gave him a professional boost.
it's because you have a high level of profes'I was good at forming relationships even
sional knowledge and are strong in your area
of expertise. I had implemented several major
ERP and product systems, so I was on solid
ground as a project manager', says Fenger.
All new employees at KPMG gain a number
of additional skills to differentiate them from
the competition: they are sent on courses to
learn how to give a professional impression.
'This is something the consultants in the department I joined were really good at. In addition to your professionalism, you have to have
what they call a "Consulting Mindset", which
is equal parts understanding human nature,
managing complex problems and taking a
service-minded approach to everything'.
'I've been given tools for something that
you don't realise off the bat that you even
need tools for' says project manager Morten
Fenger.
He is referring to the skills he was introduced
to when he was offered a job in the consulting department of one of the country's leading accountancy and consultancy firms. But
that was after he discovered that he was born
to be a project manager, which happened at
the University of Copenhagen.
The Consulting Mindset
Bluebook
Fenger learned a great deal from the latter
component. He sensed that it was here he
could make a difference.
'It sounds like a cliché: You have to be accommodating and friendly – it's a little like
being a shop clerk. That doesn't mean you
should lose yourself, of course, but the thing
is you have to be solution-oriented and giveand-take with the client'.
At KPMG, Fenger was taught how to prepare
for and manage an array of fixed elements in
Name:
Morten Fenger
Age:38
Education:
MSc in Information Technology, IT University of
Copenhagen (MSc)
Title:
Project Manager, Change Manager
Current project:
Region Zealand
Freelancer since: April 2011
before this, but I gained tools for how
to behave psychologically in a work
situation – and that is more important
than you think', says Fenger, who puts
a lot of thought into how he can make
a professional impression.
As he sees it, consultants should be
agreeable, stay one step ahead of
the rest and deliver on time. If you do
that well, you gain a good reputation
– and you will hopefully be engaged
for new projects. But the tools from
KPMG are not the only reason behind
Fenger's good evaluation from the
client he is with now.
Thought is at least equally important.
'I think a lot in order to be a better
project manager. As a consultant, you are obliged to continually
evaluate yourself and I've made it
a habit to take a couple of minutes
to evaluate my performance after I
have carried out an activity.
That way, I adjust my methods,
tools and professionalism on an
ongoing basis'.
The jump to freelancing
Actually, Fenger has always
believed the freelance life was too
uncertain. But over the course
of his four years with KPMG, he
found out that he wanted to try
going it alone as a consultant. On
an assignment at Danske Bank,
he met several freelance consultants whom he quizzed to learn
more about the demands of the
freelance life.
'It was useful for me to know the
level they were at and I believed
I could measure up to them.
And so I made the jump', says
Fenger, who threw himself into
the freelance life last year, when he was offered an assignment through ProData Consult
with a large public-sector client. Here, he is
the sub-project manager for an ERP product,
responsible for the entire change line, among
other things.
'This is a very exciting project: It is expansive
and covers a great many people in various
ways. You might say that ERP is the DNA for
the entire organisation. But it's also a largevolume assignment that demands a great
deal of coordination, and I am lucky enough
to be working under an old pro who is happy
to share his knowledge'.
Convergence of coincidences
If Fenger had been more structured and had
planned his career, he would like to have
been a manager before he became a consult-
Good advice from Morten Fen
ger on
The Consulting Mindset
• Respect the client.
• Always give more than you
are
paid for.
• It is about the client – not you
or your ego.
• The human qualities are wh
at set you apart as a
consultant compared to other
IT staff.
Most IT consultants are very ind
ependent and
dedicated individuals – energy
and initiative are
incredibly important.
• Quickly get to know and und
erstand the client's
business.
The client expects you to draw
on previous experience,
so use your industry-specific inp
ut as background
knowledge.
• The client will judge your wo
rk
– not your words.
• Listen to the client instead
of focusing on your product,
your theories and your models.
• Take responsibility for the clie
nt. Be one step ahead of
the client when necessary and
take a step back when
asked to.
• And never, ever leave before
eve
rything works!
ant in order to learn how to manage people.
But for many years after he began working,
Fenger chose his career path based on
where he thought it would be fun to be.
'My career is a convergence of coincidences,
but still, I have been searching towards
where I am now and have always chosen a
next step that provided a few more challenges than the last one. That happened in
the move from the University of Copenhagen
to KPMG – and again from KPMG to my
current project, where I am standing on my
own two feet'.
These days, the project manager makes
more conscious career choices. He has
made a pact with himself that he wants to
take the step up into the commercial project
manager's position when the opportunity
presents itself.
Enterprise Resource Planning
– ERP – is the term for
integrated business software
that handles most of the enterprise's functional areas.
For instance, ERP helps with
order processing for the enterprise as a whole, rather than
using separate software for
every department.
ERP is usually based on a
common database across the
entire enterprise.
Source: Wikipedia
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Consultant News 30 2012
What clients want
How the client
explained it
How the project manager
understood it
How the analyst
designed it
How the programmer
wrote it
How the business
consultant described it
By Michael W. McLaughlin, owner and managing director, MindShare Consulting.
Over my years as a consultant, I have asked clients what
they think it takes to get an
effective client/consultant
partnership up and running.
A few key words come up
again and again, across
industries, project types
and the client's place in the
organisational hierarchy
ing the client's team improve
their own capacity.
Pass on standard tools
Clients express a natural scepticism about solutions that are too
'off-the-shelf' and it is not hard
to understand why. Consultants
often try to differentiate themselves on the market by selling
a mix of their personal expertise
and standard tools to implement
projects. Clients appreciate the
speed and efficiency that standardised advice represents, but
they would prefer you to exploit
the tools rather than use them
as crutches.
Once a client has hired a
consultant, there is a distinct
change in attitude. The client's
conjectures about what it would
be like to work with the consultant turn into expectations. One
consistent point
a lot of clients
'In the client's view,
The same prinemphasise is:
95 percent right is no
ciple applies
They want the
better than 100 perto the consultconsultant to
cent wrong'.
ant's expertise.
understand and
Clients value
Michael McLaughlin
meet their exconsultants with
pectations. Alexpertise that liberates – rather
though some consultants strive
than constrains – their thinking.
to exceed expectations, most of
You will find that clients choose
the clients I have encountered
consultants who solve problems
are overjoyed as long as the
within the framework of what
project goes as planned. The
they have seen before – instead
client's primary expectation is
of just slavishly repeating what
that you finish the work on time,
worked last time.
on budget and with minimal
interruptions. Most clients also
An example: A consultant develvalue consultants who believe in
oped a performance managethe organisation's future and do
not surprise them with bad news ment system using a standard
model developed for the client's
at the last minute. The client's
satisfaction grows when consult- industry. It was only after the
programming was done that the
ants use their abilities to solve
project team realised their fatal
the problem at hand while help-
error: The program was incapable of gathering a particular type
of important data that the managers of the business used daily.
It is easy to be blinded by your
own expertise and fall into the
'95-percent trap': By relying on
a solution that matches most
challenges, you risk limiting the
success of the project – and
damaging the relationship with
the client. In the client's view, 95
percent right is no better than
100 percent wrong.
So, validate your diagnoses before you propose solutions. And
bring the client into the initial
phase of the project so that your
observations are in line with the
client's reality.
Ready, Steady, Stop
At Toyota, some employees are
authorised to shut down production immediately when they
discover a problem. Likewise,
clients also want their consultants to stop 'production' on
the spot when they discover an
error. And they value consultants who have the guts to talk
openly about how the project is
going. On the other hand, clients
complain about consultants who
neglect to inform them when
something isn't working. Clients
acknowledge that their perspective is muddied by optimistic
reports from employees or a
general lack of knowledge about
what resources a project requires. One of the reasons they
hire us is precisely to make sure
everyone reports their problems.
I was once asked to look at
whether a forthcoming project
could be implemented at a client. It soon proved that the
client's team were not ready
to begin the project – so we
recommended that they wait.
The client praised our team for
recommending a postponement,
even though it meant that we
did not get the assignment.
Beyond assessing the initial
preparations, you also need to
regularly re-evaluate the client's
situation. Example: A project
team neglected to check a
group of warehouse workers'
knowledge before implementing
a new process for shipping. The
team justified this by saying that
previous training was sufficient
to equip the employees for the
new process. Unfortunately,
that was not the case. When
the client started using the new
process, the warehouse workers' daily routines fell apart.
The result was three weeks of
wrongly shipped orders and a
decline in the level of service. A
project team neglected to check
a group of warehouse workers'
knowledge before implementing a new process for shipping
orders.
How the project
was documented
What operations installed
Clients might resist if someone
tries to stop production. But
they appreciate honest consultants and objective reports on
the likelihood of success, especially if the forecasts turn out
to be accurate. The client will
always appreciate the consultant
who knows the answer to this
question: 'Are we ready?'
Honourable intentions
Clients appreciate it when your
primary interest lies in meeting
their objectives and not in building up your own business. Show
them that you have honourable
intentions. Keep the focus on
how and when you plan to conclude a project. You might find
that this approach will bring in
more work than all of your efforts to sell follow-up projects.
I am not suggesting that you go
How the client was billed
into hibernation. One of your roles
is to help clients find opportunities
that can improve their business.
But sometimes it is better to hold
back than to push. And the best
way to attract a good client is to
prepare for how and when you
will leave the stage.
How it was
supported
Whether or not a project collaboration is successful depends upon
clear communication – but that is
often easier said than done.
The idea is illustrated here on a
ProData Consult postcard.
What the client
actually needed
@ write to the editor
If you have experiences and thoughts
about fulfilling clients' wishes that
you would like to share with other
consultants, we would love to hear
from you. Write to the editor:
[email protected]
About Michael McLaughlin
Michael has more than twenty years' consulting experience and
is a former partner with Deloitte Consulting, one of the world's
largest consulting firms, where he spent more than two decades
marketing, selling and delivering services to clients.
He is the author of several books, including Guerrilla Marketing for
Consultants, which deals with marketing, sales, pricing and customer relationship management (CRM). He is currently managing
director of his own business, MindShare Consulting, which specialises in helping service businesses optimise their operations.
http://www.mwmclaughlin.com/
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Only room for the best
Accustomed to extremely competitive and
high-performing consultants in the US,
Stacie M. Kartes, Senior Project Manager at
Saxo Bank, is a tough boss to please. We asked
this tall American what a consultant has to do
to get a foot in the door at Saxo Bank's airy
headquarters in Hellerup.
Interview with Senior Project Manager Stacie M. Kartes,
Commercial Marketing IT, Saxo Bank
Photo series: Photographer: Anders Debel
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Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
From
a very early age, Stacie
Kartes knew that she
wanted to go the IT route.
While her childhood friends
in North Dakota were playing video games, she sat
at home on the farm and
wrote little programs to
catalogue the family's cows
on spreadsheets. Since
then, her chosen career
has taken her to Denmark,
where she now manages 33 consultants in the
Commercial Marketing IT
department at Saxo Bank.
Stacie Kartes on job interviews:
'You have to know what
you're talking about, and
if you don't, admit it. We
dig deep to find out how
good you are and we keep
pushing until you can't
answer any more because
we want to know exactly
where you are at. If you
are unsure of the answer,
it is better to tell the truth.
If you try to pull something
out of the air, you will just
look foolish.
Consultant News set a date
to meet with Stacie Kartes
one afternoon in July to
hear more about what it
takes to become a consultant at Saxo Bank.
When it comes to Kartes' focus area – CRM
– she demands more from her consultants
than the average client.
Saxo Bank's Microsoft CRM solution is
complex, so her consultants have to be very
experienced and highly familiar with .Net and
Microsoft. According to the Senior Project
Manager, ProData Consult has spent a lot
of time helping her department with the
detective work, because that combination of
skills can be hard to find. But before Kartes
phones ProData, she and the involved project managers and lead developers identify
the roles necessary to execute a forthcoming project. If the need is for a specific skill,
one of the technical experts is also involved.
Stacie Kartes says:
'In my group, which is technically heavier
than the others, we have an initial talk to get
a sense of who the potential consultant is,
whether he or she has the motivation we are
looking for, and whether they will fit into the
team. Sometimes, it just takes a phone conversation with the lead developer or project
manager'.
After that, there is an hour or two of technical interviewing on the menu, in which the
consultant is subjected to several exercises
and hypothetical problems.
'Solving problems in front of three other
people can be very stressful and some consultants cannot perform in that situation. It
is really interesting to see how people react,
because in my department people have to
be able to handle stress', says Kartes.
New model a success
The interview process was established last
year, when Kartes suddenly had to find 23
new consultants. Until then, her department had only had one or two consultants
at a time. This hiring frenzy meant that Saxo
Bank had to be especially stringent in relation to interviewing and selecting candidates.
Kartes explains:
'The project had a tight deadline. We had to
make sure we found the right candidates off
the bat, so we chose an interview model that
put consultants in a stressful situation'.
Even if Kartes were to get a 'nice quiet
project', as she calls it, she does not want to
hire people based on the former, somewhat
lenient approach. The stress test is very
revealing and the new model increases the
number of good matches.
'Six years ago, people were hired because
they were available and looked OK on paper.
But one out of four was a bad match. We've
now reduced that to one out of fifteen consultants'.
Can spot a bad match
The Senior Project Manager cannot tell by
looking at a consultant whether he or she is
the ideal match. But she can see if they are
not.
'Sometimes it's the personality.
There are people in the technical field – we
call them Alpha Developers – who are deeply
in love with their own ideas. They're skilled,
but they won't be able to fit into our team'.
Just by talking to people on the phone, she
can usually tell within ten minutes if they
know what they are talking about. CVs
packed with education and certifications,
which often conceal inadequate experience,
are another red flag.
'A lot of consultants of that type think they
know more than they do. They are not a
good fit with our team, either', says Kartes.
But technical expertise is basically what
Saxo Bank is on the lookout for. If there is no
fault with a consultant's professional knowledge, the company does not let personality
get in the way – barring serious personality
disorders.
No shouting
Consultants at Saxo Bank do not have
a bundle of rules to follow – only general
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Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Bluebook
Name:
Stacie M. Kartes
Age:37
Company: Saxo Bank
Title:
Senior Project Manager
Stacie M. Kartes started as a
developer at a business that makes
accounting software – and which
was later bought by Microsoft.
She moved on to database
administration and project management. Today, she is a senior project
manager at Saxo Bank and works
in Client Management and
CRM systems.
guidelines, such as absence notification
before the upcoming two-week plan, frameworks for working hours, and so on. But in
general, the bank relies on the consultants'
professionalism.
'I had a consultant upstairs who shouted
at someone on another team. That is not
acceptable. Naturally, we value the dedication – he is clearly invested in the project
– but we want to make sure their behavior is
professional', says Kartes.
Saxo Bank pays its consultants an hourly
rate and expects a certain number of hours
per project, so the bank demands persistence and speed. Kartes does not want to
walk by a consultant's desk and see him
checking out what's for sale on eBay. She
does understand that everybody needs a
break and for the most part she trusts her
consultants. It is when they are not delivering, coming in late, leaving early and still
charging her for a full working day, that
she starts to wonder. Asked if she has ever
experienced this, she answers with a little
smile:
'Yes, but those consultants are no longer
with us'.
The bad example
Kartes' experience shows that motivation is
the key to good consultant performance.
At one point, she had hired a very experienced – and very expensive – CRM consultant. He was not happy with the work Saxo
Bank assigned him. And because he was
not committed, he took too long to do his
tasks, his solutions were suboptimal and
they were not of especially high quality. The
project manager met regularly with the consultant and his account manager was also
involved in solving the problem The latter,
naturally, had an interest in seeing that the
consultant stayed with the project.
'We really needed this guy to perform, but
we did not want to keep investing in the
consulting firm he came from if their consultants were unable to perform', says Kartes.
Saxo Bank worked with the CRM consultant
for five months, but the collaboration did not
work out.
'He tried to please his consulting firm by
staying, but he was not happy, and he
clearly did not make us happy'.
The exceptional consultant
There is one consultant, however, who has
made Stacie Kartes happy. ProData consultant Thomas Hilbert Madsen. He is technically skilled, but that is not what makes him
exceptional in Kartes' eyes:
'His personality is just phenomenal. He is
willing to learn anything. If I ask him to look
at something, he says: "Yes, absolutely". He
identifies problems and says: "This is wrong
– should I fix it?" He takes responsibility, is
very conscientious, very reliable, produces
steadily and he has a very stable personality.
If people get worked up, he is the calming
force – and in the end, everybody's happy.
In short, he is truly a fantastic consultant!'
are very loyal'.
On the other hand, Danish consultants are
far more laid back. In the US, consultants
are willing to slave away to midnight every
day, get the job done and be on their way.
In this respect, according to Kartes, Danish consultants are more like permanent
employees.
'They have a job, they know what has to be
done and they are efficient – but they are
not really killing themselves to do it. Which
is also a good thing – you have to have balance in your life'.
The exit interview
In Kartes' department, when a consultant
contract is winding up, they often have a
chat with the person to give and take feedan Aggressive management style
back about how the project and the contract
But not all consultants perform like Madsen,
went. The exit interview is instructive, since
which Kartes has previously been quick to
the consultants say things when they are on
point out. When she came to Denmark five
the way out that they would not have said
years ago, she had to adapt her manageduring the contract.
ment style.
Kartes' mentions an
'I am much more ag'I am much more aggressive.
example from last
gressive. In the States,
year, when she had to
we have a tendency
In the States, we have a tenlay off some consultto differentiate. If you
dency to differentiate. In the
ants as a large project
distinguish yourself, I
States, we have a tendency to
came to an end.
recognise it; if you do
differentiate. If you distinguish
'We had hired a
not distinguish youryourself, I recognise it; if you do
whole bunch of CRM
self, I will tell you what
not distinguish yourself, I will tell consultants to get
I am not happy with.
you what I am not happy with'.
new ideas from them,
Not everyone can
but we already had
handle that approach',
Stacie M. Kartes
a clique of developsays Kartes.
ers, all of them from
The cultural differenthe same company, and they were used to
ces showed up clearly the first time she was
doing things in a specific way. The feedback
responsible for bonuses in Denmark:
from the CRM consultants was:
'I gave the management my decision:
"We had new ideas, but nobody would listen
These are high performers, they get higher
to us".'
bonuses. These are the middle performers,
That feedback led to some reorganisation
they get lower bonuses. These are low perand to the cancellation of the contract with
formers, they get no bonus. Management's
the consulting firm, which had until then
decision was that I could not do that –
been the primary supplier of CRM consulteverybody had to get something. I thought:
ants. Kartes says:
"Really?"' says Kartes with a laugh.
'Good feedback contributes to give some
overall input into our teams and how we can
Danish vs American consultants
improve'.
But it is not only managers who do things
differently in the States. American conA piece of advice
sultants run from job to job and have no
The best advice Kartes can give a consultant
problem slamming the doors behind them if
is that he or she should fully understand their
a contract has gone wrong. Consultants in
role and make their expectations clear to the
Denmark are far more invested in the busiemployer.
ness. This is a circumstance Kartes empha'Keep the lines of communication open. It is
sises when she is asked about differences
important to ensure that your expectations
between American and Danish consultants.
are in line with ours. I expect you to speak
'The consultancy industry is relatively small
up if something starts going off the track
in Denmark, so people here don't burn
– especially if it is your engagement.
their bridges when they are finished with
Engagement is by far the most important
a project. Consultants who have been
parameter, if you want to stay motivated and
very unhappy in previous contracts do not
productive'.
disparage their employers the way American
consultants tend to do. In that sense, Danes
15
16
Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Souped-up CV site
Simpler home page
We have made the welcome page much
simpler. You are now given only the following
information:
Based on constructive feedback from several consultants, we have put the
pedal to the metal on our CV site. The process to update your CV is now
clearer and easier – and new CVs become searchable at lightning speed.
•Whether we consider you actively looking
for freelance work
•Whether your CV is complete
•Whether your CV needs attention
By HR Manager Claus Schack, ProData Consult
We have often heard that it takes too long to
fill out and update a standardised ProData CV.
We have taken that in and have given our CV
site a thorough overhaul. We still need precise
information so that we can match the right
consultant to the right project, but we have
made it faster and more user-friendly to update and set up profiles.
Should there be a consultant or three who
think it still takes too long to fill out a ProData
CV, remember that we do this to protect both
consultants and clients from misunderstandings and miscommunication – and to create
the best match quickly.
The primary changes on the CV site:
A click on 'Go to Technical CV' will either take
you to the page with our update wizard if your
CV needs updating, or to the next section of
your ProData CV if you have not completed
all steps.
Clear status bar
Much faster registration
Preview of your ProData CV
Simpler home page
See the changes at your local CV site.
News
Improved
CV site!
Much faster registration
When new consultants register, they see
only the introductory part of the CV process:
'Profile searchable in the system'. The first
time round, you only need to fill out this step,
which is where the most important information is found – information that allows our
resource department to find your profile in the
database.
Afterwards, you can either choose to go on to
step 2 to submit a complete ProData CV or
come back later when you have more time.
Clear status bar
A new, always visible status bar provides a
much better overview of your status on the CV
site. We have also divided the CV process into
three distinct steps, each with its own measurement. The three-part status bar provides a
fast overview of the impact of missing data on
your ProData profile.
The three sections have the following
headings:
1. Profile searchable in the system
2. CV client-ready
3. Additional data (optional)
Alongside, stars indicate your progress. Red
stars indicate that data are missing and green
starts mean that data are complete.
Preview of the ProData CV
A lot of consultants have been asking for
a preview function. We have now made it
possible for you to see a preview of the final
ProData CV as well as your own uploaded CV.
You can see the preview on the 'CV Status &
Updates' page. This is also where you will find
our update wizard.
17
18
Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
my
t
s
greate
challenge
Matthias H. Risse, web developer/ specialist
Website in Arabic
We are used to reading from left to right but in the Arabic-speaking world, people
read and write from right to left. So when an organisation wants to internationalise
its web presence and provide a right-to-left language version, such as Arabic, Hebrew, or Farsi, everything on the pages has to be flipped. A large Asian electronics
company took up the challenge – and web designer Matthias H. Risse was hired to
assist the process. Risse creates user interfaces and finds himself in the intersection
among functionality, design and user friendliness. His job is to give things a good
look and feel – and to advise his team.
The project involved creating a new global website for the client. Several languages
were included in the internationalisation, but Arabic was the most difficult to work
with. Risse replaced another senior front-end designer three months before the
project was due to be released, so he had to fit into an already integrated team.
Risse says:
'Arabic conversion is not very common, so it was a challenge to keep the team
focused'. Such a project is big and hectic and the Arabic version might be set aside
now and then because part of the team is eager to develop a new feature'.
As a front-end developer, Risse's job included getting the team to understand the
importance of doing things right from the beginning and giving the Arabic site the
right feel, because: 'If it feels wrong, it's bad for the brand'.
The team flipped all the pages for the right-to-left language –
all details in the design from the arrow keys to video and image
galleries. The job demanded great attention in the implementation so it would also look right – so that Arabic users were
given the same good experience as western users. Not only on
the internet, but also iPhones and tablets.
'I went back and forth between the designers, business people
and text writers to get the site to work. Highly skilled front-end
consultants who speak Arabic are hard to find, so no one in
the team spoke Arabic – which made the conversion even
more challenging and time-consuming', says Risse.
The team invented a translation tool tailor-made for content
management, but it wasn't perfect. They still needed an Arabic
partner to proofread the converted pages.
'To top things off, we had a tough deadline. Some days we
ended up working for 10 or 11 hours, but project management
was good and the conversion turned out just right. That will
probably make the next conversion to Hebrew a lot easier'.
The client has extended Risse's contract twice since the
Arabic version of the website went live.
@ ContacT If you have dealt with
a fascinating problem that you think
your colleagues might learn from, please
write to the editor: [email protected].
From malware
maker to
JavaScript
developer
When Polish Kamil Trebunia started
secondary school, he was already a
talented programmer. He has worked
as a freelance consultant ever since,
but it is only now, on assignment for
ProData Consult, that Trebunia's pay
packets match his skills.
Consultant profile: Kamil Trebunia
Kamil Trebunia was six years
old when he saw a computer
for the first time, at his father's
office. It was around that time he
decided he wanted to work with
computers when he grew up.
An uncle, himself a programmer,
gave Trebunia his first programming books when he was 12. At
the same time, his uncle taught
him to write programs.
Trebunia says:
'By the time I started secondary school, I already understood code and thought like a
programmer. At that point, I was
most interested in creating viruses and other malware, which
was really juvenile – but at the
time, I thought it was fun'.
At university, Trebunia spent
more time programming than
studying for exams and he finally
gave up his studies entirely to
devote himself to remote work
with web development and
JavaScript assignments.
A born freelancer
The remote projects got bigger
and bigger and Trebunia happily
continued freelancing. Only once
has the Pole had a permanent,
on-site position – for Grono.net,
then the biggest social networking provider in Poland. For nine
months in that position, he
struggled to keep his spirits up.
'But a permanent job just isn't
for me. I am addicted to the thrill
of new projects', says Trebunia.
Chose the 'wannabe' language
Trebunia has been a heavyweight JavaScript developer for
eight years. When he started
out, back in 2004, JavaScript
was considered an inferior 'wannabe' language, but Trebunia
was carried away by the new
technology. In recent years,
there has been a boom in Web
2.0, Ajax and HTML5, which
have made Open Web technologies the fastest growing and
fastest changing industry – and
for Trebunia's part, the most
exciting field to be in.
'Ruby has a huge community
and JavaScript and HTML5related technologies also have
fantastic communities. It is such
a kick to meet my contemporaries at various conferences. I am
really happy I chose HTML5 as
"my thing" – especially because
the technology is finally getting
some well-deserved recognition'.
Paid like a Pole
And Trebunia is now also getting
the recognition he deserves.
But it hasn't always been that
way. Previous employers, both
from Poland and other countries,
led him to believe that programmers from Poland had to expect
low pay. But in 2010, Trebunia
got to know ProData Consult
via a job for Nokia – and in 2011
he bagged his first assignment
through the consulting firm.
'For the first time, I was seen –
and paid – as a consultant on an
equal footing with consultants
from other countries. My contact
at ProData treats me like a professional partner, and I feel I can
trust him. That's a rare experience for me', Trebunia says.
He is also glad ProData doesn't
spam him with irrelevant job
offers.
'ProData only offers me assignments that actually fit my skills'.
The former malware maker is
currently a consultant with
Saxo Bank.
Bluebook
Name:
Kamil Trebunia
Age:27
Nationality:Polish
Professional fields:
Web developer, JavaScript
expert and Open Web enthusiast
Experienced in:
JavaScript, HTML, CSS,
Spine, Sencha Ext JS,
jQuery, PhoneGap, Adobe
AIR, Linux, Java, Groovy on
Grails, Python and Django,
LAMP
19
20
Consultant News 30 2012
Consultant News 30 2012
Consultants have
to be on the beat
We asked several consultants for their views on continuing education.
Generally, they all believe it is important to keep up to date via sources
including the internet, networks, seminars, articles and independent study.
Very few believe costly courses during working hours are the way to go,
since they entail additional costs in the form of lost income. Here are a
selection of the queried consultants' answers.
How do you
keep up to date?
How and why do you keep
up to date?
'Keeping up to date is a prerequisite
for being a good consultant. You have to
be able to talk about a lot of things, so you
should preferably have at least a basic understanding of many technologies. We work in a
fast-moving world and the knowledge you acquired
ten years ago is no longer relevant. It's also important
to show that your CV and level of education are not
standing still, but instead of courses during working
hours, I lean more towards single subjects at the
IT University. I am working on an IT diploma
programme, but if you need more flexibility,
you can take single subjects'.
'I keep up to date with independent study, primarily through
a subscription to Books24x7 and to
a certain extent through information
on the net. As a tester, I have to keep
abreast of development technology in order to optimally test the developers – it
does no good if I compare their work
to the thinking of the mid 90s'.
Morten Thomas,
software tester
Is it easier to find
work when you regularly
update your training?
'I have chosen to see education as part
of the consulting life, so I include the cost
of courses in my expenses. Most recently,
I have taken Prince2 Practitioner and ITIL
Foundation courses. Both were superb,
and they have clearly increased my market
value. I enhance my skills at the same
time through courses – and it's fun to
gather new fuel for my brain'.
Pernille Seeberg Friis,
project manager
Clients are expressing satisfaction with
ProData Consult's new ongoing quality
assurance of consultants.
'I don't believe I am selected for my assignments based on my continuing education, but
if two consultants were tied at the top of the profile
heap, I personally would choose the one who is always
keen to gain new knowledge. I also feel that it works
in my favour when I am talking to a potential client and
right from the get-go can pull new information out of my
hat and present a possible solution to their challenge.
Generally, I believe consultants have to be on the beat
and updated with the latest information in order to
bring novel ideas and creative, feasible and forwardthinking solutions to the client in a competitive
market. These capabilities set us apart from
offshore competitors'.
Martin Rieva, software consultant
Time reporting on your
smartphone
The new quality system also provides value
to the individual consultant, who can more
easily live up to the client's needs and
wishes, and thus achieve good evaluations
– which results in more assignments.
The client's final evaluations follow the
consultant, which validates his or her skills
when assignments must be performed for
new clients.
Client satisfaction
Clients rate their consultants from 1 to 5,
with 5 being the best. Right now, the
average satisfaction score is 3.79.
If you are an Expert
IT Consultant and
interested in being
part of a strong
local and global network,
you should get to know the ProData
consultant websites.
On these websites you can apply for
available projects, you can join the
consultant database and you can
update your CV.
Find your local website:
Denmark: www.konsulenter.dk
Sweden:www.konsulter.net
Norway:www.it-konsulenter.no
Poland: www.itconsultants.pl
Germany:www.berater-it.de
Other
nationalities:www.it-consultant.com
Skills in demand
If you have the skills we need or know
someone who does, you are invited to
phone us on +45 43 43 11 71
ProData Consult is always on the lookout
for heavyweight IT consultants in the
following areas/skills:
During the six months the online quality system has been tested at selected
clients, feedback has been very favourable.
Clients can more quickly and easily review
performance and the match between the
individual consultant and the project. The
process gives them a much higher degree
of security and satisfaction.
ProData consultant
websites
Thomas Juul, computer specialist
How do you find
the time and money for
courses – and what do you get
out of them?
Clients satisfied with
quality assurance
21
Try our new mobile website for reporting your hours on your smartphone:
iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and
Symbian.
Find the mobile shortcut on your regular
web based page for tracking hours.
Note: This page can only be seen by
ProData consultants who have – or have
had – a contract with ProData Consult.
PLATFORMS
.NET
AS/400
CICS
Java EE
Java
Linux
MVS
Qt
SAP
SAS
Symbian OS
Tivoli
UNIX (AIX, HP, SUN …)
Ubuntu
VMS
Windows
Windows CE
Windows NT/2000/XP
METHODS
CMMI
GMP
ITIL
LEAN
Multi threading
Prince2
Scrum
SixSigma
LANGUAGES/TOOLS
ASP
ASP.NET
JSP
AXAPTA
C ++
C#
Cobol
Cool:Gen
Java
JavaScript
LINQ
NUnit
Oracle Developer
Oracle Designer
PHP
PL/1
PL/SQL
PowerBuilder
QML
SAP ABAP
SAP R/3
TestDirector/HP Quality
Center
Visual Basic/VB.NET
Visual Studio.NET
Weblogic
WebSphere
WordPress
TECHNOLOGIES
.NET
3-Tier
AJAX
BizTalk
Client/Server
Embedded
Internet/Intranet
(DHTML,
FTP, HTML, HTTP,
POP3, SMTP, XML,
XHTML ...)
SharePoint
SilverLight
SOA
SOAP
TFS
WebServices
WebLogic
WAP/WML
WCF
DATABASES
Access
Adabas
DB/2
Microsoft SQL Server
MySQL
Oracle
Progress
Sybase
BUSINESS AND
OFFICE SUPPORT
APPLICATIONS
Movex
Papyrus
QTP