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Ask Slashdot: How Can You Find a Good IT Consultant?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the asking-about-asking dept.

Slashdot reader Thelasko says his wife manages a small eight-person business -- but remains unhappy with the company's IT consultant: She's had endless problems with Windows 10 Pro's update system causing downtime. Anytime she calls the IT consultant, they don't resolve issues to her satisfaction, and the company gets stuck with a large bill. She's resorted to researching and providing support for the company network herself.

The contract is up at the end of the year, and she wants to find a new consultant. The company owner however, doesn't want to switch because all of the work the consultant provided is covered under a "warranty" for 3 years (the company typically gets charged). I don't work in IT myself, and am unable to provide advice. What should they do? How would Slashdot find a reputable consultant?
Leave your best answers in the comments. How can you find a good IT consultant?

10 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Quit by sourcerror · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems her boss doesn't value her work, and quality work in general. I wouldn't advise to stay at such a company on the long term. Nothing will change until she gets overwhelmed and burnt out, and then she'll be the scapegoat for the crisis.

  2. That warranty makes zero sense to me by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    She's had endless problems with Windows 10 Pro's update system causing downtime.

    Yes, that is what it's there for.

    Anytime she calls the IT consultant, they don't resolve issues to her satisfaction

    Thought: Maybe this is not on the consultant, but the choice to use Windows for everything. But despite all that, lets move on to the main issue...

    The company owner however, doesn't want to switch because all of the work the consultant provided is covered under a "warranty" for 3 years

    What would a "Warranty" even mean even mean for IT consulting? Within a single year so much about the system would have changes because of Microsoft or hardware updates that any kind of warranty would be meaningless. Also if the work is covered under a warranty, shouldn't that mean they have to repair whatever even if not under contract?

    If they are not happy move on, though as I stated before I do not think they can find happiness given what they are giving the IT consultants to work with.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:That warranty makes zero sense to me by Kjella · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The company owner however, doesn't want to switch because all of the work the consultant provided is covered under a "warranty" for 3 years

      Also if the work is covered under a warranty, shouldn't that mean they have to repair whatever even if not under contract?

      Better questions, how often have they ever gotten warranty repairs free? Who's time and money is spent investigating a possible warranty issue? If the consultant blames Microsoft, would they ever make a third party review? Even if they did and found shoddy work is mostly at fault, would they ever have the time and resources to drive a process to force the consultant to unwillingly fix it under warranty? I smell a cushy kickback scheme here, the consultant gets the job of finding the problem. So 90% of the time, it's not his fault and he bills in full, while 10% of the time he'll say it's a "free" warranty fix. Of course he bakes that into his rates, but in return he gets all new business because the owner feels he'll lose "invested" warranty time going with somebody else. He's being played by a simple mind trick.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. Re:You don't. by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    True dat. The original question is: "How do you find a good (Windows) IT consultant", which is a subset of "good Windows IT", which is, of course, the null set.

  4. I'm really torn on this one. by aix+tom · · Score: 5, Informative

    On one hand I have never seen a "good consultant", on the other hand, how could you expect a single person to fix the complete and utter mess that the Windows 10 update system is?

    I have encountered some quite good freelance "support providers", though. They don't have a website, they don't advertise, they seem to be keeping as quiet as they can, because they get more than enough work just by word of mouth. So the only way to find them is to talk to other comparable businesses in your area.

  5. Freelancers! by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Interesting

    (1) Do it yourself ... or ...
    (2) Find a competent freelancer

    The problem is that most smart and competent freelancers get bored of doing network/IT support after a while and either go back to university and do something else, or move into a more interesting part of IT like programming or design.

    This brings me to a third idea -- put up ads that you need someone at a local university. You might end up with a career-changer or former freelancer who needs a few dinars on the side to pay for school. Even better if you can pay promptly without too much drama.

  6. Address Business Problems First by brian.stinar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You are not in a position to be successful.

    You're asking the wrong question - instead of asking "how to find a good IT consultant" you should be asking yourself the questions "how can I position myself in order to be able to find a good IT consultant." If the actual decision maker (not you) is making decisions based on faulty understanding (warranty, cost, quality) then you are not in a position to make a good decision. Understanding this will help you resolve the actual problem (the decision making process) rather than the symptom (the poor performance of an IT consultant.) Once you address this, then you'll be able to do things like create evaluation time periods, measure effectiveness, measure cost, measure downtime, and other metrics that should help you solve the problem you initially tried to solve. Before that, you need to solve a deeper problem.

    So, I believe you either need to change who is making the decision (delegation), change how they are making the decision (evaluation), or remove yourself from the equation (quit/stop caring), before you address the issue you initially asked about.

    1. Re:Address Business Problems First by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, you're wrong and spewing the typical kind of bullshit useless people do.

      The problem is the choice of operating system, not the consultant. Microsoft's windows 10 update ills cannot be fixed by any consultant.

  7. Nothing will help. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    She's had endless problems with Windows 10 Pro's update system causing downtime.

    The problem here is Windows 10 Pro for which there is no magic fix other than not using it. If the product does not perform to your satisfaction then the solution is to not using the product.

    People hate this answer because it means moving to another operating system which can be unpleasant but that doesn't make it any less true.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  8. Re:You don't. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem is that not many companies are will to pay for expert advice.

    No. The problem is that people that need an IT consultant are not able to judge quality. If they knew enough to make that judgement, they wouldn't need the consultant in the first place.

    And don't give me that crap about "You get what you pay for." That is absolutely untrue in IT.

    The best solution in this case is likely for her to build her team's internal skill set. Learn how to troubleshoot and use ServerFault, Microsoft.com, and Google for solutions. If she pays for a "solution", she should make sure she understands exactly what the consultant did, so she can do it herself next time.