I have recommended buying a huge piece of tin to run SQL Server on as a valid, cost-effective solution to a performance problem. Currently, EPYC CPUs are great value for money, programmers are expensive, and some workloads are too time-consuming to tune.
The customer implemented the change, and it worked.
I have also recommend a reduction in size of a too big SQL Server coupled with some judicious optimisation to reduce the load dramatically. Even expensive programmers can spend a few days of their precious time fixing glaring query issues.
The customer implemented this change also, and it also delivered the promised benefits.
I have the before-and-after metrics to prove that there was a huge benefit in both cases.
In both cases the issues were ongoing, had caused drastic outages, and the internal staff were not capable of resolving the issues on their own.
To be honest, 99% of my job is just to be the outsider that's not playing politics and not stuck in a narrow job description. I'm told to "fix it", so that's what I do. The internal staff have "roles and responsibilities", and they fight with other teams more than they cooperate. Some people actively hate each other. I come in as the neutral party and for a brief shining moment I can get everybody to row in the same direction.
This: To be honest, 99% of my job is just to be the outsider that's not playing politics and not stuck in a narrow job description. I'm told to "fix it", so that's what I do. The internal staff have "roles and responsibilities", and they fight with other teams more than they cooperate. Some people actively hate each other. I come in as the neutral party and for a brief shining moment I can get everybody to row in the same direction.
That is the single reason driving external consultant hire in many enterprises.
There was that time a bunch of Silicon Valley engineers went and fixed the healthcare.gov (Obamacare) site for the US govt after the original contractors did a terrible job. But then the first team were already contractors, so maybe the lesson there is, if your first external consultants don't work, just keep bringing in more?
I didn’t know much about this from the contractors’ perspective. This Atlantic article [1] seems like a decent overview for anyone else interested.
Loads, but successful consulting engagements don't lead to headlines. Source: 25 years as a consultant with many successful customer projects under my belt and zero that landed my name in the press.
Totally agree with this. External consultants are easily blamed. But the problem usually lies elsewhere - someone makes a decision without understanding the full scope of the challenge.
Yes, it works when your best people get tired of middle management interference and quit to form a consultancy that upper management eventually hire in desperation.
Some of the best anecdotes on HN are of the genre "company brought me back as a consultant for a multiple of what I made as an employee when they realized their mistake."
Selection bias. The bad cases are the ones you hear about --- lawsuits and politicking (office or government) resulting in airing grievances to the press.
Yes, this. I've never seen a "crisis averted by timely application of consultants!" post on Medium, but I'm sure many such tales exist, as I'm one of those consultants.
I have recommended buying a huge piece of tin to run SQL Server on as a valid, cost-effective solution to a performance problem. Currently, EPYC CPUs are great value for money, programmers are expensive, and some workloads are too time-consuming to tune.
The customer implemented the change, and it worked.
I have also recommend a reduction in size of a too big SQL Server coupled with some judicious optimisation to reduce the load dramatically. Even expensive programmers can spend a few days of their precious time fixing glaring query issues.
The customer implemented this change also, and it also delivered the promised benefits.
I have the before-and-after metrics to prove that there was a huge benefit in both cases.
In both cases the issues were ongoing, had caused drastic outages, and the internal staff were not capable of resolving the issues on their own.
To be honest, 99% of my job is just to be the outsider that's not playing politics and not stuck in a narrow job description. I'm told to "fix it", so that's what I do. The internal staff have "roles and responsibilities", and they fight with other teams more than they cooperate. Some people actively hate each other. I come in as the neutral party and for a brief shining moment I can get everybody to row in the same direction.