Yesterday I had a customer asking me about my different rates. Sorry he said, but I really can’t understand why you offer especially application maintenance as your most expensive task to order …. When things are settled, it should be easy to do the one or other maintenance tweak later on?!

Sure I said … But try see it through my eyes please. When you order database maintenance or application developing with me, I’m able to work with things I’m already familiar with. Or at least with things I personally think about as usefully for me to know or learn about.

Especially speaking about application maintenance - Given the situation that you can come to me telingl me about some commercial appication you bought and want me to install and take care about it…. For me this glorious software might be something totally new then, forcing me to spend hours or days learning about it first. This is time, you certainly will not like to pay me for.

And the most worst point for me could be, that I only learn for you not being able to use my knew knowledge later on for any other customer except you.

Reaching this point he smiled and said: Now I start to understand you. So you want me to come to you first, telling you about my needs? …. Now I smiled and said: Yeah! You got me now!!

I have to confess that I like such customers

I nearly fear that when I unveil here that I’m familiar with DOS Batch Programming and already worked with computers when Windows wasn’t even invented, you might think about me as some alien or dinosaur.

Nevertheless today I was force to automate some application and data tweaking to prevent me sitting over an "application push" all night. Hey! It’s friday and I also own my weekend …. Why do customers always think it is usual for a service provider to work 24×7 being ready to tweak their stuff while they are in bed?

Anyway, preparing such an automatic application push or upgrade, there are a lot of things to consider. Failure tolerance, getting process and procedures "restartable", an easy, completed and comprehensive logging or tracking giving me later on the ability to analyze situation if necessary.

You see, there are a lot of things to take care about. But nonetheless, whenever I do, I recognise that I enjoy it.
And … at the end it is amazing to see what all you can do with such a basic and aged script language like DOS Batch.

Oh boy, I’m feeling so tired and exhausted this evening after a long and dragging day sitting in an endless meeting….

Having a personal background in many IT fields like system, network and database administration, as also application programming and developing at certain levels and therefore based on personal experiences being able to act as some IT Allrounder, can be a big benefit in some situations…. But also be a serious and real handicap some times, as I was painful able to recognize today.

Sitting together with a few CEOs and other technicians, as a designed project leader it seems to be very important to recognize the moment when it is better to keep your mouth shut

Even by recognizing other are about to do a mistake! At least when you do not have in mind to overtake their work!!

I finally got aware about when all others turned quiet and started looking into my direction…. and now I have to do the job other technicians were planned to do plus also my own project leader work as well