There’s an old adage: “Anything you can buy, you can produce yourself for less.”
In our business, we’re well aware that there are a few fundamentally flawed assumptions with that sentiment. Despite the barriers to entry and many other recurring costs, somehow the idea seems pervasive in the business world.
I started my career in a consulting shop that insisted it was a product company. Then I moved, through market forces, into products based companies. I stayed on board with some of them long enough to help shut out the lights and unplug the servers when the sales didn’t hit the marks. The other big problem I’ve seen with product shops was that it’s engineering group typically went through its own “release cycles”… once the product was released, my team was cut to the bone.
I’ve never been in a classic IT shop, per se, but I’ve definitely been on tangent IT-support projects within “product” oriented companies. In IT groups, I’ve often thought that companies might see IT projects as frills and overhead. At some level, I think the pervasive IT-alignment is a counter measure to that idea. Still, it seems IT projects are typically viewed as liability, rather than asset. When it comes time for the company to refocus on its core competencies, (which is inevitable in the ups & downs of business) IT projects are prime targets for cutbacks.
Since the “.COM bust”, in these types of companies, an engineer on the staff for just three years is often seen as a “long-timer”… but no one feels bad about that, since a lot of these companies fold in that time frame, as well.
After experiencing the product based companys’ ups & downs, and seeing many colleagues who had already been through the IT shops, I’m convinced… the outsourced project / consulting route is really the wave of the future, even more than it has been in the past. It’s only a matter of time before business admits this necessity as well.
It makes sense… I wouldn’t figure on every company to own & operate their own power plant.
Why should they typically want their own software engineering group if they don’t have to?
[Edit: See also Part 2 Here]
