Jerry,

>>>Hi Renoir,
>>>
>>>Sadly I've come across many "consultants" who believe they can charge full market rates even though they have no experience.
>>>They do tend to make it more difficult for the genuinely seasoned contractor.
>>>
>>>JimN
>>
>>Hey Jim,
>>
>>Yeah, not often but I've seen it too. What makes someone believe that just by understanding how to move objects around on the screen and get data into a table that they are a "consultant?" I guess the same thing that allows people to feel that they can list any software that they've ever touched as having "experience" with it. Then again, it's tough for a client to know what they're getting. If they're not agressive in checking references, etc then they may get what they're overpaying for... :-)
>>
>>Renoir
>
>However, I have seen serveral political initiatives to have software programmers licensed and tested the same way other professionals are, consistantly shot down by the coders themselves, aided and abetted by software houses. We test and license doctors, lawyers, engineers and even cosmotoligists (hair cutters), but not software programmers. If software programmers had to pass general and specific proficiency tests (that are not cash cows of the software industry) in order to receive a license to consult for hire, along with laws making coding for hire illegal if the coder is not licensed, it would go a long way to improve the image and quality of the programming profession.
>
>Let the aruging being.... :)

<g>

I would like to think that the industry will , under the threat of governmental intervention, create some sort of self-regulatory body. We'll see I suppose..

I wonder sometimes if the resistence comes from the basement developer. Not that developing in one's basement is all that bad. <g> Just that the resistence comes from those who are unwilling to spend the time and money to better themselves...