Idle CFD Consultant
 

Sorry to all concerned over my previous posting, I didn't realize that the forum was limited to technical discussion. I agree with the responses that this was inappropriate, my apologies. I think that CFD Online could offer space for CFD related RFP's from companies and other organizations to be listed. This would be a boon towards creating competive bidding on CFD projects, which benefits everyone. No forum currently exists online for this activity. Any thoughts?

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

Good idea. This website has a tremendous asset of CFD knowledge and should be taken advantage of. It doesn't hurt to a business exchange for CFD projects.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

The CFD Jobs Database here at CFD Online is a kind of "Request for Proposal Service" - companies can post temporary jobs as "Contract Work" there.

This "Contract Work" service is not used that much though. I don't know if it is because people don't find it and mix it up with job-ads for permanent positions or if this kind ofservice simply isn't that much needed. Any comments?

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

The "contract work" site is very difficult to find and can be easily mixed up with job-ads.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

Jonas:

Almost witout exception, the messages listed under the Contract category are for onsite temporary help. I suggest renaming this category "Temporary Help" and creating a new category, "Request for Proposals". Also, my primary intent with my original posting was mainly to attract potential business partners who want to outsource. I think we need a "CFD Business Forum" to address the needs of CFD business to communicate with one another, create strategic alliances, joint ventures, short ads of special offers, whatever. I don't believe that this will affect banner income whatsoever. Text messages don't have the flash of a banner and I doubt seriously that any company would abandon their banners in favor of a text message, they seve different purposes. Would companies who adverise in magazines suddenly abandon ads with color pictures and other graphics in favor of a classified ad? I don't think so. This category could also serve for announcing upcoming meetings, conferences and other related opportunities. Stimulating business in the CFD sector will lead to more jobs for students by making business in the field more efficient, the way the net did for all business.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I strongly agree with this idea. For companies who want to outsource CFD work it is hard to see what's in the market; who's specialized in what. As CFD-online is THE CFD website thios would be a great opportunity to lift it to new heights.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I doubt if a free-for-all "business" dicussion forum is the best solution. I think that we need some kind of quality control for this kind of service, otherwise it will quickly become filled with spam and flame-wars. In an open discussion forum it would be be very difficult for new readers to identify what is relevant information and what is just marketing hype or pure spam and competitor-downtalk.

I think that the best way is to have a dedicated service for this - some kind os "CFD Services Brokerage", where people and companies offering CFD help can register/join. This service could also offer some kind of ratings from previous customers and perhaps have some kind of uniform format to describe the services offered. What do you think about this kind of setup? Any better suggestions?

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I think that creating a category (CFD RFP's)limited to posting request for proposals is the way to go. It's unambiguous and far more important than the other secondary aspects that have been discussed, which belong in a separate forum for general business discussion. I agree with Bart that this will raise CFD Online to new heights. I can't stress how important I think this development would be.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

Would you prefer to have the "RFP category" as part of the CFD Jobs Database or as a separate service? Adding a new category to the jobs database is something I could do very easily, a new service would take more time and effort.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I think it would have to be a new service to keep it clean. Only problem I have is that it will be focussed on the US (I presume). Despite the advantages of internet consultancy is still a regional thing. If I had to talk over email to somebody from the US all day to get all problems cleared it would take ages. So sorting on region is very important. A lot of CFD consultancies have a web page. But to have them combined at a single site (CFD online=CFD yellow pages) would help a lot. Risk for consultancy companies is that if I don't like the quality of the work or their way of working I could post it here to make bad advertisement (CFD online=consumer organisation). Concluding: great initiative!!

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

(1). It is not easy to work in the consulting business, especially in CFD. (unless you already have a job like teaching) (2). It is important to have good reputation. (3). If the market is not there, then it is necessary to develop the market first. So, posting the intention alone is not going to turn it into business. (4). This forum is approaching three years old. In a way, answering question and providing help is consulting. If code vendor is paid to provide help and answer to user's cfd questions, then it is clear that all of us answering questions and providing help for free simply can not survive in the last three years. (5). Has anyone of us got paid here by answering questions in the forum? The difference is one is free and the other is paid job. (6). My suggestion is: try to contact government agencies first, because they always have projects for small business.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I recommend adding the RFP category to the jobs database. If this is the easiest way, that's great because thats a good place for it.

I disagree with comments made questioning the difference between "paid" and "unpaid" consultants. There is no comparison between the effort and responsibility required to execute the typical CFD contract and offering free suggestions online. Professional mentoring is great, but there's a difference between a few minutes spent pro bono and working many forty or fifty hours on a clients problem.

I also think the statement made concerning how to go about attracting consulting business is incorrect. Most of the business that I have brought in over the last seven years was performed out of my house for clients worldwide, most of whom I've never met, and hardly a piece of paper was generated. Most of the contacts were generated by my webpage and searching the meger resources online. This business model does work butI would like it to work better. Face to face is nice, but this is supposed to be the new economy, not the old. The web works best when it saves on time and travel.

Concentrating RFP's for CFD work makes a lot of sense, just like the CBD (commerce business daily) does for business as a whole. This would level the playing field for all, so that only the most qualified and competive proposals would win. Industry and academia would see the quality of their CFD outsourcing improve and costs drop.

CFD Online would also be helping to stimulate the creation of new businesses, not just act as a free wing of the CFD vendors HR department. We would all have more choice between having to work for someone or working for your self.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

(1). Since you have been doing professional consulting work for seven years (much much longer than our cfd-forum), my question is: why don't you consider joining our list of sponsors, in this way, the readers or potential customers world wide can see your service every minuites here. (2). I think, that is the most efficient way to reach your clients. And there are already 22 such companies doing so here. (3). And I think, we have been trying very hard to keep this general forum for technical discussions. (we even created code specific discussions to other areas already) (4). You could discuss your needs and ideas with the webmaster through e-mail.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

(1). You could team up with our 22 sponsors as partner, and get your service listed in their webpages.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

I also think that this could be a great idea.

In my opinion, it will be clearer if this consultancy service is a separate service from the job database because.

If possible,it may be interesting too to have several caterogies or sorting option like per country, type of contract (companies only, freelance, short mission,...).

best regards

alain FRYDMAN

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

>> Most of the business that I have brought in over the last seven years was performed out of my house for clients worldwide, most of whom I've never met, and hardly a piece of paper was generated. Most of the contacts were generated by my webpage and searching the meger resources online. This business model does work butI would like it to work better. Face to face is nice, but this is supposed to be the new economy, not the old!

Very interesting set of statements/comments. I cannot say that I have, thus far, shared your experience! Of course, each case is different and the niche market may also be different. But, to date, I have personally not had the experience of not knowing the client through some sort of a contact. If the project dollar values are large, I find it very hard to believe that people will just contact a person (cold) and contract out the project to them. So I wonder whether your projects are usually based on referrals (perhaps by people who have had prior business dealings with you)

As for the old vs. the new economy, the electronic medium was "supposed" to eliminate the need for printed materials as well, and it has not materialized yet. Even in the internet-based IT business, which you'd expect would be most open to doing business in a virtual environment, I have found that more often than not people want you to perform the project on-site. There is still significant lack of trust for out-sourcing. There is (potential) trust if (1) the project is not significant from a security perspective, (2) you and your work are already known/familiar to the people who wish to outsource the project.

I'd be very interested in learning more about your business practice and experience with sub-contracting.

Adrin Gharakhani

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

(1). I guess, it has something to do with his experience in certain field. (2). You may want to visit his webpage at "CFD Associates", which is listed in the forum/resources/ companies section. Some fields are of interest world wide, I guess.

Re: Idle CFD Consultant
 

Adrin:

I think the key to my success has been the experience I gained working for Lockheed on modeling the launch of the Trident nuclear missiles from the subs. It's important to build your credentials, then the doors swing open very easily. I suggest that your web page should reflect your particular strengths. The main advantage small consultants have over the big consulting houses is availability and quick turnaround. I have never been asked to work onsite other than for projects requiring a security clearance.

Mark