The “Vendor Sabatical” Concept
We have recently hired a new consultant who for reasons that I will not go into is taking a leave of absence from his current employer. The employer happens to be a client of ours (they use CommonSpot). We hired the consultant on to our Professional Services team because he has experience with our product and therefore brings instant value to our organization.
It is not uncommon for developers today to be highly specialized (and often certified) with a particular piece of software. In some cases, it might be the only software package that developer works with. For some developers this can be a double edged sword. If the software package presents enough challenges and allows the developer to be creative on daily basis then their work can be rewarding enough to keep them interested. And while there may also be some level of job security present with being so closely tied to that software it also can get boring. Working in the same software day in and day out.
Enter the “Vendor Sabatical” Concept
The idea itself is rather simple, a developer at company who is closely tied to a particular software package takes an unspecified break from the organization (possibly a paid leave). During the break the developer joins one of the vendors team and works for that vendor directly. In our case we hired the developer to join our Professional Services team and I think this makes the most amount of sense.
Our Professional Services team essentially uses our product just like a customer would so it made a lot of sense to put him to work there. He has intimate knowledge of the product and understands first hand what our other customers might be interested in doing with the product.
So, why should everyone do this? It makes a ton of sense. Here are the benefits to the developer:
1.) Get a break from the mundane tasks that they are accustomed to within their environment
2.) Interact with other developers and learn new development techniques related (or unrelated) to their current work
3.) Intimate knowledge of other cultural work environments
Here is the benefit to both the developer and the client
1.) Learn new implementation or development techniques that could be beneficial internally
2.) Become more knowledgeable about the product
3.) Build a better relationship with the vendor
And of course the vendor benefits:
1.) Increased relationship with client
2.) Augment internal staff member work and increase profit
I think this type of engagement could be so beneficial for the organization that they would continue to pay the developer and the vendor would gain the use of this employee free of charge. (Well maybe that last part was kind of more hopeful than possible :)