Acknowledgements NOT Given for Work Done on Major Projects

Hypothetically swap places with them and consider what they would do if the tables were turned. Would they bitch about not getting credit - or at the very least, an Honourable Mention - of work they did that helped you succeed?

Hell yes, they would. So, are you in the wrong for asking same? Nope. Not even.

One thing you have, however, that they don't: the ability to solve those sorts of technical problems on time and on budget. They may have robbed you of a few golden eggs, sure, but you still hold the Golden Goose.

When you contact them, rub their noses in this a bit. Just enough so next time they need a good subcontractor, they'll remember you. They might not like you for it but, like prayer, money changes things.

And, like Solar Eagle says, put it in the contract. "A verbal contract ain't worth the paper it's written on."

-e

These are the kinds of things you negotiate before the work begins....I always work with a contract....

I am always in favor of giving credit where credit is due. In this case there is no way to go back and get credit in the published papers.

If you still have the invoice for the work you did, you can place a copy of that on your website to show your involvement. You can also ask for a 'Thank You' letter from the biologists involved and post that too, if they send you one. I'm not sure I'd bother asking 'the conglomerate' unless you know someone there personally who would be willing to do the 'Thank You' letter.

This assumes you have a website. If not, you should get one.

Hey there netmaker,

That figures, you helped out the design engineer by correcting one of his/her design flaws and nary a thank you much less acknowledgement.

Does not surprise me.

The design engineer was paid to design something viable and failed due to a design flaw. You corrected the flaw but I can guarantee you the design engineer will never admit to the flaw or your correction of same.

Did you overstep your bounds? Heck no, they could have thrown you a bone with some recognition as to being the manufacturer of the net, I would think.

In my opinion, you did the right thing correcting the flaw so your end product worked as intended.

On a side note, unless you signed a confidentiality agreement, there is nothing to stop you from creating a flyer of your own with the information about this job.

Put a pile of them on your counter for hand-outs and included them in any e-mail or snail mail advertising.

This has happened to me on almost every electrical construction project I have run. In my case, the paid electrical design engineer will never admit a design flaw nor will they ever admit someone else corrected said flaw for them.

Regards - KJK

And send a couple to those ftards wot stole your golden shoes.

I had a real squeaker of a close call with a contract where the micro-size of our little shop was called into question for designing and delivering . A 'plug' from a huge entity such as these guys , would have made things easier.

Yes, i have a website and have dozens of our jobs on it, from around the world and practically all 7 Seas..... However, I am reluctant to put this one on as it might just seem like I am riding the band wagon.

It galled me to no end when I saw the pics of the nets, my splicing work on the Dyneema lines, the framing hoops and the zippered release mechanism. Finally, scrolling down I saw the underwater pics of my 'special designed' transfer net and it just pushed me over the edge. I wrote the letters. No response from any of the parties as yet.

I always give credit when it is due.... its just good kharma and proper manners.

No knocking the other guys, they may not have even realized they left us out or maybe felt it was a GOOD idea not to have any competitors know we did work like that ....who can say. Regardless, it is over and done with.

You did a good job and have the satisfaction of knowing the truth about the situation, unfortunately your contract didn't require that your company name appear anywhere in the final product.

I once lent one of my company's supercomputers to a famous university's Computational Fluid Dynamics lab for some work that needed to be done so that a deadline could be met. They had no budget for the machine so we worked out an agreement that we would be mentioned as having provided this specialized equipment, we were a startup and felt the publicity would help us gain credibility. A few months later the paper was published with the following acknowledgement... "All the graphs in this paper were calculated using an 8 cpu (it was a real long time ago!) computer loaned to us by a major supercomputer manufacturer."

Next time make sure the details are clearly spelled out in writing, you get what you specify.

Lesson learned about contracts. Gawd I miss the ol' days when you just looked someone in the eyes and shook hands ....deal done!

It is a good practice to acknowledge and thank everybody who are involved in any work irrespective of the size of the work directly or indirectly .

I recall adding sidewalks to 40 foot pre-stressed concrete railroad beams. Our crew did one daily, setting forms, tying steel, pouring and finishing. One day an engineer shows up and instructed me to position the form one inch lower. I protested to no avail. The next day we had to jackhammer that one off and put another one without losing a day. I did not rub his nose in it. Another time while looking over blueprints for a monolithic foundation I pointed out that there was a closet off the entryway that had the floor at garage level, 8 inches below, a "step down" closet. There was some head scratching and a lengthy discussion amongst the contractors involved, but I did not try to claim credit, I figure everyone makes mistakes. If I had credit for all the masonary work I did behind the Orange Curtain or in the Texas hill country I would be famous. Maybe this does not compare to a custom product made by your company but my point is that your not going to get credit for everything you do. Im reminded of this "When I do good, nobody remembers, when I do bad, nobody forgets" (Hells Angels)

Yes, they SHOULD HAVE mentioned you BUT-

As noted- "I WAS PAID ADEQUATELY FOR MY WORK".

Unfortunately, you became like MANY of the people who work for "the big conglomerate" in that you got paid adequately for doing your job but you never got any recognition for the "value" that you delivered to the company.

Think about how many people have slogged through life making things better and all they ever get is the personal satisfaction of knowing that they made a difference. No one ever even HIGHLIGHTED the results of their efforts.

At least- after several years- YOU have the satisfaction of knowing the YOU really DID make a difference, and (without giving you direct credit) the involved parties have let everyone KNOW of the difference you made.

Relax in that knowledge.

i have one of those to share too .

I was watching TV footage of rescue teams after an earthquake , i saw much better ways of doing things and sent the rescue team management some suggestions on how to drastically improve their methods using some "intelligently engineered solutions" .

I got no reply from them whatsoever but i saw one of my techniques being used in the background of a live TV feed from the scene about 3 days later.

obviously they liked my ideas but i assume someone took my stuff and probably ran with it to the boss as their own work , i got zero thanks for it.

I did however email and phone up management of fire and rescue teams in three states around me after this event , one didnt bother to reply but the other two did reply and they used 2 out of 5 ideas i submitted and incorporated them into training programs for their teams , so i dont feel entirely like i was kicked in the b@lls for my efforts.

I still didnt get any letter of thanks though ( again )

life is a beach sometimes.

All good points. I just wanted to know if it was standard procedure NOT to get acknowledgements or if it was common place to give them in the credits.

* all those years we built commercial fishing and aquaculture equipment we were used to NOT having our name spread around much at all.....competition was always heavy among-st the client base.... it was expected and acknowledgements were NEVER even a thought. These guys were a little different.

In our situation we are always battling 'outsourced' products...low end cost and plenty of times... low end product. Having a large entity listing us as subcontractors would have been a big boost.

No issues....all is well and the dang hurricane is staying way to the EAST of us. Life is good!

This is somewhat off topic, maybe not. Over the years I've been involved in many many building projects that included structural and site engineering design. Of course there were the electrical and mechanical engineers involved as well.

At the conclusion of the project they erect a very nice and pricey brass plaque on a wall of the building (inside or outside it doesn't matter) that includes the names of the Owner (if a municipal or school project the names of the trustees or elected officials, school board & Supervisor, etc etc), the Architect, and the General Contractor, BUT no mention of the design engineers!

That usually toasts my Rice Krispies to no end!!!!!

Having worked in the commercial construction trades decades back, I thoroughly understand that point. Some times the main contractors were not even mentioned, just the guy that footed the bill. *Its why the contractors ALWAYS posed for a picture in front of the building WITH that owner or one of his CEO's.*

These type acknowledgements I was curious about, are what the academics go for. The men and women who work in the fisheries science field.... the crowd that lives and breathes by what is published by the American Fisheries Society or like bodies of intellectual venues.... they search for names listed in acknowledgments.

Once I get a customer using our gear, i have no worries.... most academia share information with one another. My thought was in Private Industry, I may be facing the same issues I had with commercial fishermen, competition among businesses using the same contractors.

Since redirecting our little business into this area it has become apparent that having your name, business or gear mentioned in ANY publication , corresponds to inquiries and jobs.

Spilled milk. I'll make a note to add anything like this into a contract, being as i would like our company to get a little more press on these Big ol' projects.

* Just curious but AFTER the time limit has expired on a Non-Disclosure form, I can show designs, pictures and emails that I was freely given or that I took... correct?

Thank you for the input.

If your involvement was as crucial as you say, and I am not questioning that, than why not take out an advertisement in a trade magazine for your industry. Write a "good news" story with photos and details (include your customers names) and your company data and use that for the ad.

If they won't give you the credit you deserve, get it this way. Believe me... they, your customers, will get asked about it and they will have to verify your involvement or come across as being without scruples. Companies do this all the time, while it may be annoying that you need to do so, it should achieve the same results for your firm.

Noted....if I could though, I would rather come across as a team player. They may need a quick fix again in the future.

Thank you for the input.

Agreed... looking like a team player is always good. Craft the story in such a way that it also casts a bright light on your customer as well. Good for the both of you it can be.

I'd suggest you are completely in order to expect acknowledgement.
It's good manners and sound scientific practice, but sadly both are lacking these days.
A nice solution might be to refer to the project and publications in your own publicity outlining your involvement. Maybe that way you can piggyback off their publicity .
If they try to complain or make a fuss they won't have a leg to stand on.

This sort of thing is pretty typical tho' . I've bailed out consultants and university proffessors with egos the size of a small planet and five minutes later, they are telling you the very stuff you did as if it was their original work.
I expect they get found out in short order.

The main thing is don't waste your mental energy on the blood sucking leeches.
Stay chilled dude and next time you see 'em, just push 'em off the jetty.
Del

Ha ha...... no jetty....just some big @$$ levees!...and the engineers who design 'em had better had HIS/HER figures right. in about 36 hours there's gonna' be a poop pile of water pushing on them.....

Thank you for comment. Its just spiled milk now.... I do think I'll put a small spread on my website though....after all, the Non Disclosure is up this month.

see you all after Isaac.............

Hello Netman,

You have certainly assisted in that project and were paid for your efforts. There should be no issue however of publishing the "capabilities" of your business, including details like the zippers and other features used in the project.

After all, they invested time and money (including subcontracting you) into achieving hte project. You didn't build the fish farm, nor did you determine the logisitcs of stocking and sale of the produce etc. The project was theirs to proclaim.

As you hinted earlier, focus on your capabilities, including the capability to convert concept to function with realistic timeframe and budget and your ability to source the necessary component elements.

It might even be of benefit to not specifically name that project, since "tunnel vision" buyers might think that fish farm nets don't have featuers they want for trawl nets or drape nets or whatever type these other potential customers are after.

Those in the know will very quickly realise that your shop was involved inthat portion of the project and if they have similar requirements will come knocking.

Good luck with the incoming storm. I hear it even delayed announcement of presidential candidate confirmation.