National instruments used to have an alliance partner program for certified LabVIEW Consultants. That never got off the ground very well and, unfortunately NI never really used any of us to assist with sales refs in the area. Frankly, I allowed 8-Ball Consulting to lapse because few of the reps used me. I did provide 1 "Proof of Concept" that was really the DONE SOURCE for 1 customer that then bought the hardware and LabVIEW. A 2hr effort with the brand new Continuous Measurement and Logging Project Template on a simulated device (including walk-through documentation)
Single developer Partners each have/had a specific reason NI wanted them. 8-Ball Consulting and Radius Tek are 2 examples I know of. Both Mark and I had proven track records of significance to building NI sales. Mark with incredible platform instructor skills! I could boast about the 14 VSTs dropped into Positive Train Control for the first item test suite of test sets. Each of us were already recognized LabVIEW Champions as well when the Certified LabVIEW Consultant Partners program launched. With NIs move away from field sales, I see that program as likely dead.
That doesn't mean that there aren't ways around it! Funny enough, 8-Ball Consulting once "Hired" a developer that I worked with primarily because he wanted to attend a session at NI Week on Alliance day! (NOTE: never tell your boss you hired your coworker - he promptly fired me)
"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
