Hi All,
I'm new here (which will probably become obvious soon enough!) so go easy on me
First for some background on my position;
I'm currently permanently employed and have been for the last 10 years with the same company, I've been thinking about making the move to contracting for some time now - for several reasons: money, variety of work and different places of work, flexibility, lack of progression where I am now...the usual stuff.
However, with the state of the market I've been too chicken to take the plunge, things have now changed, my current employer has offered voluntary severance which I've accepted and will be leaving on 31st Dec 2010 (not a great time to find a contract for a newbie I know - but its non-negotiable ... I asked!). The severance payment sets me up for about 10 months worth of take home pay on my current salary, if I cant get a contract of some description in 10 months then I don't deserve one!
I've worked in a variety of technical roles but for the last 5 years I've been an Oracle DBA with a mix of Oracle development.
Now ... to the point of the post! My main concern is the limitation I've imposed on myself by only really being able to sell myself as an Oracle DBA, I am very proficient in PL/SQL and unix development but after that I feel my skillset is a bit lacking...I can and have done some C# and minor web development but cant really claim much in the way of production experience.
Most of the Contractor Guides you read bang on about "not letting your skills get out of date" my point is ... how do I (as a contractor) get real experience in skills that I've only learnt in the classroom or by self study? As a permie you just moan a bit about lack of training and development and then get moved around and sent on a course ... as a contractor you cant get a job if you don't have the relevant experience, so you cant get the experience and cant get a job! Sounds like a catch 22 to me but surely people have progressed as contractors into other areas? How have people managed this?
If I want to ensure I can get work in the current climate I feel I need to be able to apply for more than just Oracle DBA jobs ... would I be right or is it quite common for contractors to only have one main skill? What happens in 5 years when Oracle automate me out of a job at version 13!?
Any insights from someone experienced would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
I'm new here (which will probably become obvious soon enough!) so go easy on me
First for some background on my position;
I'm currently permanently employed and have been for the last 10 years with the same company, I've been thinking about making the move to contracting for some time now - for several reasons: money, variety of work and different places of work, flexibility, lack of progression where I am now...the usual stuff.
However, with the state of the market I've been too chicken to take the plunge, things have now changed, my current employer has offered voluntary severance which I've accepted and will be leaving on 31st Dec 2010 (not a great time to find a contract for a newbie I know - but its non-negotiable ... I asked!). The severance payment sets me up for about 10 months worth of take home pay on my current salary, if I cant get a contract of some description in 10 months then I don't deserve one!
I've worked in a variety of technical roles but for the last 5 years I've been an Oracle DBA with a mix of Oracle development.
Now ... to the point of the post! My main concern is the limitation I've imposed on myself by only really being able to sell myself as an Oracle DBA, I am very proficient in PL/SQL and unix development but after that I feel my skillset is a bit lacking...I can and have done some C# and minor web development but cant really claim much in the way of production experience.
Most of the Contractor Guides you read bang on about "not letting your skills get out of date" my point is ... how do I (as a contractor) get real experience in skills that I've only learnt in the classroom or by self study? As a permie you just moan a bit about lack of training and development and then get moved around and sent on a course ... as a contractor you cant get a job if you don't have the relevant experience, so you cant get the experience and cant get a job! Sounds like a catch 22 to me but surely people have progressed as contractors into other areas? How have people managed this?
If I want to ensure I can get work in the current climate I feel I need to be able to apply for more than just Oracle DBA jobs ... would I be right or is it quite common for contractors to only have one main skill? What happens in 5 years when Oracle automate me out of a job at version 13!?
Any insights from someone experienced would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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