When gigs go bad

[sal]

...Anyway, some of the stuff is just pathetic. Got an extension recently and got a feeling they will offer more if it suits them until I upset some permie then they wont think twice about getting rid at short notice. I just feel there should be a mutual respect between parties but all I get is contempt from them.

If you felt so miserable why did you accept the first extension?

I guess this happens and I've got a feeling its not going to end well. 5 weeks left now. Suck it up, take the money and walk at the end? I guess thats beauty of contracting.

You already have the solution, so i guess this was more of a rant post.

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

If you felt so miserable why did you accept the first extension?



You already have the solution, so i guess this was more of a rant post.

Yeh bad idea but money aint it?

Dont get me wrong Im the friedliest person you could meet. Do my best to be nice to people and get along. But what I want is to be judged on the quality of my work not on how good I am at arselicking and blowing smoke up the pms arse. Leave that to the permies.

Unfortunately, thats what its like here. No matter how much work I put in - its gets ignored it seems and the little things get picked up on no matter how hard I try.

Few weeks left now. Get the feeling that if I did accept any more work then it'd end suddently when day when they find an excuse to get rid of me at short notice.

[CoolCat]

One of the big clients I worked the real nasty stuff came from other contractors on another team, a team which had decided to play political battles with other teams for allsorts of complex reasons.

Different solutions in different scenarios, I have managed to get senior managers sacked before now by exposing their mistakes up the chain.

The people side of the job is hard work at times.

[tractor]

...

Yeh bad idea but money aint it?

Dont get me wrong Im the friedliest person you could meet. Do my best to be nice to people and get along. But what I want is to be judged on the quality of my work not on how good I am at arselicking and blowing smoke up the pms arse. Leave that to the permies.

Unfortunately, thats what its like here. No matter how much work I put in - its gets ignored it seems and the little things get picked up on no matter how hard I try.

Few weeks left now. Get the feeling that if I did accept any more work then it'd end suddently when day when they find an excuse to get rid of me at short notice.

A serious question; Are you absolutely sure that your goals and objectives are aligned with your clients vision?

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

A serious question; Are you absolutely sure that your goals and objectives are aligned with your clients vision?

Definitely. Basically, I work on call queues. So all the stats are there. Im way above everyone else in the team.

But it seems in the organisation the way to get on (in this particular dept) is to say the right things to the manager and be popular with him. Hes very power hungry and likes people to, basically, yield to his awesomeness. I've not done anything to upset him I just get on with things.

[kingcook]

As long as the work gets done, who cares?

Just be happy that you're a contractor and you can always look for another client when the time comes.

It could be worse... you could be a permie there and scared to death of having to find another job because you've got the mortgage to pay, etc...

[Blueshark]

Definitely. Basically, I work on call queues. So all the stats are there. Im way above everyone else in the team.

But it seems in the organisation the way to get on (in this particular dept) is to say the right things to the manager and be popular with him. Hes very power hungry and likes people to, basically, yield to his awesomeness. I've not done anything to upset him I just get on with things.

I think you have a good attitude, and seem experienced. Having been on both sides of the fence, there is a strange tension duality. Sometimes people grumble, but they still hire contractors, and staff do tend to like them, at least look up to them.

Stick with your gut, suck it up and look forward to the end. What else can you do?

[SussexSeagull]

Problem is with staying somewhere for a long time is they stop seeing you as a contractor and start seeing you as part of the furniture and no matter how much you try to avoid it, politics does creep in.

If you think it is time to move on, it probably is.

[malvolio]

Definitely. Basically, I work on call queues. So all the stats are there. Im way above everyone else in the team.

Inside Service Levels, in correct priority sequence, fully documented (i.e. not just "Fixed it"), properly categorised for the Problem team, common incidents linked together to look for root causes....? As I'm sure you know, it's not a simple operation doing support in a managed environment

But it seems in the organisation the way to get on (in this particular dept) is to say the right things to the manager and be popular with him. Hes very power hungry and likes people to, basically, yield to his awesomeness. I've not done anything to upset him I just get on with things.

So why do you care? I'm the other end of the management tree, but the last time a PM tried to tell me my job he suddenly discovered that not only did he not have my services (since I told my line that sorry but I wasn't working that programme any more), he had no way to get his project into BaU and no support from the rest of my team. You're not there to get on, you're there to do your job, nobody else's Don't fight the idiots, ignore them and send in the invoices.

[paulinefowlersgrowler]

Inside Service Levels, in correct priority sequence, fully documented (i.e. not just "Fixed it"), properly categorised for the Problem team, common incidents linked together to look for root causes....? As I'm sure you know, it's not a simple operation doing support in a managed environment

So why do you care? I'm the other end of the management tree, but the last time a PM tried to tell me my job he suddenly discovered that not only did he not have my services (since I told my line that sorry but I wasn't working that programme any more), he had no way to get his project into BaU and no support from the rest of my team. You're not there to get on, you're there to do your job, nobody else's Don't fight the idiots, ignore them and send in the invoices.

Yeh Been told how good im doing by other managers. Dont care if Im not popular but seem to get picked up on stupid things like where were you this morning at 10am (doctors appt and I did tell you), dont do this, dont do that etc.

I agree with you. I just want to do the job. At the moment I can't because it seems for some reason I've been flagged up as someone who doesnt fit in. Permie here- gives me nightmare just thinking about it.