A Career or Contracting..?

[turbowoowoo]

Have been contracting since 2001

I decided to take contracting over a career and my main driver has been money and new challenges, luckily enough I am a project/programme manager and my skillset is enhanced the more contracts I have completed because a PM is all about his/her experience in my book.

But, if you are technical ( I used to be in the 90s netcool and openview) you HAVE to keep modernising and changing to keep your attractiveness and niche.

When I started contracting, coders were in short supply, as coding has now become a lot easier and mainstream as the tools have become more intelligent there are a gluten of coders, especially from Asia who have forced a lowering of day rates.

Question What was your main driver for becoming a contractor ? Financial or Flexibility?
Question What skills do you believe will be in demand in the next 5- 10 years?

[BolshieBastard]

Have been contracting since 2001

I decided to take contracting over a career and my main driver has been money and new challenges, luckily enough I am a project/programme manager and my skillset is enhanced the more contracts I have completed because a PM is all about his/her experience in my book.

But, if you are technical ( I used to be in the 90s netcool and openview) you HAVE to keep modernising and changing to keep your attractiveness and niche.

When I started contracting, coders were in short supply, as coding has now become a lot easier and mainstream as the tools have become more intelligent there are a gluten of coders, especially from Asia who have forced a lowering of day rates.

Question What was your main driver for becoming a contractor ? Financial or Flexibility?
Question What skills do you believe will be in demand in the next 5- 10 years?

Question, what makes you think there will be a contract market in 10 years?

[turbowoowoo]

that wasn't one of the questions.

what makes you think there wont be a contractor market?

[PerfectStorm]

Initial motivation was financial, if I'm honest.

But I thought "well I've had to pick up enough new technologies and work with new clients all the time as a permanent employee of a supplier, so why not do it on better terms?"

I'm not enjoying it but the money helps. If I quit at least I'll have given it a go.

[coxsox]

Do it for as long as it takes to become financially independent, then move off onto something that is really worth doing……fwiw.

[blacksta]

Do it for as long as it takes to become financially independent, then move off onto something that is really worth doing……fwiw.

something along that line.... and hope it works out

[jmo21]

Question What was your main driver for becoming a contractor ? Financial or Flexibility?
Question What skills do you believe will be in demand in the next 5- 10 years?

1) Financial and technical, where I am, there aren't many jobs that let you advance beyond a certain pay level while still saying fully technical

2) From a technical point of view, no idea.

[MyUserName]

1 Money
2 Speaking Mandarin

[TheFaQQer]

Question What was your main driver for becoming a contractor ? Financial or Flexibility?

Opportunity to do different things. Not sure if that's what you mean by flexibility - I became a contractor because my employer wasn't offering the challenges and variety that I need to keep myself motivated. Nor is my current client, but that's a different matter.

Question What skills do you believe will be in demand in the next 5- 10 years?

1) Urdu, Hindi and Mandarin.
2) The ability to turn requirements into detailed specifications that the off-shore teams can write.

[I just need to test it]

I'd gotten myself into a situation where I was working away from home 100% of the time as my company had no projects in the area in which I lived. So contracting, as much as I was attracted to the money, was a means of having a say in where I worked.

Somewhat inevitably my first contract took me about a thousand miles from home

I have no career ambitions. Contracting, therefore is my excuse; my reason why I haven't chased promotions etc. But it's more than that. There is something primeval about contracting. In a working environment I never feel more alive than when I know my contract is coming to an end. I see others in a state of panic in the same situation and I never really understand why. Finishing a contract is about as orgasmic as IT gets.

What skills will be in demand in ten years? I remember thinking that SAP would be dead by 2000 yet it soldiers on, with me hanging to its coat tails. Clearly I haven't a clue what the future holds.