Boring/Not much work to do in current contract

[kaiser78]

I was going to comment on this but you beat me to it. With that experience he might be able to work in PMO but he would be doing basic admin stuff in a very average fashion. Working in PMO and being a good PMO are worlds apart I think. A good PMO can hold a project together. An average one just does stuff. I didn't agree with the statement about the OP cutting it in PMO. He might be able to get a couple of gigs but I don't think he'll ever be a good PMO.

That's the role of the PM and which a good PM should be able to do, no ? The PMO is there to support the PM and ensure the right level of governance/admin is being undertaken.

[DieScum]

Hey mate,

First of all I apologise on behalf of humankind for some of the responses you've received on this thread. You ask a really fair question and get the usual posters with their strange, negative responses. Skip over them and just put it down to the anonymity of the internet and personal failings.

For your question. (and credit to you for asking). It's hard. It requires mental toughness but keep nurturing that ambition and you'll get through it.

In your place, and I've been there, I would work on getting up to speed on the areas that the SMEs cover independently. Read every document you can, try things out - then when something comes up, and it will, you can show that you're good enough to take on the extra work.

Outside of that could you cut down the hours you work? I've done this in non-challenging, not much to do roles. Cut down to 4 days a week, take the income hit, and spend the fifth day planning for your next move. It might be extra study, applying for jobs, etc.

A few years ago I went into a different skillset. Had to start again at the foot of the ladder. My first starter role was at a much lower level than I was accustomed to. It was pretty dire but I threw myself into whatever projects I could find or invent, cut down to 4 days and soon enough I was moving on to a decent contract somewhere else.

Good luck and head up!

[tomtomagain]

I took on a BA contract in March with a well-known bank out in Europe.

OK. So the first thing to remember is small/medium companies hire contractors for their skills. Large companies hire contractors because they have "Headcount" restrictions.

That is to say : It is usually very, very hard as for a middle manager of a FTSE100 to get approval to hire a permanent employee into the organisation. This is deliberate policy. Designed to keep the "Headcount" low. When cut-backs are needed, contractors can be let go. Permies have rights and there's a cost to getting rid of them.

So you almost certainly haven't been hired for having top-knotch skills. But because you had a good attitude at the interview and are a junior. That's not bad.

My contract has been renewed until the new year, but the problem I have is that I’m just not being challenged enough, there are four other BA/PM types on our team that are all Permy and they seem to continue to do most of the chunk of BA/PM work.

Second point. Your team leader/ line manager almost certainly has "development" responsibilities for the permies reporting to him. He needs to give them the opportunities. If nothing else then to help earn him his bonus.

When I was a manager in a FTSE100 we were explicitly told by the higher up's that under no circumstances were we to "develop" contractors. They either came in with the skills required to do the job or were replaced. Of course in reality it was never that brutal but the reasoning is this: HR departments in large co's are terrified that they will fall foul of some change in the law and will be one-day responsible for contractor sick-pay, holiday's, training and so on. Keeping the contractors at arms length is usually deliberate.

The second part of this is : As the manager, he needs to create a visible distinction between how contractors are treated compared to how employees are treated. The reason is simple. If everyone is given the same opportunities and treated the same then why stay as the lowly-paid permie?

Although I get the odd bit of BA work chucked my way I am usually stuck doing odd jobs or doing the administration and management for releases (using tools like JIRA). .... sometimes feel like more of an admin assistant doing monkey work rather than a BA

You ARE the admin monkey. Again it's almost certainly deliberate. Keeps the permie BA's happy having someone else do the corporate crud that they don't want to do.

, on the other hand it’s a good rate and as mentioned earlier the international experience looks good. You could say it’s a dream situation getting paid well but for little stress, but its actually really boring I’d much rather be challenged.

No. Being bored is awful. Especially if you are young. When you have kids, mortgages and other commitments being bored at work can be a blessing.

I am still fairly early on in my career around 3 years out of uni, although this is my second contract at a major bank, it’s a lot more difficult for me to get a decent contract compared to someone who has 10 years experience under their belt.

Correct. And here is your key risk :

If you are not picking up the skills now. Then in 10 years time you still won't have them. And you still will struggle to get a contract. You will get pigeon-hold into being a "Admin Monkey".

This is a common contractor trap. It goes like this :

Permie John gains high-value skills. Goes contracting. For several years coins it in. High value skill declines. Now contractor John has an obsolete skill-set. He's only hired for his skills and finds it harder to get contracts. Worse still, he finds it difficult to accept lower rates that would be required to get new skills and finds that clients do not give him the opportunity to learn new skills.


Your problem is that you have gone contracting before having the high value skills. It will be a challenge for you to pick them up. Nobody is going to help you. You need to be proactive and push hard to develop them.

And you need to start now. And you need a clear idea of what skills you are going to attempt to acquire. If you are a permie in a large co. All this is mapped out for you. When you are young you usually don't know what you need to know. So you had better start talking to the other BA's to find out how they got to where they are today.

On the plus point people are usually very friendly when someone show's an interest in them. So taking one of the BA's for a coffee or pint and asking him how he became so great will probably work.

What would you guys do in my situation,

So two main choices:

The easy choice is just to suck it up. Enjoy the money. Read a book in the toilet. Get a hobby. Whatever. You could last a decade in an IB doing crap work and earn more than an average person does in a lifetime. They over pay for everything from the servers, to the programmers, to the clerical staff.

The harder choice is to start looking for contracts away from your current place where you are now the "Admin Monkey" ... getting beyond that perception will be difficult. If you want to be a BA then you need to get contracts where they will use you as a BA.

Good luck. You got your education, got a job with a IB, so you're smart. You know what you need to do ...

[zeus91]

Thanks for the responses so far guys, very insightful.

[zeus91]

I understand that some may say I have gone contracting too early, but the plan was to take a contract over a perm role if I was offered it as I would still be doing the same kind of work as I would in a perm role, just the way I was employed would be different, and obviously I would be getting paid significantly more.

I think I may just stick it out, although it's boring I'd be stupid to walk away from this kind of money. I can reevaluate in the new year when we will have a new budget, being an IB typically they are trying to cost cut. If I'm let go then I'll just come back to London and try and come in at a lower rate there, failing that pick up a permie position for a year or two before jumping back into the contract world.

[northernladuk]

Thing is if you take a permie role you are the asset to the company so you are going to get training and as much as we hate them you'll get reviews and so on so will become a BA or PM which ever you want. You'll gain skills and opportunities (with the right employer). As a contractor you are just carrying out some tasks until you have to move on. Even 2 years in a permie role is going to put you at the back of a very long queue.

[MrMarkyMark]

I understand that some may say I have gone contracting too early, but the plan was to take a contract over a perm role if I was offered it as I would still be doing the same kind of work as I would in a perm role, just the way I was employed would be different, and obviously I would be getting paid significantly more.

I think I may just stick it out, although it's boring I'd be stupid to walk away from this kind of money. I can reevaluate in the new year when we will have a new budget, being an IB typically they are trying to cost cut. If I'm let go then I'll just come back to London and try and come in at a lower rate there, failing that pick up a permie position for a year or two before jumping back into the contract world.

Great post from tomtomagain.

Yes and unfortunately you have found out it doesn't work that way, you get paid more, but don't get the exposure to up skill to then sell on.

Its funny, as I know when I first started contracting, admittedly a long while ago now, Unicorn poo would be more likely a find than a contract 3 years out of uni .

Anyway seems like you have a plan.

Good luck with it!

[BigRed]

Stick it out, you are underworked and overpaid. Your CV probably looks good to agents now. Track what the experienced guys do, see which tech skills they have that you need and use your spare time to learn about them by asking questions. They absolutely won't map out a training path for you at your company but you should be able to work it out for yourself, add value where you can. Do not ask for more work as you are heading down the path of becoming a disguised permie, instead show some initiative in areas that interest you and show that you are there in more of a consultant role.

I often find myself with time to spare because I don't have all the shackles of permidom such as the career progression meetings and knowledge of code that I stupidly added my initials to 10 years ago, plus supporting the last version of the system you are rewriting.

[LondonManc]

If you're overpaid for what you're doing then you seriously need to think about a training course while you're benched. It'll demonstrate that you have a passion for what you do (you're doing it for the money, but we'll keep that one between you and I ) and give you the skills boost ready to hit the ground running next time. There's also scrum master to consider if you're looking at project team roles

[Lance]

I’m now getting a bit fed-up and not sure what to do,

You could spend all day trolling on this forum