How did you do this year?

[filthy1980]

terrible start to the year with no contract and down to my last few K

started one at the end of Feb 135% down from previous rate (but beggars cant be choosers)

3 weeks in and it was WFH, but thankfully have stayed in contract and managed to build some funds, can't really forward any downtime though, need to keep billing

[Paralytic]

I've not added things up, but both of our scheduled family holidays were cancelled this year due to Covid so I just kept billing apart from a couple of days off - so will probably end up with the my billing days ever. Contract renewed into next year.

[WTFH]

How did you do this year?
Worked throughout.

What went well:
Improved work/life balance. Took 2 projects live remotely, did a lot of gardening, redecorated some of the house.

What went bad:
Moderating an internet forum.
Was hoping to get back to BA gold and Hilton diamond by the summer.
Didn't sell the house.
Big birthday cancelled (holiday, etc)

[BackupBoy]

Two-month gap from end-Feb. Fully engaged since. Current contract runs until end-Dec. Extension expected.

[vwdan]

How did you do this year?

Can't even come close to trying to count days but in terms of basic invoicing last year I made 2.5x what I've made this year. Which is about right - I've been "lucky" in that I've ad-hoc work ticking over so no huge CV gaps, but it has been incredibly quiet. In May I moved us to our "minimum spend" model and I've still drawn slightly more out of the company than I made, so dipped into the warchest. Warchest depleted by just under 10%.

What went well:

Got involved in some stuff that is exceptional CV fodder. Perhaps even too much as it seems to be scaring some people off, but either way it was a cracking opportunity. Unfortunately not sustainable for a variety of reasons, but it feels great to drop it on my CV.

Finally got around to doing some of the Azure exam track - so that was good.

Hopefully I'm going to end on a high, though, as I've got a few things spinning that look very likely to come off. Ironically, having had such a crap year I might be letting a few people down!

What went bad:

Everything else. Long periods of absolutely nothing, no interviews, no agency calls, zilch. "Failed" an interview for the first time ever, so that was absolutely gutting - but there's a Pt 2 to that story for another time.

[BigDataPro]

Billing average went down by around 30-40% but with free time my skillset has improved a lot. I am actually happier in spite of not having enough work. I know, it's insane, I am Crazy

[PCTNN]

Usually would start this thread later on in the year, but given I'm done for 2020, here it is.

How has your 2020 been so far? How many days have you invoiced/are you on track to invoice? More or less than you were expecting? What went well and what went bad?

I've wrapped up 2020 early, finished my contract last Friday and given the poor market conditions I'm taking the rest of the year off.

Overall happy with how it went, having invoiced 208 days.

What went well: I managed to secure an extension when wave 1 of the pandemic was at its peak, which led to me to stuffing my warchest enough to make me face 2021 with a positive outlook.

What went bad: professionally speaking, this last contract has been the worst of my career. Boring work, never seen so much waste, never seen so much incompetence. I had been warned about rbs/natwest and holy cow were they right. Hadn't it been for covid, I never would have stayed 10 months.