Hello
I am about to trade in my beloved contractor status for a management role. I have been stuck on the bench far too long, since November 2007, in fact.
Although I am penniless, for last 8 days the contract phone calls from agency have suddenly become a drip feed. Luckily enough I had an alternative.
Anyway I digress, through some networking contacts, an old boss of mine recently came looking for a good technologist and after series of interviews I eventually got the job offer.
As a contractor I really liked that the office/department/division daily politics were left behind at work, the money was a lot better and the holidays even better; and I found a diversity of contract clients and jobs. I have learnt an awful lot on gigs more than if I had been a permanent employee in the job for five years. It has been really good, but I never received that "climb-up-the-ladder". Contractors do not get promotions!
My experience being a humble developer contractor meant that I have had a lot of software development, but rarely had anything to do architecture and design. We guys (and gals) tend to brought into projects when the project initiation documents has already been signed off by "high heejuns". By the time I have arrived in almost projects it time to code, refactor, test and delivery.
So I have bitten the permie pill and hopefully I can get into other stuff including "people management". There is another obvious trade-off. I have been speaking to loads of engineers, developers off-line, and most of us think that 2008 will continue to be hard and competitive, perhaps for some folks it may be harder to survive in the contractor market.
Who knows I might even be back as a contractor as a couple of years [2009-2011: circa Dotbomb III a personal prediction; can't wait to see that movie, did you see the last one?], whenever the market and optimism is taking off again.
Best.
ps: I will pop back in the Business/Contracts forum from time-to-time
I am about to trade in my beloved contractor status for a management role. I have been stuck on the bench far too long, since November 2007, in fact.
Although I am penniless, for last 8 days the contract phone calls from agency have suddenly become a drip feed. Luckily enough I had an alternative.
Anyway I digress, through some networking contacts, an old boss of mine recently came looking for a good technologist and after series of interviews I eventually got the job offer.
As a contractor I really liked that the office/department/division daily politics were left behind at work, the money was a lot better and the holidays even better; and I found a diversity of contract clients and jobs. I have learnt an awful lot on gigs more than if I had been a permanent employee in the job for five years. It has been really good, but I never received that "climb-up-the-ladder". Contractors do not get promotions!
My experience being a humble developer contractor meant that I have had a lot of software development, but rarely had anything to do architecture and design. We guys (and gals) tend to brought into projects when the project initiation documents has already been signed off by "high heejuns". By the time I have arrived in almost projects it time to code, refactor, test and delivery.
So I have bitten the permie pill and hopefully I can get into other stuff including "people management". There is another obvious trade-off. I have been speaking to loads of engineers, developers off-line, and most of us think that 2008 will continue to be hard and competitive, perhaps for some folks it may be harder to survive in the contractor market.
Who knows I might even be back as a contractor as a couple of years [2009-2011: circa Dotbomb III a personal prediction; can't wait to see that movie, did you see the last one?], whenever the market and optimism is taking off again.
Best.
ps: I will pop back in the Business/Contracts forum from time-to-time
Iceland
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