I am considering a move out of dev contracting and into BA/Designer/TA type work. Has anyone out there made this type of transition? How was it? (I am guessing that there aren't as many BA/TA contracts out there as there are dev contracts which could mean going perm in order to make that transition?)
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You'll know from contracting that part of the reason for taking on a contractor is because they can hit the ground running. Contracting isn't about career progression, you're offering yourself as an expert resource. If you want that you're going to either get lucky with a contract where they'll offer you the opportunity to progress, or switch back to permie for a period of time to gain the skills. -
I'm in the process of a similar sort of transition.Originally posted by hgllgh View Post
Unless you're lucky its not something which will happen fast! What I've been doing is going for contracts which are technical but require a certain amount of non-techie technical skills i.e. System design/Architecture.
My current gig I'm lead/senior developer and the system Architect whilst at the same time having to do all the principle technical work myself and farming out the easier stuff to the permie developers.
I'm getting close to the 50/50 point now, but I still plan for another 2 years of transition whilst at the same time studying part time in an effort to back up the system architecture side of things so that by the end I'll have 4 years experience plus a Masters degreeCoffee's for closersComment
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I've found that I've been moving seemlessly between dev work and BA work. They are extremely different
skillsets IMO and I do find it difficult to swap.
But, I had been making the move up into Senior Management and Director roles so contracting back in dev and BA roles is a step back AFAIC.What happens in General, stays in General.You know what they say about assumptions!Comment
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As mentioned, taking a tech lead role will give you a bit more experience of design work.
There's plenty of people contracting as BA's who wouldn't know a use case if it ran up and slapped them in the face, indeed a lot them just seem to be employed to speak to the business and write things down. Apparently that's requirements gathering. Anyhow, it will depend where you are, if you're in London then you'll have a good chance of landing a BA role by tweaking your CV but I'd recommend some kind of formal training if you want to be any good at it.
The architeture route takes more experience but is a more natural progression from the techie developer role.Comment
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hey thanks for the replies.
i like the idea of stepping up to lead developer with BA/design/TA/PM as an additional element. I was thinking along those lines but was just curious as to peoples experience actually making that transition.
i also guess that the expected rate might increase over a standard dev contract?Comment
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Probably not. My first TA role was 1995. That was after 8 years in the industry, 6 of which were contract. Stuck with a mix of TA and dev - mainly TA - for the next 10 years. Then the more specialist dev roles started to overtake the rates I was getting for TA work - in the same field - by a considerable margin (no pun intended.) I also found that most TA roles were moving back to permies, and those which remained on the contract market were paying progressively less.Originally posted by hgllgh View Post
Moved back into mainly dev/design about 3 years ago. Rates have been excellent compared to TA roles, and a lot less hassle.
Your mileage may vary.
EDIT.
For example: http://www.jobserve.com/Java-Develop...C6345706.jsjob
Up to £750/day. Not bad for a "noddy" developer. Now you know why I do it these days. It'll see me through to retirement.
Last edited by nomadd; 14 January 2011, 17:53.nomadd liked this postComment
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