Enlightenment

[sasguru]

I really don't enjoy it anymore. I think developers have their shelf life and in this discipline you have to keep reinventing yourself. It comes to a head and as you enter middle-age you lose the will to keep on doing it. Then you look at the way the industry is heading (has been heading for several years) as a whole, with the offshoring, nearshoring, visas, HMRC vendetta and the London IB sector which has been my bread and butter but now it's gone. I guess I've just burnt out with it all if I'm honest. I've been on a process of re-skilling to remain current and it's been hard this time around, though I feel I've chosen wisely and on the crest of the next big wave but I haven't the appetite for it, not the traditional 5 days a week on site anyhow. You wake up in the morning and think to yourself "I can still do this" but as you look for new opportunities and read the adverts, it makes me feel physically sick. Not where I want to be anymore. Somebody else's turn.

oh, and travelling, bench time, relentless interviewing, living away from home for years on end have all contributed.

Therein lies your problem. Change sector ...

[Bacchus]

I think I am a little bit ahead but on the same curve as you @oliverson.

Contractor for twenty years, loved it, great clients and some really great gigs, but it comes to the time when enough is enough.

I declined an extension last year and decided that I would rather die poor than spend another six months on some project which was, in the grand scheme of things, a waste of time. I'm not poor, obviously I would have taken the extension if I was seriously poor. I can't afford to retire but I can afford to transisition; investment income of about twelve hundred a month doesn't allow expensive skiing holidays but it keeps the wolf from the door and allows longer hols - a month in the motorhome, a few weeks on the boat... It's also amazing how cheaply you can live when not commuting, buying coffees and lunch every day, and giving huge chunks of cash to the taxman! I've written one novel and working on two more, also just sharpening my chisels to do some work on a new bathroom. Alles gut.

Life is FAR too short to peck around at something just to pay "the man".

I still lurk on this forum though, I do like the contractor banter (as a group contractors are slightly more "go getter" than many (or is that opinionated...)), and funnily enough I get loads of approaches for work. I am not ruling another gig out, just not chasing it.

[DimPrawn]

How long before Suity joins this "giving up contracting" thread?

[sasguru]

How long before Suity joins this "giving up contracting" thread?

The best ones stop and the mediocre carry on cocking up ...

[DimPrawn]

The best ones stop and the mediocre carry on cocking up ...

Ain't that the truth.

The best ones earn the big money, buy property, fill up their ISA's, a bit of pension, and other investments, don't get divorced, and are able to semi retire in their late 40's.

The tulip ones post their daily trials and tribulations on here.

[vetran]

I thought that made you go blind not give up contracting..

he moonlights for NLYUK its the RSI in his wrist after pleasing those sailors.

[BrilloPad]

The best ones stop and the mediocre carry on cocking up ...

I wish I did not keep on cocking up. It might lead to fewer divorces.

I am now at 32 years in IT. Nearly 30 years in IB. And nearly 28 years since my first contract. There have been a few changes in that time.