Why IT contractors don’t always build empires

[expat]

I am not a business, and don't want to be. I am a professional.

[bogeyman]

I am not a business, and don't want to be. I am a professional.

Sounds a bit like 'disguised employee' to me.

Anyway, IT monkeys are not 'professionals'.

Doctors are 'professionals', lawyers are 'professionals'.

There is no recognised professional qualification for IT and no professional standards body.

Professional my arse!

[AtW]

Professionals in American sense probably.

[Ardesco]

Sounds a bit like 'disguised employee' to me.

Anyway, IT monkeys are not 'professionals'.

Doctors are 'professionals', lawyers are 'professionals'.

There is no recognised professional qualification for IT and no professional standards body.

Professional my arse!

[expat]

Sounds a bit like 'disguised employee' to me.

Anyway, IT monkeys are not 'professionals'.

Doctors are 'professionals', lawyers are 'professionals'.

There is no recognised professional qualification for IT and no professional standards body.

Professional my arse!

Your arse may be professional, I wouldn't know.

I mean professional in the sense that what I want do is apply my (IMHO rare) knowledge and ability to solve problems for clients, not build a business. "Employee", disguised or otherwise, is irrelevant. That is part of the argument of business vs employee. I don't care, it's like metal desk or wooden desk, laptop or desktop. It's just a tool or method, not the object.

"Professional" as you put it is probably irrelevant too: that's a status rather than an activity.

[expat]

Professionals in American sense probably.

Not sure what you mean. But if it helps, I did try to make the point to bogeyman that I am not much interested in the legal or tax format of how one works. That is, I am not trying to argue whether or not I am an employee. That really is not the point. The point is that I do a certain kind of work; and the object of that is not to create a business. That's why I don't grow a business.

It is not I who am fixated on business vs employee: that is only a status, not an activity.

[bogeyman]

Your arse may be professional, I wouldn't know.

I mean professional in the sense that what I want do is apply my (IMHO rare) knowledge and ability to solve problems for clients, not build a business. "Employee", disguised or otherwise, is irrelevant. That is part of the argument of business vs employee. I don't care, it's like metal desk or wooden desk, laptop or desktop. It's just a tool or method, not the object.

"Professional" as you put it is probably irrelevant too: that's a status rather than an activity.

If you are providing services to clients then you are a business.

If you want to stay a one-man business then fine. Nobody is forcing you to grow.

It just sounds so pretentious to say, "oh no, I'm not trade! I'm a professional, don't you know".

You are indeed correct that the word Professional implies a status and level of achievement which is valued by those who do hold professional qualifications. Calling yourself a professional devalues that status for those who are entitled to it.

[expat]

If you are providing services to clients then you are a business.

If you want to stay a one-man business then fine. Nobody is forcing you to grow.

It just sounds so pretentious to say, "oh no, I'm not trade! I'm a professional, don't you know".

You are indeed correct that the word Professional implies a status and level of achievement which is valued by those who do hold professional qualifications. Calling yourself a professional devalues that status for those who are entitled to it.

OK, fair enough. I should have said "trade", I often do. I just really want to sidestep the "if you're not a real business then you are a disguised employee" argument. I believe that it misses more important points than it gets.

[sasguru]

Although I am not hands on technical any more, I used to like thinking of myself as a craftsman. Programming is more like a craft than anything else. Like a carpenter you use your tools to (hopefully) build an elegant and robust product.

[Bagpuss]

If you are providing services to clients then you are a business.

If you want to stay a one-man business then fine. Nobody is forcing you to grow.

It just sounds so pretentious to say, "oh no, I'm not trade! I'm a professional, don't you know".

You are indeed correct that the word Professional implies a status and level of achievement which is valued by those who do hold professional qualifications. Calling yourself a professional devalues that status for those who are entitled to it.

If I did a one year postgrad teacher training after my BSc, I could call myself a Professional. However, If I choose to do a PhD or an MSc and become say an actuary I can't. The teacher training qualification is noddy compared to the other two qualifications and so is the career. Infact can't policemen and nurses call themselves professionals? and any numpty could do either of those.