Why you started Contracting!

[shoes]

I also don't buy into the idea of a 'career'.

It amazes me how many people fall for it all. The notion of a career is one of those things that you are told to keep you on the treadmill of making other people wealthy. People willingly live hand to mouth because they are given a 'title' at work that they believe impresses people. For some people they think driving a company car that they couldn't otherwise afford is impressive to other people. These things are only impressive to other mugs like them. They sacrifice their lives to further something they call their 'career'. 'Career' is a word. It is an attempt to make working to make the company owner rich sound prestigous.

I wonder if they finally work it out when they are given their carriage clock when they retire and realise they have nothing to show for a lifetime of toil. I hope for their sake at that point that they do not.

I realise I am preaching to the converted but I just thought I would share my amazement with you all. People are really really dumb.

[2uk]

1. That is how they let me in this country.

2. MONEY

3.Contracting demands you to motivate/control/manage yourself , whereas permanent implants slave mindset.

4. Change.

[Denny]

It amazes me how many people fall for it all. The notion of a career is one of those things that you are told to keep you on the treadmill of making other people wealthy. People willingly live hand to mouth because they are given a 'title' at work that they believe impresses people. For some people they think driving a company car that they couldn't otherwise afford is impressive to other people. These things are only impressive to other mugs like them. They sacrifice their lives to further something they call their 'career'. 'Career' is a word. It is an attempt to make working to make the company owner rich sound prestigous.

I wonder if they finally work it out when they are given their carriage clock when they retire and realise they have nothing to show for a lifetime of toil. I hope for their sake at that point that they do not.

I realise I am preaching to the converted but I just thought I would share my amazement with you all. People are really really dumb.

I think that is a bit harsh. Some people prefer to work for others because their lifestyle and financial commitments demand it. Some personalities prefer a more structured and managed environment and don't want to take the risk of becoming a business. Lots of contractors return to permiedom during a downturn or if their financial burdens get too great they don't want to risk their livlihoods anymore. Also, it is illusionary to think that successful employees who scale the managerial ladder in good companies are worse off in the longer term than contractors. That may not always be the case.

Let's face it, if everyone had the same view as us and started their own business then we wouldn't have any clients of our own to contract for. Businesses only grow to any appreciable size when there are staff there to support that growth.

Contractors and staff are yin and yang. We keep big businesses afloat in our own way to help them retain the staff they need and their staff support their employers to keep us lot gainfully contracting when they can't find the skills when they need them.

Remember that.

[thunderlizard]

Needed some money to pay some rent one summer while a student in the lateish 90s. Went down the Job Centre and noticed jobs that involved noddying around with spreadsheets paid a couple of quid an hour more than waiting tables or carrying bricks round a building site, so got a summer job doing Excel and Access development.
With a bit of experience in the bag, once graduation time came around, going through 3 rounds of interviews to get a £25k/year graduate job seemed less appealing than making a phone call and getting a £25/hr contract

[Torran]

I was a £15k a year permy doing business analysis. I got bored, emailed my CV off to a mate who was also a permy for a large financial institution who had just purchased another financial institution.

Gave it to his boss who said "how much does he want" . I asked for £400 p.d and i got £220. I got 2 years out of that first gig

That was 7 years ago.


So cash basically

[Moose423956]

One word - money.

Now I'm a permie. So no money.

[ChimpMaster]

I started contracting because:

a) When I was a permie I .... (snip)

Jeez are you sure you aren't the problem?! I mean it does seem to follow you around eh?

[HairyArsedBloke]

Nobody would give me a ‘proper job’ after they’ve done the background checks on me.

[MrMark]

Possibly because of my age (mid 40s) no-one would even interview me for a proper job. So I took the first contract I was offered (this was 3 months ago). I'm glad to say I've been able to justify my fees (and indeed far more). Should have done it years ago.

[oracleslave]

Should have done it years ago.

Possibly but you have plenty of time to build up a nice nest egg