When contract jobs go bad..........

[TheFaQQer]

My last contract was a nightmare.

Secure site - no phone, no MP3 player, no laptop until cleared (and even then, no internet that you could log into, in case anyone tracked your IP address), no logon until security clearance comes through. Need to be escorted everywhere, by someone cleared - so no hiding in the loo reading the paper, as they would wait outside for you.

One developer worked stupid hours and overtime. Because he did ALL the work that the team of four were meant to be doing - ALL of it. The one piece of work that I did, he rejected and rewrote because I had used capitals for the reserved words in SQL, and had used the ANSI join syntax and he didn't like it. So, he rewrote it, rather than letting me change it - at great cost and time, and whilst whinging that he had soooooo much to do.

Five month contract - total work done was probably about 9 days. And with no distractions. Just the Oracle manuals to read.

I started to set myself sudoku puzzles using Excel to help pass the time.

[doodab]

Its Friday I can't be bothered much today so was just wondering peoples experiences of bad contracts. I was talking about this with someone last night and so far the worst contract I have had was being stuck on a desk on my own could not talk to anyone because of some crazy high desk divides and I had hardly anything to do, no messenger, internet monitored, i was bored tulip13ss!!!

I know thats not really bad by any means but has anyone had any really bad ones and was it so bad it actually made you leave or did you see it through?

I once got fed up of turning up at a client site (every day, for several months) and not having a desk. The client directors PA told me "that's tough tulip", the PM (from the consultancy I was working on behalf of) said "well, you'll just have to put up with it" and I said "no I don't, I'm on 5 days notice". To be fair, I didn't actually leave, I ended up working from home.

Apart from that, I've always seen out my contracts, although I have turned down a few renewals.

[northernladuk]

My last contract was a nightmare.

Secure site - no phone, no MP3 player, no laptop until cleared (and even then, no internet that you could log into, in case anyone tracked your IP address), no logon until security clearance comes through. Need to be escorted everywhere, by someone cleared - so no hiding in the loo reading the paper, as they would wait outside for you.

One developer worked stupid hours and overtime. Because he did ALL the work that the team of four were meant to be doing - ALL of it. The one piece of work that I did, he rejected and rewrote because I had used capitals for the reserved words in SQL, and had used the ANSI join syntax and he didn't like it. So, he rewrote it, rather than letting me change it - at great cost and time, and whilst whinging that he had soooooo much to do.

Five month contract - total work done was probably about 9 days. And with no distractions. Just the Oracle manuals to read.

I started to set myself sudoku puzzles using Excel to help pass the time.

This wasn't a slightly older fella, has intense dislike for management, refuses promotion in to team lead/management position and is a nightmare to manage so they leave him to it. Knows so much about the company and the work if he gets run over by a bus tomorrow it will take the co. years to recover?

I don't know him but met those types twice in last 2 gigs. Your guy sounds very familiar.

[Spacecadet]

First contract I had was by far the worst
Really boring team, boring company and tedious work.

About the only excitement was having to spend a week argueing with the managing director of the agency about when i should be paid. I wasn't too impressed, as someone on here pointed out, they were clearly trying to take the piss with a newbie contractor.

The only good about the contract was the drive there and back. 60 minutes through the peak district and I found some really nice routes where were traffic free for the most part.

[gingerjedi]

True, but I have had contracts where the real job title was "scapegoat".

I had a contract last year where I was on a team of 8 (3 perm, 5 contractors), the turnover of contractors was extremely high because the permies were lazy and vindictive but the remote management only ever asked them how things were going, the fact that the contractors carried the permies was never brought to light.

My contract wasn't renewed purely because the site lead couldn't bully me like my previous incumbents, I chose to ignore him rather than be humiliated. Before leaving I rang the boss and pointed out that I was the 4th contractor to be pushed in the past year and maybe he should look a little closer to home before making decisions in future, it was never going to save me but it may have given a future contractor a better chance should they choose to act.

[Doggy Styles]

Back in the nineties I contracted at an asset management company, whose parent was the biggest insurance company in the UK at the time.

The boss was hyper-critical of everything I did, despite knowing nothing about how to do my job. She had unreasonable expectations, decided I was incompetent, and two of her toadies kept copying what she'd say. It was comical.

Anyway, I lasted 10 days, then found out I was about the fourth person they'd tried. They'd reduced the woman who preceded me to tears.

By a fabulous coincidence, I was back in that same building within a year working for the parent company, and took great delight in grinning at them when we passed in the corridor or canteen.

[TheFaQQer]

This wasn't a slightly older fella, has intense dislike for management, refuses promotion in to team lead/management position and is a nightmare to manage so they leave him to it. Knows so much about the company and the work if he gets run over by a bus tomorrow it will take the co. years to recover?

I don't know him but met those types twice in last 2 gigs. Your guy sounds very familiar.

Nope - contractor.

[Lumiere]

I make a point of giving off the impression that I do not give a toss and make it known that if I was to be let go today I would be more than happy. I offset that by making sure the job is always done and to a decent standard.

The worst thing that can happen to someone trying to get at you is to make sure you cannot be got at. It pisses them off no end.

WHS

dead nerve cells do not regenerate

[thunderlizard]

My second ever contract was the worst. Mercifully short because money tight - 3 days just before Christmas, though they'd budgeted for an extra 1/2 day as contingency. It was 1999 - all the decent contractors were taken and I had not much experience and had to rush through what would probably have been 6 days work for a normal contractor. So they ended up with a semi- rather than fully-automated process.
An hour on the train + a 20 minute icy trudge across an industrial estate to get there. Such a high-pressure environment that I was given the safety briefing at the same time as the task briefing. And all to the accompaniment of a Christmas music CD on loop.

hardly anything to do, no messenger, internet monitored, i was bored tulip13ss!!!

well, it's for your benefit that most of the great books of the world are freely available in .txt format, ideally suited to reading in an IDE code window.

[Support Monkey]

Large financial company in Northampton weekly rolling contract, turned up no desk no PC had to look over the shoulder of someone else to view the call login system, took a couple of jobs and went wandering about, great big open plan office like working at terminal 3 heathrow but with desks the noise was unbearable, came back and they gave me a desk they were so close to each other that the guy behind had to pull his chair in for me to get in or out, the whole building was the same. like one giant chicken coup.

It was the worse 4 hours of my life