if you had opportunity to start again what mistakes would you avoid ?

[escapeUK]

and I wouldnt have wasted money going through a umbrella the first 18 months.

[bless 'em all]

I'd have never told the wife how much I was earning.

[Notascooby]

Lots of mistakes in permie-dom such as putting up with a huge amount of crap and trusting "verbal" agreements.

The main mistake was getting too personally attached to my work - yes I still care about what I deliver but now if the client wants to choose option bulltulip - then I use the best advice I was given before contracting.

"Tell them once that they are wrong, then if need be, tell them a second time and present the evidence. If they then choose to ignore this, smile and do as they ask"

This has been invaluable, I try not to say I told you so but its good to be able to pull out the discussion paper you produced 8 months before the project meltdown.

Oh and something I learnt on my first contract, to know when to walk away from a bad project and go elsewhere before the afore-mentioned meltdown.

[Cenobite]

Personally I think with contracting that you can 'start again' with every new contract.

My advice: if an agent or client pays you late it won't be a one-off but they'll do it repeatedly. If they pay you late on the first or second invoice then walk.

[calacik]

Lots of mistakes in permie-dom such as putting up with a huge amount of crap and trusting "verbal" agreements.

The main mistake was getting too personally attached to my work - yes I still care about what I deliver but now if the client wants to choose option bulltulip - then I use the best advice I was given before contracting.

"Tell them once that they are wrong, then if need be, tell them a second time and present the evidence. If they then choose to ignore this, smile and do as they ask"

This has been invaluable, I try not to say I told you so but its good to be able to pull out the discussion paper you produced 8 months before the project meltdown.

Oh and something I learnt on my first contract, to know when to walk away from a bad project and go elsewhere before the afore-mentioned meltdown.

I can see whee you coming from, I have experienced the same in my permie job and 100% agree with you!!

[xoggoth]

Mistakes? Never made any. Those are for lesser mortals.

[Gibbon]

Not got into contracting when I left the mob. With the benefit of hindsight I should have gone uni and done a classiscs degree. Computers are to me fecking boring no matter what the application. The only benefit is being able to semi retire before I hit 50. I'm trying to rectify this through OU.

[Scrag Meister]

Can't remember the year but wanted to go contracting in the early 90s, but ex-wife wasn't keen on leaving her friends and parents. FFS!
Finally managed it in 2007.

Avoiding marrying her would mean I wouldn't have my great kids and grand kids, so that 's a no-no.

Keep looking forward people.

[expat]

Not got into contracting when I left the mob. With the benefit of hindsight I should have gone uni and done a classiscs degree. Computers are to me fecking boring no matter what the application. The only benefit is being able to semi retire before I hit 50. I'm trying to rectify this through OU.

I agree with that. I usually think that I have had a good run with contracting but as I reach the end of my "career" I find that I am doing nothing interesting, the rates are lower and the time between contracts longer (I have started calling that "semi-retirement"), and looking back over my life gives me no sense of achievement.

How have other people I know fared in different careers? My brother and one of my oldest friends have worked in computing in Silicon Valley, and both have made a mark: some things about computers and communications and the internet are down to them and you can find their names on google in discussion groups (usenet!) from as far back as the 1980s. Brother retired over 10 years ago with (AFAI can see) well over 1m in houses and plenty of money. Old friend hasn't retired yet because he spends loads of money. But could any time he wanted.

Many of my oldest friends became teachers. All have by now become principal teachers or headmasters. They are making decent if not flash money, and they have done so all their lives, without any of the low periods that I have had, and which take a long long time to recover from. Also the pension is good and the time off, while not as much as some people think, is OK. And reskilling is built in.

Some of them stayed in universities. The 2 that I am still in touch with are now professors. Neither will get a Nobel but they are doing worthwhile and interesting work, and again have income, pension and holidays, not to mention sabbaticals.

One or two of my friends have done something less obvious and more independent. One publishes an arts magazine of some reputation in its circles. Another designs aspects of rides for Disney parks. Another, the most left-wing of us ironically, ran a successful business and also became involved in politics as well as in writing. A cousin became a teacher, then owned a shop, then taught kayaking.

There are a few doctors in there, and one heart surgeon in the US. Also one of the teachers reskilled as a lawyer and became a chief prosecutor.

Without bulltulip, only a couple of them were as intelligent as I am (was?) and I should have been able to do any of those things. But instead I have sold my intelligence to make minor tweaks in some companies' IT systems and so perhaps help them to move stock around or sell things to customers. Someone has to do it but neither the doing of it nor having done it makes me feel that my life has been well spent.

I thought that in contracting I was free, but much of that is illusory, it's just employment without modern social protection, excused only by high rates of pay. The supposedly high rates of pay are not so great either - we all know that 500 a day does not give you 125,000 a year to spend (especially if you have to work abroad). I thought that I could take time off to travel, and I did. But other people got the employer to pay for travel, or for time off. You can do a lot in the school holidays, and as for a sabbatical...)

In short, I have done nothing more than a slightly up-market version of what a promising 16-year-old does when he leaves school to work and get a little money as soon as possible: thrown away a life for a quick paycheck.

I would advise anyone to consider whether this is really what they want to do with their life. I didn't really want to do it with my whole life, but it looks as though I have. It is hard to get out of. If you do want to do it, I would strongly advise building up a huge warchest and then savings. At least then you will have choices later, when you may want them (out of boredom) or need them (out of failing market).

[sasguru]

If I had my time again, I wouldn't have done a computer systems engineering degree, but something completely different - luckily I managed to switch to more mathematically oriented areas.
I'm still considering what to do for my second career, but options are limited once you hit 40.
I would also have bought more property in the 90s and early noughties than I did.