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

[Scoobos]

For the first time ever I wish I had your outlook

I need some way of feeling better about what I do.

[Ketchup]

Life is what happens while you are making plans, so many of us spend our lives planning for the future that we do not enjoy the here and now as much as we should. I do love parts of programming, i like writing clever code and algorithms, when in reality the majority of programming jobs (in my experience only) come down to the transfer of data between a user interface and and database. There are some interesting parts, but the majority is just repetition.

I am a money motivated person, i got into IT as both my parents were very succesfull in the field and i saw it as an oppurtunity to earn a lot fo money. But now i am in the same boat as a lot of contractors where i plan on establishing a plan-b in order to leave contracting.

[nomadd]

The idea of work is horrible so i'm glad i get as much money out of it as possible.

^This, really.

If I can "steal" myself for another 2-3 years, then I become financially independent. Move out of London, by a nice little place for cash, and have enough left over to keep me ticking along for 15 years until I'd start drawing my pension.

Just have to try and motivate myself, I guess.

[louie]

Life is what happens while you are making plans, so many of us spend our lives planning for the future that we do not enjoy the here and now as much as we should. I do love parts of programming, i like writing clever code and algorithms, when in reality the majority of programming jobs (in my experience only) come down to the transfer of data between a user interface and and database. There are some interesting parts, but the majority is just repetition.

I am a money motivated person, i got into IT as both my parents were very succesfull in the field and i saw it as an oppurtunity to earn a lot fo money. But now i am in the same boat as a lot of contractors where i plan on establishing a plan-b in order to leave contracting.

+1

My ultimate goal is to replace my income earned from contracting with a passive income, or one where it doesn't involve me having to be at a certain place at 9am 5 days a week. Working feels like bondage to me now. The day I know I won't have to work again will be a huge weight of my shoulders.

[ChimpMaster]

But what about the kids?

[d000hg]

Yours, or in general?

[nomadd]

But what about the kids?

They are fooked, basically. Best just to explain to them that the UK has tanked economically and all the jobs have gone to India (etc.) Oh, and they have no chance of ever being able to afford a house. Best hope for them is to avoid I.T. at all costs.

What kids really should do is re-start the whole 60's counter-culture again. Make love, not war; don't bother with work, as it will be of no benefit to them. And do plenty of this:

[expat]

Meh, i still enjoy it. We get a tulip ton of money and have a lot of freedom.

Respectfully disagree. It looks as if we do, which is mainly why I have kept doing it. But when I look not just at the present but at a whole life, comparing it not just with the average but with what I optimistically believe that I might have done, it doesn't look so good. That was a large part of my point.

Of course I have no-one else to blame, and I agree with Ketchup: life is what happens when you're making plans. Hence my advice to look wider and consider whether you do want to do this all your life.

Could be worse. I could be an agent.

[nomadd]

I could be an agent.

Money for nothing and your chicks for free...

[Scrag Meister]

I really like and enjoy my life.

Very few regrets and even those are interlinked with so many great times, you can't have one without the other.

So glad I bought that Commodore 64 in 1982. Cost me £199, a fortune in the day. Paid for itself so many times over since. Definitely 1 thing I would not change.

Definitely no regrets having gone contracting, still enjoy coding and giving users what they want, then there is Hawaii, New York, Vegas etc.... made possible by contracting £££

Contracting is a facilitator, it is not your life, it enables your life.