Career path?

[MarillionFan]

I find that when I'm permie I get stressed by crap decisions. As a contractor I sit and laugh. Current clientco is a disaster due to poor management (they still haven't got the basics right on this project) but I just send emails to highlight the issue and laugh when they get ignored.

If I was permie I would be taking it personally as I'm not I don't care provided I get paid...

I would agree. As a contractor you can watch with impunity but as a perm those poor decisions are left for you to pick up the pieces. I fancy spending a while in my career setting the strategy and making the decisions. As it happens my next move will most likely be in developing my own products or buying into an existing company.

[doodab]

I believed exactly the same. I didn't have the mentality or patience to be able to succeed or even survive in a senior role. The first time I went perm from contracting was back in 2002 & took a senior role, I lasted six months before politics finished me off and I went back contracting.

The 2nd time I had a go at it 4 years later, was again from contract to perm, this time I'd got the hang of the politics, but struggled at the highest level & having multiple staff in multiple countries & only went back contracting when the push to move to the US was to great & I wasn't willing to go as my son had just been born, so I jacked it. But that time I hated going back into a position where I watched idiots make decisions around me that were wrong, so when the third time came along I'd eventually learned the skills & had the maturity to make it work.

Some have the maturity earlier, for me I'd had to work on it. I haven't threatened to kill anyone on this gig... yet.

Yes but you had three goes at it, which implies that this was something you actively wanted to do and succeed at. I simply don't have that ambition, will to power, whatever you might call it.

[MarillionFan]

Yes but you had three goes at it, which implies that this was something you actively wanted to do and succeed at. I simply don't have that ambition, will to power, whatever you might call it.

My logic is based on the fact you're just not going to be able to last as a grunt contractor into your middle age & you need to find out how to make your career last. Being Bobable or risking running out of new skills just isn't really an option.

[original PM]

I find that when I'm permie I get stressed by crap decisions. As a contractor I sit and laugh. Current clientco is a disaster due to poor management (they still haven't got the basics right on this project) but I just send emails to highlight the issue and laugh when they get ignored.

If I was permie I would be taking it personally as I'm not I don't care provided I get paid...

There is no need to take things personally as a permie --- I do not.

I am also under no illusion that a permanent job has any more permanancy than a contract.

I am a permie but ready to move at a moments notice.

yes the politics piss me off mainly because of the huge inefficencies they bring not for any other reason - but I generally ignore it.

[doodab]

My logic is based on the fact you're just not going to be able to last as a grunt contractor into your middle age & you need to find out how to make your career last. Being Bobable or risking running out of new skills just isn't really an option.

Yeah that's a fair point. I think I've been lucky enough to have avoided the worst of the bobbing and moved beyond simple grunt status but I find it hard to imagine a complete cessation of hands on technical activity. I'd be bored off my tits.

When I do think about doing something else, it's invariably something completely different, not some other role in the corporate IT ecosystem. I just haven't thought of anything sufficiently convincing yet.

[Crossroads]

Oddly enough I'm currently tempted by a few permie roles I've seen. Why? Lots of reasons, not sure if being 38 is one of them though:

- it would be a good time to liquidate my Ltd
- I'm currently doing high level strategy / architecture stuff, and I'm not really enjoying being so far from the coal face
- hand's on design/implementation roles in my permie niche for an end user (rather than consultancy) would still likely bag me £75k, potentially £90k if I went to a consultancy, but I don't want to do that, little different to doing it for myself (other than the reduced choice of client and reduced profit!)
- I'm not entirely sure what direction I want to head in, but if I do want to move sideways then it might be better in a large organisation than on my own.

[sasguru]

My logic is based on the fact you're just not going to be able to last as a grunt contractor into your middle age & you need to find out how to make your career last. Being Bobable or risking running out of new skills just isn't really an option.

I think the operative word there is "grunt".
You're not going to last as a "grunt permie" either.
Plenty of bitter, UKIP voting, bobbed, middle-aged people on this forum who felt too entitled and didn't or couldn't move beyond grunt level.
But if you're not "grunt", then you can make a good living in middle age, either senior perm or niche contractor.
If you want to do the latter successfully then you need to keep actively learning new things.
I've done senior management, was reasonably good at it, but ultimately I love techie stuff and problem-solving.
And that is key whatever you want to do, having a real passion for what you do.

[Paddy]

I see many contractors going back permie once they get older, e.g. 45. (that's the age when you are not in a mood to be involved in a startup).

That means one needs to have certain skills by then, e.g. to know how to climb the corporate ladder.

What do you see as a common career path for contractors?

What else do you need to be good at once you hit 45?

Puns welcome, it's a Monday after a weekend after all.

The majority of top contractors that I have worked with are in their 50s and 60s. I presume you are doing desktop support or something alike.

[mudskipper]

Managing people and situations. If you hit 45 and you still cannot articulate yourself, deal with social situations or cannot influence than frankly you're destined to stay at a certain level of mediocrity and upcoming youngsters are going to replace you, if not already.

[Old Greg]

Still, that was a while ago.