Reply to: To stay or not to stay......

[ChimpMaster]

The way I often look at these things is: if you leave, what else are you going to do with the time? It’s easy to leave if you’re bored/unpaid/unappreciated and have something better or different to move on to. It’s difficult to leave if you have no other options.

Given the way you’re feeling, why not take a peek at the opportunities available to you out on the market, and then at least you will have something to compare against.

Otherwise, stay put, keep on doing a great job and keep on earning your money. You’d rather earn while you can, than look back at some point in the future and wish you’d carried on building the warchest.

[anonymouse]

Current pimp agency gives unlimited free access to on-line training stuff, not just dev stuff either. It's BYOD device site, so I have 3g with no networks monitoring my usage.

I'm in the same situation. t's easy money, so every Friday I check the invoice has been paid. There's work to do, but neither client nor supplier have got a clue about organising it. They don't want to change things, it's their way of working, so just roll with the punch's. 9 months in & another 6 to go, with the PM asking about workload after that.

I don't have kids, but other cons would rate that as top priority, it's something you just can't buy.

[Willapp]

I think if you need the money for the warchest and it's so convenient it definitely sounds like staying is the right choice, at least until something better comes along.

If you have the freedom to surf the web etc. then consider furthering your skills - a Pluralsight subscription is a cheap business expense and their videos are great ways to learn new technology.

Like a lot of contractors I have several "plan B" projects and it would be a dream to be effectively getting paid to work on them during business hours, if I had time to kill.

[acnm]

So point 2 trumps all the others

Stay in contract - until you find another with similar travel time

This was my train of thought. It would be almost impossible to find a contract within a similar distance / travel time so I'm inclined to drag this out for as long as possible. Just need some way of overcoming the mind-numbing boredom and retain my sanity.

[tarbera]

1) Is rate good? - Not bad. Neither the best or worse I've had.
2) Is it close to home or miles away? - Very close to home. Get to see my kids when I get home for the first time in ages
3) Is the tech you work with looking good on your CV or is it old crap? - Yes, it is a company that looks very good on your CV
4) Do you need the money for warchest? - yes
5) Is it a nice place to work? Are the people nice? - Same as anywhere, but boss is a bit of an idiot
6) Can you get away with surfing the web for the remaining 5 hours? - Yes but it's so boring
7) Can you get away with long lunches/go early? - sometimes yes

So point 2 trumps all the others

Stay in contract - until you find another with similar travel time

[meridian]

1) Is rate good? - Not bad. Neither the best or worse I've had.
2) Is it close to home or miles away? - Very close to home. Get to see my kids when I get home for the first time in ages
3) Is the tech you work with looking good on your CV or is it old crap? - Yes, it is a company that looks very good on your CV
4) Do you need the money for warchest? - yes
5) Is it a nice place to work? Are the people nice? - Same as anywhere, but boss is a bit of an idiot
6) Can you get away with surfing the web for the remaining 5 hours? - Yes but it's so boring
7) Can you get away with long lunches/go early? - sometimes yes

And if you rate those in priority, which one wins out? Personally I'd stick a contract out that meant that I could get home at a decent hour every night.

If you can get away with a few hours surfing every day, why not turn that into an advantage? Upskilling and online training, Plan B, etc.

[acnm]

1) Is rate good? - Not bad. Neither the best or worse I've had.
2) Is it close to home or miles away? - Very close to home. Get to see my kids when I get home for the first time in ages
3) Is the tech you work with looking good on your CV or is it old crap? - Yes, it is a company that looks very good on your CV
4) Do you need the money for warchest? - yes
5) Is it a nice place to work? Are the people nice? - Same as anywhere, but boss is a bit of an idiot
6) Can you get away with surfing the web for the remaining 5 hours? - Yes but it's so boring
7) Can you get away with long lunches/go early? - sometimes yes

[unixman]

Setting > General Settings > Basic Editor

Nice one. That brings to an end my animated banana embarrassment.

[TheFaQQer]

Incidentally, off topic but is there a way to remove that panel of animated emoticons from the ContractorUK edit window ?

Setting > General Settings > Basic Editor

[unixman]

Agree with jmo21. The client needs you, but the requirement won't always add up to 40 hours a week. They are probably aware of that and just want you around anyway.

Personally, I find not having enough to do hard to deal with. But it is easier to deal with than being at home all day. If you do leave, I would line something else up first.

Incidentally, off topic but is there a way to remove that panel of animated emoticons from the ContractorUK edit window ?

[jmo21]

Some clients probably know roughly how much people are being utilised and are ok with that, as you are an insurance policy almost having you around.

Why not ask for working from home, or a drop to 4 days a week? Assuming you are ok billing slightly less of course.

[Willapp]

Agree with NLUK. You'll get plenty of responses telling you to suck it up, that being paid is all that matters etc etc. but I think most contractors (the good ones anyway...) do the job because we actually like to make a difference to our clients and achieve something. There's nothing more frustrating than spending 50%+ of your day idle because you're waiting on the client or other resource and there's no other way of being productive.

I've not experienced it myself (yet), but providing I had enough in the warchest to cope with a few months downtime, I would absolutely leave somewhere if there wasn't enough work to be done. I'd even be tempted to tell the client the reason as well - let's face it you're basically saying "you don't need to be paying me this money, there isn't enough work to do, call me when things get busy", and that seems like something a client ought to respect and appreciate.

[northernladuk]

I've been in this position which was an ideal client in all areas except the work and I ended up turning down an extension for my own sanity and haven't looked back since. Had a bit of time on the bench and the company balance might have been a little bit better if I had stayed but am back to loving contracting. New clients, good solid work. Change is as good as a break and all that. Also because I bailed rather than got a bad rep and kicked out they keep asking my availability from time to time. If I'd have gone as dead wood that wouldn't be happening.

Contracting is a long term thing, there are plenty of clients out there and it's not like we get paid peanuts. If the work is crap then move on. Once you get something good you'll wonder why you didn't go earlier IMO.

Of course it depends on if you can travel, what clients are in your area, chance of getting work etc. But if you are pretty flexible then i'd say go.

[vwdan]

Yeah, just leave. There are plenty people on the bench who would be happy to take your place.

There's more to it then that, though. I'm currently rescuing a project and the guy who I wound up replacing now has the issue that he's basically got to explain away 18+ months of unfinished work that should have been completed in 6-12 Max. Its not really his fault, but its difficult to put that the client didn't pull their finger out on your CV.

If you're doing BAU work it doesn't really matter, but if you have quantifiable deliverables then it can leave some awkward questions.

I'm also pretty bored, tbh, but I'll be out in a month or so if it doesn't hot up. Some of us actually like getting stuff done and pride ourselves on it. Isn't staying in a job cos you're scared to leave called being an employee?

[AMH]

ahem... i can only guess this contract is in the public sector