Reply to: Fed up with a contract

[blender]

I am also fed up with my contract - another dead man walking contract. I have my ear to the ground, but am getting home every evening but in a room alone which is good as I am reading my Kindle and not having to look busy all the time. It is a government post. While I am listening out for anything that looks more interesting I am not actively phoning or spamming agents, but just seeing what is out there - I would sooner get home every night than the hassle of staying away from home again, so perfectly happy to ride it out until the end of November if the dead man walking is in my favour, then have a really good long break until the spring. Very possible a few weeks in the French apartment. Until then I can quite happily spend my working days as an office recluse as better to stick out than to leave so soon into the position!

Ha - Dead Man Walking Contract that's a good definition... it is easier if you don't have to pretend to be busy I suppose.

My PC is in front of everyone though - the client sits behind me and can see what I am doing as long as he is at his desk. So I plan my workload around his meetings - when he is away from desk I read something unrelated to work, when he comes back I do whatever minor task I have on my list.

I am ambitious person who likes to work efficiently, get things done to the highest standards. So seriously feel like a dead man walking here...

Anyway, hope it goes well for you and you get your well deserved long break.

[Wilmslow]

I am also fed up with my contract - another dead man walking contract. I have my ear to the ground, but am getting home every evening but in a room alone which is good as I am reading my Kindle and not having to look busy all the time. It is a government post. While I am listening out for anything that looks more interesting I am not actively phoning or spamming agents, but just seeing what is out there - I would sooner get home every night than the hassle of staying away from home again, so perfectly happy to ride it out until the end of November if the dead man walking is in my favour, then have a really good long break until the spring. Very possible a few weeks in the French apartment. Until then I can quite happily spend my working days as an office recluse as better to stick out than to leave so soon into the position!

[blender]

OP - we know what you meant, although note NLUKs relevant distinction.

I was in a similar situation as you recently and had some good suggestions from fellow posters around how best to fill the time. Have a read of this;

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...-vs-bench.html

Thanks for sharing your thread Kaiser78, I'm just reading it now.

Had a few days away from office which helped me to recover from this boredom a little bit.

[blender]

In your situation with your mortgage I'd suck it up and invoice while looking for the next gig.

This happens and for me it's one of the hardest situations to cope with. It's completely normal to feel the way you do. It takes mental toughness and a good attitude to get through.

I've had it happen multiple times. You sign up for a gig and then they just have nothing for you to do. Getting up every day, commuting, sitting in the middle of a busy office with nothing to do. It's one of the worst things that can happen.

Very hard to avoid as well. You go for the interview, you don't expect anyone to pay large amounts of money for you to do nothing, so you honestly accept the contract in good faith - and then you turn up and there is just nothing to do. It's torture. So it's back to spending evenings and weekends looking for the next role or just quitting and having a black stain on the CV.

I had two years of back to back do nothing contracts once. Absolutely awful. Made good money and hated every minute. Strange, depressing period in my life.

As coping techniques I try and throw myself into learning everything I possibly can about the systems and business. Read all the documents from back to front, learn all the systems, read every page in their confluence - get match fit and ready to take on anything even if they never use you. After that I try and create projects to improve things - spend ages automating some excel data transformation via, um, javascript because the process was being done manually and I wanted to learn javascript. Completely overengineered the job but it meant I could just lose myself for hours in code and the day went faster.

Good luck mate! It's one of the toughest situations to be in but be aware of the financial implications of anything you decide. Best outcome will be get a new contract and move on.

Thank you DieScum. I can see you have been through this - as you say, I have never expected someone to pay me that much money and keep me without any work to do.

I have decided to stick with this until I am in the new house. Trying me best to be positive and keep busy to get the time passing quicker.

Cheers for the support.

[DieScum]

In your situation with your mortgage I'd suck it up and invoice while looking for the next gig.

This happens and for me it's one of the hardest situations to cope with. It's completely normal to feel the way you do. It takes mental toughness and a good attitude to get through.

I've had it happen multiple times. You sign up for a gig and then they just have nothing for you to do. Getting up every day, commuting, sitting in the middle of a busy office with nothing to do. It's one of the worst things that can happen.

Very hard to avoid as well. You go for the interview, you don't expect anyone to pay large amounts of money for you to do nothing, so you honestly accept the contract in good faith - and then you turn up and there is just nothing to do. It's torture. So it's back to spending evenings and weekends looking for the next role or just quitting and having a black stain on the CV.

I had two years of back to back do nothing contracts once. Absolutely awful. Made good money and hated every minute. Strange, depressing period in my life.

As coping techniques I try and throw myself into learning everything I possibly can about the systems and business. Read all the documents from back to front, learn all the systems, read every page in their confluence - get match fit and ready to take on anything even if they never use you. After that I try and create projects to improve things - spend ages automating some excel data transformation via, um, javascript because the process was being done manually and I wanted to learn javascript. Completely overengineered the job but it meant I could just lose myself for hours in code and the day went faster.

Good luck mate! It's one of the toughest situations to be in but be aware of the financial implications of anything you decide. Best outcome will be get a new contract and move on.

[kaiser78]

He's not your boss. He's your client.

OP - we know what you meant, although note NLUKs relevant distinction.

I was in a similar situation as you recently and had some good suggestions from fellow posters around how best to fill the time. Have a read of this;

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...-vs-bench.html

[blender]

Had a few contracts like this and i was in a situation of low warchest and high overheads. Head was down and kept invoicing as i couldn't afford any bench time at that point. However its very dull but keep smiling keep invoicing is my advice.

Things are much healthier now on the warchest front and i can afford to be more selective or less inclined to stay on a mind numbing no work gig.

Thank you for your support it is dull indeed...

[Mincepie]

Had a few contracts like this and i was in a situation of low warchest and high overheads. Head was down and kept invoicing as i couldn't afford any bench time at that point. However its very dull but keep smiling keep invoicing is my advice.

Things are much healthier now on the warchest front and i can afford to be more selective or less inclined to stay on a mind numbing no work gig.

[blender]

Why not start applying for other gigs?

I suppose I'm worried to lave a fairly secure gig for something uncertain before the mortgage is sorted. If everything falls through I will end up on a bench which may affect my mortgage application.

I plan to start applying as soon as I get a key to my new house (still at least a month to go)

[BrilloPad]

Why not start applying for other gigs?

[blender]

Nailed it.

[blender]

One of the benefits of contracting is the flexibility so really that is up to you to decide but your warchest has to come first. To be honest it seems to me you've already got your answer Re the mortgage but not all of them require you to be in a gig so worth looking in to.

Ultimately the decision in situations like this is yours. Personally I don't need to hang around gigs and be miserable but my circumstances could be very different to yours.

Thank you.

I suppose you are right - I know I will probably have to stick with this until my mortgage is sorted. But I will check the mortgage terms when I get home today...

[northernladuk]

One of the benefits of contracting is the flexibility so really that is up to you to decide but your warchest has to come first. To be honest it seems to me you've already got your answer Re the mortgage but not all of them require you to be in a gig so worth looking in to.

Ultimately the decision in situations like this is yours. Personally I don't need to hang around gigs and be miserable but my circumstances could be very different to yours.

[IPSE]

So maybe... keep calm and keep invoicing??

Nailed it.

[blender]

Yes, he is my client. I meant he is the boss of the place I work at... i.e. he manages all the people who in theory should be providing work to contractors