Reply to: Have I been stitched up or is it time to hang up the keyboard?

[MyUserName]

I thought so but I'm still going to wear that reply as a badge of honour

Would make a good signature ...

[northernladuk]

I thought so but I'm still going to wear that reply as a badge of honour

I'll have you next time

[Murder1]

I wouldn't have said that's naivety. Finding you other work stuffs your IR35 status so you did exactly the right thing IMO.

I thought so but I'm still going to wear that reply as a badge of honour

[northernladuk]

I got 8 weeks in and told the same thing quite recently, with the client attempting to blame Brexit uncertainty for the decision to cancel the project.

They said they would find me stuff to do for the remaining weeks on the contract but I told them (probably totally naively) that once I'd shelved any remaining work and handed everything over to a permie I'd leave - took me just long enough for the pubs to open and I walked out.

Nature of the beast I think and you just have to move on and put it down (once again) to experience. Good luck finding something else

I wouldn't have said that's naivety. Finding you other work stuffs your IR35 status so you did exactly the right thing IMO.

[Murder1]

6 weeks in & project has been canned.

Client tells me they're very happy with the work I've done but unfortunately the remaining budget has been syphoned off elsewhere & the project will be shelved until the new financial year.

1 week's notice has been served.

Feck

I got 8 weeks in and told the same thing quite recently, with the client attempting to blame Brexit uncertainty for the decision to cancel the project.

They said they would find me stuff to do for the remaining weeks on the contract but I told them (probably totally naively) that once I'd shelved any remaining work and handed everything over to a permie I'd leave - took me just long enough for the pubs to open and I walked out.

Nature of the beast I think and you just have to move on and put it down (once again) to experience. Good luck finding something else

[LondonManc]

6 weeks in & project has been canned.

Client tells me they're very happy with the work I've done but unfortunately the remaining budget has been syphoned off elsewhere & the project will be shelved until the new financial year.

1 week's notice has been served.

Feck

Chin up, get looking. I keep being told that the market is good. Keep in contact with your old gig - you may be lucky and get a 3-monther and then jump back to it.

[VillageContractor]

Unlucky. Get looking, onwards and upwards

[kaiser78]

6 weeks in & project has been canned.

Client tells me they're very happy with the work I've done but unfortunately the remaining budget has been syphoned off elsewhere & the project will be shelved until the new financial year.

1 week's notice has been served.

Feck

Sorry to hear that - dust yourself down and look for your next role

[psychocandy]

Bummer

[Big Blue Plymouth]

6 weeks in & project has been canned.

Client tells me they're very happy with the work I've done but unfortunately the remaining budget has been syphoned off elsewhere & the project will be shelved until the new financial year.

1 week's notice has been served.

Feck

[gables]

Sometimes the best ones......complete chaos, total panic, no one knows what to do, hard deadline approaching....... ah the scent of much contracting opportunity .

Currently back for a second time, at such a client, now, was here 3.5 years the last time and all off "one flaming telephone interview"

That's the spirit

[Lance]

We had CapGem in to "fix" the systems back in the day (we already told management what issue was, and how to fix) they pulled us into an all day workshop, we explained it was the COBOL modules not linking into the SAP subsystem on the mainframe, CapGem go away and write a 40 page report (all graphs and fancy stuff) and presented to our companies directors (£120K bill please) - directors give the report (and large budget) to the dev manager and tell him to follow all the recommendations, he glances at the report and nods his head, he calls the people that were in the workshop into his office and locks the door. He asks us 3 questions

1. Q. When did you start using COBOL rather than RPG - A. Never we are a RPG shop only

2. Q. Did anyone put in SAP because the last time I looked we used JBA business 400 as our application software, A. sniggers all round

3. Q. Where the F**K can I trade our AS400 computer in for a Mainframe???

Lovely story. Net result the company just pissed £120k to CG for no benefit at all. And if they try to get their money back CG have notes and minutes with you lot telling them a load of horse tulip.
Well done.

[tarbera]

A consultant is a person who asks to borrow your watch so he can tell you the time.

We had CapGem in to "fix" the systems back in the day (we already told management what issue was, and how to fix) they pulled us into an all day workshop, we explained it was the COBOL modules not linking into the SAP subsystem on the mainframe, CapGem go away and write a 40 page report (all graphs and fancy stuff) and presented to our companies directors (£120K bill please) - directors give the report (and large budget) to the dev manager and tell him to follow all the recommendations, he glances at the report and nods his head, he calls the people that were in the workshop into his office and locks the door. He asks us 3 questions

1. Q. When did you start using COBOL rather than RPG - A. Never we are a RPG shop only

2. Q. Did anyone put in SAP because the last time I looked we used JBA business 400 as our application software, A. sniggers all round

3. Q. Where the F**K can I trade our AS400 computer in for a Mainframe???

[SueEllen]

To be fair, they did seem to ask him to do that.

The dilemma is how you react.

I remember going to a bank in Hamburg. It was one day's consultancy and I was going with my Consultancy's Head of Germany. The bank had asked for advice on how to control access to sensitive data in a particular programming environment. As I worked through where they were I realised they had a mainframe environment without any basic file access control whatsoever. These things are standard nowadays but for mainframes you would have to buy software. Typically this was RACF or ACF2. They had neither.

Remember this was a (well known) bank. It had high profile, sensitive accounts.

At the end of the day I presented to a group of highly Germanic managers where I advised them it wasn't sensible for us to solve the particular issue they raised when this was part of a much more serious problem.

They looked at me as though I was only useful for making table lamp shades with my skin. If there had been an old Luger lying around, I'd have been filled full of lead.

We got no business out of them but the Consultancy supported me.

Everyone here would say the truth really didn't help anyone but I was young.

And who knows: I might do the same again...

Actually in that situation you did the correct thing. Germans and people from Nordic countries prefer you to tell them the truth even if they don't like what you tell them. If you lie to them and they find out later they get even angrier.

This is one of the culture differences between countries that has been brought up a few times on this forum.

[m0n1k3r]

To be fair, they did seem to ask him to do that.

The dilemma is how you react.

I remember going to a bank in Hamburg. It was one day's consultancy and I was going with my Consultancy's Head of Germany. The bank had asked for advice on how to control access to sensitive data in a particular programming environment. As I worked through where they were I realised they had a mainframe environment without any basic file access control whatsoever. These things are standard nowadays but for mainframes you would have to buy software. Typically this was RACF or ACF2. They had neither.

Remember this was a (well known) bank. It had high profile, sensitive accounts.

At the end of the day I presented to a group of highly Germanic managers where I advised them it wasn't sensible for us to solve the particular issue they raised when this was part of a much more serious problem.

They looked at me as though I was only useful for making table lamp shades with my skin. If there had been an old Luger lying around, I'd have been filled full of lead.

We got no business out of them but the Consultancy supported me.

Everyone here would say the truth really didn't help anyone but I was young.

And who knows: I might do the same again...

Honesty pays in the long run. And it helps peace of mind, and professional integrity.