Reply to: Help finding next Contract

[squarepeg]

What do you do if you secure a gig 6 weeks before the end and you've got a notice period? Hope they will wait or bail on your client everytime?

Don't agree with the last half of that at all. Too much to bother picking through.

The end of the contract is the end of the contract, notice period applies to the duration of the contract, no need to give a notice when it just ends. I always talk to my current client first giving them the option to extend, and they almost always do. If they don't want to extend, I start looking, interviewing, and have little to no downtime between contracts.

[SussexSeagull]

I don't even look until a month before I am due to leave.

[northernladuk]

What do you do if you secure a gig 6 weeks before the end and you've got a notice period? Hope they will wait or bail on your client everytime?

Don't agree with the last half of that at all. Too much to bother picking through.

[squarepeg]

Is it normally to be out of work for 5 weeks at a time?

Id welcome any advice or comments on this.

Thanks and regards,
Jas

It isn't normal, if you had remembered to start interviewing/actively looking ~2 months before the end of your last contract. It is normal if you think you can carry on as usual without taking proactive steps well in advance. If you haven't been networking until now, you will look like another looser handing out his CVs. You are a much hotter property when you have a contract, because the lizard brain of your potential clients thinks that if you are good enough for the current client, you must be good enough for them. I get a crapload of phone calls from recruiters trying to woo me to jump my current contract within the first 4 weeks of starting.

[MrMarkyMark]

I once got a contract at the bar in a pub. It turned out the guy next to me had just fired his developer. I was telling the barman I'd just finished a local gig.

Top man

I have had quite a few contract offers via the technical forum I contribute to.

[radish2008]

No with your first paragraph but yes with your second.

There is no such thing as wrong events as long as there is a chance to talk to loads of people afterwards. Contracts can come just from knowing random people as long as you aren't mercenary.

I once got a contract at the bar in a pub. It turned out the guy next to me had just fired his developer. I was telling the barman I'd just finished a local gig.

[SueEllen]

Not wanting to be rude but isn't being able to find this out, attending the right ones and crossing the palms of the right people what networking is about. Asking people which events to attend isn't really networking.

I also tend to think networking is about leveraging existing contacts that know you and your skills and can recommend you upwards etc. Attending events as a bod looking for some work about the same as cold calling?

Or am I being a bit harsh here?

No with your first paragraph but yes with your second.

There is no such thing as wrong events as long as there is a chance to talk to loads of people afterwards. Contracts can come just from knowing random people as long as you aren't mercenary.

[quackhandle]

Not wanting to be rude but isn't being able to find this out, attending the right ones and crossing the palms of the right people what networking is about. Asking people which events to attend isn't really networking.

I also tend to think networking is about leveraging existing contacts that know you and your skills and can recommend you upwards etc. Attending events as a bod looking for some work about the same as cold calling?

Or am I being a bit harsh here?

I wouldn't say harsh but you have to be realistic, you may walk into a gig from one networking seminar but it's highly unlikely. You have to be aware that many people who attend these things, won't have a clue and about specialist technical work you are offering (programming, databases, etc) I've been to loads over the last year and one I went to a few times, nothing was happening, then one guy said you don't live in this county, they tend to only hire local, it's just the way it works, new faces don't really get a look in.

I went to a large NW thing at the NIA a few weeks ago and out of the 100 or so companies there I managed to speak to the only one who understood what I did and how we could help each other going forward, and there is possibility of some work in the pipeline.

It can feel like cold calling, but like most things, managing your time effectively certainty helps.

qh

[Major Hassle]

I would say it depends.
If you specialise in a particular software you can meet potential customers at new release events.

This is a form of networking, however my primary understanding of it, leveraging existing contacts. is the same as yours.

Some things never change it's not what you know but WHO and what. My current contract came from leveraging my existing contacts.

[MrMarkyMark]

Not wanting to be rude but isn't being able to find this out, attending the right ones and crossing the palms of the right people what networking is about. Asking people which events to attend isn't really networking.

I also tend to think networking is about leveraging existing contacts that know you and your skills and can recommend you upwards etc. Attending events as a bod looking for some work about the same as cold calling?

Or am I being a bit harsh here?

I would say it depends.
If you specialise in a particular software you can meet potential customers at new release events.

This is a form of networking, however my primary understanding of it, leveraging existing contacts is the same as yours.

[northernladuk]

Thanks. I recognise networking is the way to go. I have been to some events which weren't very relevant and some that were more. Can anyone advice on the best expo's, networking opportunities out there? (location not a problem as long as they work)

Thanks,
Jas

Not wanting to be rude but isn't being able to find this out, attending the right ones and crossing the palms of the right people what networking is about. Asking people which events to attend isn't really networking.

I also tend to think networking is about leveraging existing contacts that know you and your skills and can recommend you upwards etc. Attending events as a bod looking for some work about the same as cold calling?

Or am I being a bit harsh here?

[jas]

Thanks. I recognise networking is the way to go. I have been to some events which weren't very relevant and some that were more. Can anyone advice on the best expo's, networking opportunities out there? (location not a problem as long as they work)

Thanks,
Jas

[SussexSeagull]

I got my latest contract through networking - it does work !

Only game in town at the moment.

[SlipTheJab]

Slip knows that. He was making the point that even people working in the PS now don't have a clue. To be fair his mate knowing this is even coming puts him ahead of most PS guys.

+1, He knows it's coming but doesn't seem to have a plan for it, given he's been in that contract for 3 years, T&S isn't an issue, IR35 will be though. He's trying to convince me to apply there as they are desperate for contract devs

[kaiser78]

By all means use Jobserve but unless you have some seriously in demand skills it is a lottery. Concentrate on contacts and networking.

I got my latest contract through networking - it does work !