Reply to: First Contract! ... Bit like a wet party popper going off ...

[PerfectStorm]

In effect as a contractor you will be more of a dogs body, I would say par for the course. No one is going to give you much of an interesting role, and yes it does "hamper" your career if you're ambitious, as you will always be doing the stuff no-one else wants to do. The positive is the money, you'll get paid more for doing it. The most interesting bit of my career was as a permie before moving into contracting, I'm now back as a permie but shoved into the corner as if I was a contractor, though they do pay me a lot

Careful, you'll awaken the IR35 police!

[PerfectStorm]

I don't understand... you are paid more to do less.. less responsibility, less headache, can't see the drawback??

Did I miss anything?

This.

Lack of purpose can be annoying, so you have to make it fun.

It's not all bad when you're staying in the Hilton a few months later.

[lukemg]

Ah 93, classic year, 14th April started at BASS breweries in Cape Hill, Birmingham on first contract.
We are talking Freelance Informer (scanning for agency details), faxing CV's, bottles of wine and hampers turning up from the agencies periodically and usually some proper sort taking you out for lunch or dinner the odd time....
Got the gig 2 weeks after some agency wonk said I had zero chance of scoring a contract and should grab the first perm job I saw.
Astonished at what I was getting paid I expected to be found out at any time and requested to leave.

[cojak]

Wow, I started in '93 too. It's been a long road but I can usually tell you everything wrong with a company within the first week now. About 30% of ex-client Co. are extinct.

And I thought it was just me! [emoji16]

[TwoWolves]

This was the main reason I went contracting in the first place (1993) having said that I was at my last client for 5 years

Wow, I started in '93 too. It's been a long road but I can usually tell you everything wrong with a company within the first week now. About 30% of ex-client Co. are extinct.

[mattfx]

Thanks for the constructive post Snarf. I don't really care about seniority, being in charge, or any of that malarky. I am a techy and I enjoy doing techy things :-)

You are right, I did go in to this role thinking it was a little bit of a downgrade in terms of skills required you again you're right, I did want out of my old place before my notice period increased from one, to three months, so was on a timescale.

Net income is up, by approximately 40-50% so nowhere near double, my permy salary was actually quite decent. If it had doubled I'd probably feel a lot better about things!

On the upside as a result of the comments left here I had a think about my position, what I was (or wasn't) doing and had a chat with the IT Manager - we now both have a far clearer understanding of how this is going to work and what I am going to deliver I'm currently sorting out all of the Active Directory replication topology as we speak, so i'm a much happier bunny!

[Snarf]

Ive been contracting since 2014.

In that time Ive accepted contracts doing work that had I been a permie would have made me start job hunting, its the nature of the beast, in my experience companies don't want contractors in positions of seniority so if that's what your looking for permie is the way to go.

If you are worried that the work isn't challenging you enough then that's probably more on you than your client... you accepted the role, either you didn't get enough info on what they wanted from you or (as I expect - and is reasonable) you accepted it because its your first role and you wanted to get going asap.

Look on the bright side, your net income will be up (at least double I'd have thought) and you're only there for a few months, then you can find something else.

[gables]

Part of what I enjoy about contracting is seeing how different each workplace can be. You get to see the good and the bad.

This was the main reason I went contracting in the first place (1993) having said that I was at my last client for 5 years

[pauldee]

Part of what I enjoy about contracting is seeing how different each workplace can be. You get to see the good and the bad.

[MrButton]

I had a ksh script called ‘poo_timer.ksh’ showed how much I’d earned thratching.....

Give this a go:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/poop...196998280?mt=8

I knocked it together while learning a bit of swift and XCUI

Feature requests are welcome.

[northernladyuk]

Proper contractor can do that in their heads. Should be second nature.

Depends how many clients you're billing simultaneously.

[stek]

A colleague of mine span up a little app that would tot up the billable time per second when in a meeting or making a cup of tea etc.

I had a ksh script called ‘poo_timer.ksh’ showed how much I’d earned thratching.....

[malvolio]

Proper contractor can do that in their heads. Should be second nature.

Proper contractor doesn't even try. He's on a day rate so time spent on doing "stuff" is immaterial.

HTH

[northernladuk]

A colleague of mine span up a little app that would tot up the billable time per second when in a meeting or making a cup of tea etc.

Proper contractor can do that in their heads. Should be second nature.

[northernladyuk]

I recently started contracting, I've had one three month and am four months into an 11 month contract, both have/are as probably the most boring work I've ever done, but I'm earning ~twice my peers of similar tenure so I don't care.

A colleague of mine span up a little app that would tot up the billable time per second when in a meeting or making a cup of tea etc.