Reply to: Where to people draw their professional lines?

[ladymuck]

Happy to sell my soul for £££ to the highest bidder. As long as it's not illegal - I am game!

NLyUK may have an opening for you

[cannon999]

Happy to sell my soul for £££ to the highest bidder. As long as it's not illegal - I am game!

[IsayIsayIsay]

+1

I crashed and burned in an interview when an arrogant arse asked me about a nice-but-dim contractor in a previous project. I had a disagreement with Nice-But-Dim about a decision a senior manager had made which was not best practise but definitely a case of 'know your battles'. AA knew N-B-D and had obviously been briefed on this and I had walked into a no-win situation and didn't get the contract. (I wasn't going to slag off an ex-colleague but 'Ah Bless' wasn't going to cut it.)

Apart from that, you get your instructions, advise on consequences and alternative options, then you carry out your instructions knowing that there's an extension in the pipeline.

I do believe that was neither judgemental or cynical. Thank you, I appreciate your post

[cojak]

Does Prezi count?

(Great for making a good portion of an audience feel slightly sea sick... )

[cojak]

(yep not even Visio).

Or Word for that matter.

[cojak]

You do the job you're paid (and contracted) to do. If the client wants an insecure firewall configuration or a non-fault tolerant solution, then tell them why they are being prats - but get it in writing so they don't come after you when it all goes wrong. You can only really refuse to do something if it's illegal or fraudulent.

You are there to do and advise, and record your proposed solution(s) with caveats and risk analyses where needed. Many clients don't always want a perfect solution, just one they are comfortable with.

+1

I crashed and burned in an interview when an arrogant arse asked me about a nice-but-dim contractor in a previous project. I had a disagreement with Nice-But-Dim about a decision a senior manager had made which was not best practise but definitely a case of 'know your battles'. AA knew N-B-D and had obviously been briefed on this and I had walked into a no-win situation and didn't get the contract. (I wasn't going to slag off an ex-colleague but 'Ah Bless' wasn't going to cut it.)

Apart from that, you get your instructions, advise on consequences and alternative options, then you carry out your instructions knowing that there's an extension in the pipeline.

[Paralytic]

Damn, and there was me about to ask a question based on someone on an internet forum being a bit nasty to me!

FTFY

[IsayIsayIsay]

Unless you are a Big 4 consultant - at which point its PowerPoint (yep not even Visio).

Does Prezi count?

[northernladuk]

Damn, and there was me about to ask a question based on someone at work being a bit nasty to me!

Please do. We love posts like that.

[eek]

AutoCAD

Unless you are a Big 4 consultant - at which point its PowerPoint (yep not even Visio).

[WTFH]

AutoCAD

[IsayIsayIsay]

Damn, and there was me about to ask a question based on someone at work being a bit nasty to me!

[northernladuk]

I don't buy that all contractors have to be the same (in the same way all businesses are not the same). We have boundaries and lines and it's interesting to me to understand other peoples views. I like context and opinion. You may be right in the sense of being "successful" in the terms you operate from, but that will differ person to person also (just like business to business).

I agree but most of your posts have been on roughly the same thing and a fundamental shift in thinking will help them all. All businesses do differ but they fundamentally do business all the same, which is different to being a consumer. You are being a consumer in a business world.

The other option is you've just got to toughen up and grow some but that's not very contructive.

[malvolio]

I don't buy that all contractors have to be the same (in the same way all businesses are not the same). We have boundaries and lines and it's interesting to me to understand other peoples views. I like context and opinion. You may be right in the sense of being "successful" in the terms you operate from, but that will differ person to person also (just like business to business).

It will. But you are not thinking like a contractor. The biggest change any ex-permie has to make is to step away from thinking like an employee, subject to employee rules and behaviours. That is no longer part of your job, which is to earn money, either for you directly inside IR35 or for your YourCo's shareholder(s) outside it, as best you can.

Obviously if you are uncomfortable with a given situation, it's up to you how to react, and leaving the contract is obviously one option. Just don't make a habit of it, you are in a world where pragmatism is by far the biggest parameter.

[IsayIsayIsay]

I don't buy that all contractors have to be the same (in the same way all businesses are not the same). We have boundaries and lines and it's interesting to me to understand other peoples views. I like context and opinion. You may be right in the sense of being "successful" in the terms you operate from, but that will differ person to person also (just like business to business).