Reply to: Experienced Contractors needed

[Gonzo]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

While the client still wants me I will keep taking their money.

It looks like the project might get the can now so it could all be academic anyway!

[timh]

I'd say as long as you've got enough dosh in the bank to fund 6 months living frugally but happily, you'll be fine.

As a contractor you're probably good enough to get a permanent job without too much trouble even in the event of a market downturn, so if things go to tulip just do that and put some lazy permie out work.

[cojak]

I *always* make sure that it is my decision to leave, not the client's (unless it's a proper project).

The last client was completely shocked when I informed them at the beginning of the last month that I was not renewing, even when I had stated that I wasn't happy.

I don't like handing power over my business to someone else.

[lukemg]

Tough one this, I have stayed at a couple of places way too long, where I was really not enjoying it but the money was too good to walk away from because the market had dipped.
Trouble is - why is going somewhere else guaranteed to be great ?? Could be just as bad/further away/bad attitude towards contractors etc.
It's called work for a reason, you wouldn't do it for free.
I am 3 weeks from unemployed and only making a few feeble efforts to get work. I am happy to chill for a few weeks but will also want reassurance that I could get a job if I wanted it !
It's this basic insecurity that drives people back into permie work/or to stay in it.
Personal view - I always stay till they say bye but I should really get other offers when I am not happy, trouble is I am usually too lazy to do this unless I am on my way out !

[cojak]

From previous post. Work isn't really stimulating or what you want to do but it pays ok/ is close to home etc...

[chicane]

What's a fur-lined contract? I've read the thread a couple of times and can't quite nail it down.

[cojak]

Which means 'pay off the mortgage' (once you've got one, obv MF )

And don't forget refocusing and taking the long view. CPD for contractors is just as important as it is for permies, it's just called a Business Plan in this case (although I stick with CPD).

I'm earning £150 more per day than I did in 2003 through training, refusing fur-lined contracts and accepting lower-paid ones that took me in the right direction.

[Sockpuppet]

Gonz. My advice to anyone wanting to contracting is to ensure that they have three months money in the bank.

Make hay while the sun shines but don't be a c-nt by not burying some nuts.

Sound advice.

[Sockpuppet]

Dammit! We need another smilie.

[Gonzo]

I will dispute that Sockpuppet.

When I am sober my spelling and typing are spot on.

When I am not sober my typing goes out the window but my spelling never does

[MarillionFan]

Gonz. My advice to anyone wanting to contracting is to ensure that they have three months money in the bank.

Once contracting my advice has been to ensure that you have 6-12months money in the bank(preferably) 6 months worth.

I tend to base one month off for every 6 month in the bank. So do a years worth of contracting, then take two months off.

Always stay ahead of the game.

I once met a guy who introduced himself to me as a contractor(back in 2003). He told me he contracted for a few years 1999/2000/2001 and had been raking it in(we all did). He flew business class everywhere(even to Paris/Edinburgh). He leased a 70k car and spent spent spent he told me. He took a couple of months off.

Then the market crashed in 2001 and he found himself without work. He had no savings, the car got reposessed and he lost his house which he had a huge mortgage on. He never worked in IT again.

The moral of this story is

Make hay while the sun shines but don't be a c-nt by not burying some nuts.

hth.

MF

[Sockpuppet]

weather

[Gonzo]

In terms of when to turn down work and take a long break, I've been meaning to do it since 2004...

I will do it either i) between contracts [not had the chance yet] or ii) once the mortgage is cleared and I have sufficient savings to scrape by.

That's pretty much what is happening to me now. Just wanted to check that I wasn't the only one.

[chicane]

1. Flexible working - rather than being on-site 5 days a week, I simply worked when I needed to so that the project would be delivered.

Lucky you.

For some reason, clients in the specific industry in which I work tend to exhibit the most extreme form of control freakery imaginable, wanting to account for every hour of every day. The concept of "getting work done" pales into insignificance in comparison to the concept of "being at one's desk during working hours, regardless of the amount of work being done".

[Crossroads]

Sit down with your client, and explain that the work they have lined up for you isn't really the kind of business you want to be doing...(and why it isn't).

See if you can work out some alternative approaches. I had a similar problem with my last-but-one client and we came up with the following options:

1. Flexible working - rather than being on-site 5 days a week, I simply worked when I needed to so that the project would be delivered.

2. Bring in a much lower skilled / cheaper substitute, me working 2 days/week to direct my sub who would be working 5 days/week.

3. More money to make it worthwhile.

In the end we agreed a combination of 1 & 3, and I ended up working 3 - 4 days/week.

In terms of when to turn down work and take a long break, I've been meaning to do it since 2004...

I will do it either i) between contracts [not had the chance yet] or ii) once the mortgage is cleared and I have sufficient savings to scrape by.