Reply to: Being productive in between contracts

[Mustang]

A good post this. I love contracting because of the downtime I can afford to have (and it makes many of my friends envious lol). So... I was on the bench from late April and have just this week started a new contract, but the things I did in the time off were:

Completed my PADI Divemaster.
Recertified my Prince2 Practitioner and MOR quals.
Learnt to hit a golf ball with some consistency (although not very straight).
Got much better at poker.
Caught up on a whole bunch of movies.
Lost a stone in weight.

So how do you get new work? Just by agents calling you?

[Kess]

What do other contractors do for extended periods on the bench?

Whatever the wife tells me to do.

[Svalbaard]

A good post this. I love contracting because of the downtime I can afford to have (and it makes many of my friends envious lol). So... I was on the bench from late April and have just this week started a new contract, but the things I did in the time off were:

Completed my PADI Divemaster.
Recertified my Prince2 Practitioner and MOR quals.
Learnt to hit a golf ball with some consistency (although not very straight).
Got much better at poker.
Caught up on a whole bunch of movies.
Lost a stone in weight.

[lukemg]

Had 4 months of this at the start of the year after rashly turning down an extension at a contract away from home. First few weeks are fine, got a holiday in but after that I really started to struggle. I don't really have solitary hobbies and my Plan B is investments that don't take any of my time and it's no use being up for a game of golf when everyone else is working. Got into a routine of looking for work, having one thing to sort out each day, watching TV, bit of cycling but I was fairly bored.
Has made me reconsider about retiring, think you have to plan very carefully for any time off you have. Next time for me I will be arranging some training that is becoming essential in the area I work, which will fill a couple of weeks. Also, I won't be walking off a contract anytime soon, without another to go to. It's sad, but I am 'trained' to go to work and my life is geared round that, I don't really enjoy working but I need the structure of it to enjoy the rest.
Good luck to all currently benched, been there, didn't enjoy it...

[synoniv]

May be editing or general clean up of wiki articles of your interests/profession/hobbies/weakness.

Mine is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer

[EvilWeevil]

when you say read up on latest technologies such as

Please refer to Mr Badger's suggestion.

[BrianSnail]

whatever you do, dont ever think "i wonder what all this fuss is about World of Warcraft, i bet it's rubbish but i should really give it a go to have an opinion on the subject" and download the 10 day free trial "just to see"..

WHS

I was on the bench over Christmas 2006 and received WoW as a present from my brother. Next thing I knew it was March 2007!

WoW kinda has the Tardis effect on your life.....

[NotAllThere]

Download SAP Netweaver ABAP or Java stack from sdn.sap.com and learn something new. You'll never apply it, because to work in SAP you have have two years experience...

[chef]

whatever you do, dont ever think "i wonder what all this fuss is about World of Warcraft, i bet it's rubbish but i should really give it a go to have an opinion on the subject" and download the 10 day free trial "just to see"..

the good news is your time will fly by, the bad news is you might find it hard to keep up with social goings on, girlfriends birthdays and the like

[Mustang]

I've bored myself to death with gardening, DIY and DVDs. So I wonder, what do other contractors do for extended periods on the bench?

Call me old fashioned - but whatever happened to the pastime of looking for a new contract? I am all in favour for taking a break (2,3,6 weeks or whatever suits) but isnt the name of the game to keep working?

[ratewhore]

I've had a few breaks between contracts because I have wanted that time off. If I got to the point where I was bored then I would go back to work...

[trsisko]

when you say read up on latest technologies such as

[badger7579]

There is never enough porn on the internet

[KathyWoolfe]

Worried constantly about getting the next contract

WHS

[ChimpMaster]

So I wonder, what do other contractors do for extended periods on the bench?

Worried constantly about getting the next contract