Reply to: Clinical Coders

[DodgyAgent]

You've been looking at my invoices again Mr DA

But yes your point makes sense.

I wish I did more than just look at them

[KentPhilip]

Yes. That's why I want three times as much money as a contract PM as my permie colleagues will be getting.

To make up for the time on the bench, the training, the LtdCo running costs, the time spent doing poxy paperwork for the government and ... to compensate me for the risk associated with uncertainty.

If I am running a project and see it needs to be terminated early or there is a quick way of achieving the same end, I will tell management and explain why. If so instructed, I will then wrap it up and leave, saving the client a small fortune and making them feel happy with me. I'm probably stupid, but it's what I do.

A permie would then be given something else to do; I'm back on the bench. I expect a higher rate for that kind of integrity and its consequences.

But part of the service I offer is that if the budget disappears, or the programme is terminated, or if the weather changes (there's a story behind that), I will clear off without complaint.

Well I applaud your professional approach.
Of course at the current market you'll be lucky to get 1.5 times a permie rate (OK a generalization). So do your exemplary principles still apply in the light of that?

[MrMark]

Lucy/Sarah has obviously decided not to come back after a couple of days!

Typical agent - gives hope that a job is available, then never makes contact again! Perhaps we should have given 2 references each???

[RichardCranium]

OK so you think an uneven arrangement is OK?
I don't know.

Yes. That's why I want three times as much money as a contract PM as my permie colleagues will be getting.

To make up for the time on the bench, the training, the LtdCo running costs, the time spent doing poxy paperwork for the government and ... to compensate me for the risk associated with uncertainty.

If I am running a project and see it needs to be terminated early or there is a quick way of achieving the same end, I will tell management and explain why. If so instructed, I will then wrap it up and leave, saving the client a small fortune and making them feel happy with me. I'm probably stupid, but it's what I do.

A permie would then be given something else to do; I'm back on the bench. I expect a higher rate for that kind of integrity and its consequences.

But part of the service I offer is that if the budget disappears, or the programme is terminated, or if the weather changes (there's a story behind that), I will clear off without complaint.

[marlon]

Lucy/Sarah has obviously decided not to come back after a couple of days!

[KentPhilip]

You are a service provider. You are extremely well paid. Part of the deal is the flexibility that you give clients. if you believe that the relationship is one of "equality" you should not be contracting, you should be part of a trade union working as a permie.

You've been looking at my invoices again Mr DA

But yes your point makes sense.

[DodgyAgent]

OK so you think an uneven arrangement is OK?
I don't know.

You are a service provider. You are extremely well paid. Part of the deal is the flexibility that you give clients. if you believe that the relationship is one of "equality" you should not be contracting, you should be part of a trade union working as a permie.

[KentPhilip]

That's right. You've got it.

The contractor terminating the contract during the first term is unprofessional.

The client terminating the contract during the first term is why they employed a contractor.

That's why we get paid extra. We are better than them.

Once into the extensions, that's another matter ... anyone can give notice.

That is also why a 24 month fixed term contract on perm salary is so awful.

OK so you think an uneven arrangement is OK?
I don't know.

[Mosh]

That's right. You've got it.

The contractor terminating the contract during the first term is unprofessional.

The client terminating the contract during the first term is why they employed a contractor.

That's why we get paid extra. We are better than them.

Once into the extensions, that's another matter ... anyone can give notice.

That is also why a 24 month fixed term contract on perm salary is so awful.

Well, as a matter of fact I have seen some companies terminating the contracts during the first term itself.

[RichardCranium]

In which case it should also be seen as "professional" for a contractor to leave half way through a contract, as long as they have given their contractual notice (normally a month I guess) is it not?

But the earlier poster SvalBaard suggests that doing that is not professional.

That's right. You've got it.

The contractor terminating the contract during the first term is unprofessional.

The client terminating the contract during the first term is why they employed a contractor.

That's why we get paid extra. We are better than them.

Once into the extensions, that's another matter ... anyone can give notice.

That is also why a 24 month fixed term contract on perm salary is so awful.

[KentPhilip]

Yes.

In which case it should also be seen as "professional" for a contractor to leave half way through a contract, as long as they have given their contractual notice (normally a month I guess) is it not?

But the earlier poster SvalBaard suggests that doing that is not professional.

[RichardCranium]

Earlier this year I had a contract terminated (with the contractual notice period) by my client 3 weeks before it was due to end. Was my client "being professional"?

Yes.

[KentPhilip]

I have been contracting 15 years and can't remember a single contractor colleague that has walked off without completing his/her current contract - no matter how pissed off they were.

It's called "being professional".

Earlier this year I had a contract terminated (with the contractual notice period) by my client 3 weeks before it was due to end. Was my client "being professional"?

[minestrone]

Perhaps if you hadn't used an anecdotal stereotype then you'd get a bit more of a constructive response. I have been contracting 15 years and can't remember a single contractor colleague that has walked off without completing his/her current contract - no matter how pissed off they were.

It's called "being professional".

*cough* *splutter*

I blame the client and agency though, and I had taken as much as I could.

[RichardCranium]

Strange, it's discussed all the time here by contractors asking "I found a contract with a higher rate, how do I get out of my current contract?"

... and are most frequently answered "Be professional; you give contractors a bad name; don't".