Reply to: Contracting, a mistake anyone?

[lilelvis2000]

If you can handle a spreadsheet then you can do Change Mangement.

well according to the HR file many are at or near six figures. most of the management accountants are at 50K. And we just track the project costs. That doesn't include the people actually manageing the projects.

They almost exclusively use spreadsheets here. rather than put in some intial quick work to put together a web-based database they use Excel. And after a year discover there are several different copies of the same "master" sheet - which one is true - who knows.

As for how useful they are I can only speak to the people we work with, who track all the projects within the PRINCE cycle..(using horrible excel sheets) - and they have spent a year going around in circles coming up with the workflow. Useless.


But still making huge money while at it.

[DirtyOldMan]

If you can handle a spreadsheet then you can do Change Mangement.

[Francko]

or I could get a marketing degree or MBA and then work in Change Management or be a Change Management Consultant. Around here they take £1300/day. The Change managers are all on about £100k each.

Whilst I plod on at less than £250/day.....plod.

Are you sure about that? They normally take lowly paid permies and make them happy with the managers title. I am not aware of those high rates for change managers. Perhaps, risk managers, yes. Or business analysts, well, rates have gone up quite a lot I think for them. But I think most companies are aware that the majority of change managers jobs are mere administrative positions (or at least, they will be soon when they find out what is all about generally).

[~Craig~]

or I could get a marketing degree or MBA and then work in Change Management or be a Change Management Consultant. Around here they take £1300/day. The Change managers are all on about £100k each.

Whilst I plod on at less than £250/day.....plod.

where's that then? most people I know in change management are useless..............

[hattra]

Wish I had gone contracting earlier than I did (about 16 years ago, though I did go back into a permie in the States for a while). Didn't feel like that when I spent three years on the bench, though. I'm back in now, but I'm looking for a permie to allow me to build up a bit of a track record again, and possibly to acquire new skills.

Plan B - I'm working on Plan C now

[lilelvis2000]

or I could get a marketing degree or MBA and then work in Change Management or be a Change Management Consultant. Around here they take £1300/day. The Change managers are all on about £100k each.

Whilst I plod on at less than £250/day.....plod.

[lukemg]

Agreed Shimano, unlike a number of sunshine averse, RPG playing, 'I had a spectrum' spods who think they have turned their hobby into a job, I fell into this IT stuff when it was the thing to do.
With the shifting sands, you can become obsolete, if not overnight, then in a few months. Witness comparable careers in law, accountancy etc where, if you have any smarts, you can expect to keep climbing up the ladder over time. Unspectacularly in most cases but you won't expect that all the knowledge you have, becomes worthless and you feel like you have to start again from square 1.
I am off the techie treadmill and damn glad to be so. I don't expect what I have shifted to, to last forever but I am going to be prepared this time and not wait for the 4rse to fall out of the market.
I would certainly have considered a different route, given another run at it.

[Flubster]

I have this small leak

I've not heard it call that before. You need more than a plumber....

[Mr Crosby]

Mr Crosby in desperate search for a man to see to his 'plumbing'....

I have this small leak

[Flubster]

Become a plumber

Mr Crosby in desperate search for a man to see to his 'plumbing'....

[Mr Crosby]

Become a plumber

[Shimano105]

I don't regret contracting, I regret IT.

Constantly trying to keep skills up to date, being forced to lie on my CV to even get an interview, spending 3 hours doing tests etc. then no one getting back to you.

All for rates that are less than the previous year's WITHOUT taking inflation into account.

I cannot seem to get a sniff at anything now (no, not that either) and am beginning to feel like a useless fecker.

Plan B? Plan A more like. Time to jump ship into something else I reckon, just to maintain sanity and dignity.

So no permie IT job for me.

[Francko]

"Of course, the story is very different if you're one of those flashy contractor types, what with the sports car, big house and designer suits!"

Havent seen one of them around for a few years. All contractors I know tend to tight.

You are probably thinking about the wrong person. Not all the contractors work every weekend, eat beans and drive a 10-year old Skoda and dream of a plan B.

[MarillionFan]

"Of course, the story is very different if you're one of those flashy contractor types, what with the sports car, big house and designer suits!"

Havent seen one of them around for a few years. All contractors I know tend to tight.

[Troll]

Maybe its what comes of going to an american uni

Are you an American or did you go to an American Uni by choice - if so was it worthwhile ?

What were the costs involved

Would you recommend it?

Eldest junior troll is making noises about doing the same.. in my day we were down pits at 14!!!!