Almost a year contracting...

[greenlake]

[Vurso]

Hi folks,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Just wanted to share my experience so far, been contracting for a year I think and so far its been great, interesting and a bit emotional but fairly rewarding financially and very educational.

I stuck to short term contracts just to be on the safe side I was moving from temp and perm world into pure contracting (Software Developer) so I wasn't sure what to expect and after speaking to friends who were contracting at the time I went for the safest option to do a short term contract to see how it goes and if I did screw up the fallout wouldn't be so bad.

Thankfully I did well, was a little scary doing my first contract went in with so much hesitation, self doubts but I wasn't afraid to fail. I went for a safe bet and took on a low pay contract that had tech I could easily handle but it was a pandora's box just a mishmash of years of coding by different developers (mostly crazy I think) working with it really tested my patience and I dropped a few testicles trying to fix things or make new stuff.

That boosted my confidence and I found as I took on the next few contracts (rolling contracts or the odd 3 months or more) I was much more confident and I think I had realised I had learned how to learn, if that makes sense?

Had one hiccup where I took on a fixed term role recently, pay was tulip but I fell into the BS of people there and believed I could eventually build a decent product or two with a strong dev team however it all fell apart as it turned out my manager was a "General" i.e. zero people management skills and he blew hot and cold I just couldn't deal with someone who didn't understand development at all and was just so unstable day to day (shame as he was incredibly smart at everything else maybe that was the problem).

The best thing about being self employed pretty much (as a contract through my own ltd company) I just got up one afternoon and said "okay enough bye" and walked out then several hours later secured my next long term contract.

So hoping 2017 is where I take on one long term contract and see it through the 12 months or more if I manage to impress my employers.

Hope everyone has a great new year and don't ever be disheartened guys just gotta stay positive and be incredibly resourceful so build those networks, keep the good recruiters close to and stay in touch as they will surprise you and secure you a contract like what happened to me.

Adios.