Reply to: How long will it take...

[TheBigYinJames]

damn, i worked too efficiently...

Working too well and running out of work early is never a bad thing. In my experience if you are good and fast, you'll get repeat business.

[wantacontract]

guys thanks for the added posts...but the thing that I wanted to say is that I now cope much better as a contractor, and no longer approaching work like a permie..

saying that I've done so much work for this current company, i have a feeling that my 4 week contract is going to become a 3 week one...



damn, i worked too efficiently...

[Cheshire Cat]

My experience is that it's a different political game being a contractor, not that you are exempt from the schmoozing and back-stabbing.

You still need to be personable, and get along with your colleagues if you want to get things done, even if you wouldn't speak to them outside work.
That's common to anyone who works in an office environment I guess.

What IS good, is the lack of performance appraisals, begging / cajoling your boss for training, and the removal of the deferred benefit (work your nuts off and in 18 months you MIGHT be considered for promotion) approach that managers use to motivate permie staff. Being a contractor, the benefits are tangible and almost immediate.

[Mich the Tester]

Well, I learnt that if you’re working at a multi-national bank it’s best to chill out, dumb down and lower your expectations of yourself, seeing as these places are so badly managed it can take more than a week to arrange a simple task that anyone with any skills could carry out in an hour.

[Stan.goodvibes]

Contracting is waaaaay less stress than permy.

I go to work, try and do a good days work, but if something doesn't work, or a project gets canned, or there is something or someone outside my control stopping me from doing my job, well thats not my problem.

No politics, no performance reviews, i can take time off when I want, I can leave when I want.

And I forget about it when I walk out the door. Nothing at the clientco is my problem, and I have the word 'Manager' in my title. I'm doin my best, and if its not enough then thats the problem of whoever hired me...

[TheBigYinJames]

its like i am a new employee trying to impress and doing too much.....

I suffer from that on every contract, but I've been getting better recently. I used to feel that I had to wow everybody in the first week, and used to beat myself up if I didn't get into the work quickly, since I like to pride myself on my ability to 'jump right in' and be producing quickly. I remember a gig for EDS where they didn't even have a desk, never mind a PC and some work, for me to do when I got there for two weeks!. Needless to say I beat myself up about that too! (but still invoiced them , obviously)

These days I've noticed that even if I take it easy on the first week, I still manage to produce more work than most of the permies around me It's not that difficult to out-perform most permies, so relax.

[Alf W]

Back to the original point, you need to be careful here as what you're experiencing is fairly classical early state clinical depression.

I find contracting much more relaxing than permy life was for the simple reason that it's not about competing up the career ladder (even if you don't want to compete as a Permy there's always some arse who seems to want to take you on). It's simply about turning up, doing what you are either expert at or good at blagging at, clocking off and billing.

You sound a bit like you can't believe you've finally made it to be a Contractor. Chill out a bit.

Wait 'til it's PD time for the permies. That's my favourite bit about being a contractor.

[ThomasSoerensen]

filling in everything you write.....with ellipses.....that's a series of dots.....is an early sign of.....losing.....your.....mind.

(W)hat?

[expat]

filling in everything you write.....with ellipses.....that's a series of dots.....is an early sign of.....losing.....your.....mind.

[ThomasSoerensen]

I shall shortly go home and prepare my invoice for this month. For all the moaning, blaming me for their own tulip planning, dumping completely untested tulip on me for acceptance testing, demanding pointless reports while I’m trying to test, and all the bleeding managers going around showing off how damned important they are, I earn more than twice as much as the poor permies, the majority of which I promptly place in this client’s competitor, which is a cooperative bank that hasn’t done any nonsense with credit-default-debt-collateralisation pyramid schemes and is enjoying record profits while providing excellent service to it’s customers. I know they’re going to throw me out at the end of the year, but unlike permies I get paid enough to built up a reserve for myself, so if need be, if I can’t find another contract for a while, I’ll just go on a long holiday. Show me a permie who can say that.

I agree - (I)nvoicing day is a great stress reliever.
(P)ay day is also a great day.

[Mich the Tester]

That's the complete opposite to what I find - when I was a permie I was under pressure, felt stress, etc etc

As a contractor - total doddle.

I shall shortly go home and prepare my invoice for this month. For all the moaning, blaming me for their own tulip planning, dumping completely untested tulip on me for acceptance testing, demanding pointless reports while I’m trying to test, and all the bleeding managers going around showing off how damned important they are, I earn more than twice as much as the poor permies, the majority of which I promptly place in this client’s competitor, which is a cooperative bank that hasn’t done any nonsense with credit-default-debt-collateralisation pyramid schemes and is enjoying record profits while providing excellent service to it’s customers. I know they’re going to throw me out at the end of the year, but unlike permies I get paid enough to built up a reserve for myself, so if need be, if I can’t find another contract for a while, I’ll just go on a long holiday. Show me a permie who can say that.

[SallyAnne]

That's the complete opposite to what I find - when I was a permie I was under pressure, felt stress, etc etc

As a contractor - total doddle.

It's possibly cause I'm doing stuff as a contractor that I can do with my eyes closed like - have you taken on a new role as a contractor?

Or is there a particular reason you're working so hard and so much for them? (Competing with another contractor? Stupid deadlines set by a nazi? etc)

[wantacontract]

well some time on, I have moved on from that contract and came out smelling like roses and now handle stress much better.

Now that I have had a few more contracts under my belt, everything is viewed in a more relaxing perspective....

i.e. in a few months time I'll be out of here....whilst it was true that was the same back when I was stressed, my mindset could not adopt that view...but now, I'm well chilled....well kinda for me anyway.

To all the posters that helped me out then. I really appreciated it, as it was very tough for me then.

[wantacontract]

thats a great post xl monkey...

Thinking about it, you've hit the nail on the head....I do have a permie's mentality of working right now....its like i am a new employee trying to impress and doing too much.....

I mean, the contract ends in march anyway...so I got to look at it like that....

Got to remind myself i am only there for a short time...

[XLMonkey]

well, if you got engaged a couple of weeks ago, it's hardly surprising that you're feeling a bit stressed!!!

On average, I think most contractors are less stressed than those in full time employment, mostly because they feel more in control of their lives. But, you may be struggling with the transition from a "permie" mentality to that of a freelancer. As a contractor you have to be more disciplined about agreeing a set scope of work with the client and then sticking to it (rather than just taking more and more things on just because they need doing and there's no-one else around). You also have to make sure that you have a "release valve" like sport or a hobby - something that you can do that takes your mind off work. That's really hard to do if you work at home (since you're constantly surrounded by reminders of all the things you still have to do)

Stick at it though, it's usually when you're working the hardest that you're learning the most.