Reply to: Contracting Was Disappointing in 2007?

[ThomasSoerensen]

I quite enjoyed 2007.
I only had the time off I could negotiate as delayed start on the next client. One week in March.
I lived happily with my family in 3 different countries. And the savings were severely boosted at the end of the year.
All in all a good year.

Oh - I almost forgot - I had a week off in May that was planned for a training but the training got canceled so I just had a week off in Kuala Lumpur with the family.

I hope 2008 will be good to all of you (except the permies of course)

[PAH]

Sell up and become a new age traveller or perhaps a tramp.

There is something strangely appealing about becoming a posh pikey and sticking two fingers up at the government.

No mortgage or stuck in one area where your house is. No council tax. No bailiffs. No speeding tickets. No skanky b&bs or overpriced hotels, just find a campsite near the client, official or otherwise.

Apart from the snobbery against such living, I can't think of many downsides. Not sure how easy it is to avoid being registered at a permanent address though. As long as I can access my bank accounts, which are all online, the rest is just location and lifestyle choices.

[TimberWolf]

I rarely get a response from agents. If I do get to interview my success rate is close to 100% though. My CV sucks, I hate lying / embellishing CVs and my last role wasn’t using run-of-the-mills skills. So I may be stuffed when it comes to finding work. I can’t work up the enthusiasm to look yet though and I may switch straight to plan B instead: Sell up and become a new age traveller or perhaps a tramp.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Much better than my record over last six years. On plus side there is very little I could owe HMRC.

Aye X

Obviously you haven't heard of the sweeping draconic proviisons of IR666 ... as for moi -
Crises ? What Crises ?

Alf's Guardian Angel - aways told him what to do - and where to go next.

[xoggoth]

Much better than my record over last six years. On plus side there is very little I could owe HMRC.

[eliquant]

Don't give up.

I spent 2 months swatting up and preparing until I got my next gig (yes really).

Remember:
Some places are not really looking for people to hire and are wasting everyone's time i.e. just window shopping or stealing ideas from interview candidates or just filling out the number of candidates after they have already chosen their mate for the role.



My advise is swot up like crazy for the technical tests, read up about the role background info and try if u can to tie it in with what u did in the past and mention it in the interview.

[Spacecadet]

This contracting lark sounds hard! I am going to jump in threadeds time machine and go back 5 years and not start contracting.

I will give this little gem of advice .. in an interview they already think you can do the job, otherwise they wouldnt have given an interview.. the interview is only a double check to cover their asses.. and most inportantly.. a check to make sure they can stand working with you. Work on your interview personality, not your technical skills, and if you cannot... think seriously about quitting as a contractor.

Thats really bad advice... just learn .NET and you'll be fine

[tay]

This contracting lark sounds hard! I am going to jump in threadeds time machine and go back 5 years and not start contracting.

I will give this little gem of advice .. in an interview they already think you can do the job, otherwise they wouldnt have given an interview.. the interview is only a double check to cover their asses.. and most inportantly.. a check to make sure they can stand working with you. Work on your interview personality, not your technical skills, and if you cannot... think seriously about quitting as a contractor.

[Spacecadet]

Do they still make tape?

yup

[Spacecadet]

Personally speaking, 2007 was an excellent year for me, only time i took off work was enforced thanks to an ambulance dash to the hospital.

2007 gave me more work than I could actually do and I've entered 2008 with 3 times more contacts than a year ago and 2-3 years of projects with various clients lined up (subject to confirmation and contracts)

[TheFaQQer]

Then you did better than me. (From which you may conclude what follows is either rubbish or based on experience - you choose!)

I beg to differ - a mere 17 posts compared to 6,575! Pah!!

[TheFaQQer]

I really don't know what to do. What else can I do?

Learn how to change tapes.

It's the future.

milan

[milanbenes]

don't matter as long as the invoices are paid

NEXT.

Milan.

[Churchill]

shat it you plonker,

(ahem)(cough),

yes. what you need to stay off the bench is to get the full Microsoft .Net skills under your belt, go for the complete MSDN certification and as far as I understand from people like DimPrawn you'll be well setup.

All the best, and remember, www.microsoft.com

Milan.

www.sap.com

Btw MB, how come the international site for SAP shows a coloured bloke yet the German site shows a white chap?

[milanbenes]

shat it you plonker,

(ahem)(cough),

yes. what you need to stay off the bench is to get the full Microsoft .Net skills under your belt, go for the complete MSDN certification and as far as I understand from people like DimPrawn you'll be well setup.

All the best, and remember, www.microsoft.com

Milan.