Reply to: What's the point in permiedom?

[Doggy Styles]

You're obviously not used to the culture of excellence as outlined by my client's mission statement.

Seriously though to get trained up from scratch to a new skillset as a permie is easier. If you as a contractor want to get in to a completely new tech how do you do it?

From my earlier post you'll see I don't knock permiedom, and I'd consider it myself if the circumstances were right.

[DieScum]

Open source?

Fair enough as long as the tech fits in to an open source project and you have the motivation and the time to do it.

I have to admit I've had a few failed attempts at getting in to open source and then losing interest after a while.

[d000hg]

Seriously though to get trained up from scratch to a new skillset as a permie is easier. If you as a contractor want to get in to a completely new tech how do you do it?

Open source?

[DieScum]

That's intermediate bullshit bingo standard - you're beginning to sound like a permie!

Get out before it's too late!

You're obviously not used to the culture of excellence as outlined by my client's mission statement.

Seriously though to get trained up from scratch to a new skillset as a permie is easier. If you as a contractor want to get in to a completely new tech how do you do it?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

That's intermediate bullshit bingo standard - you're beginning to sound like a permie!

Get out before it's too late!

I saw a poster at cleintco today which seems to be seriously using "ambassador" as a verb. FFS.

[d000hg]

there is no point to permiedom after all.

It keeps people like Sas from becoming contractors, thereby raising the average quality of contractors a small amount.

[northernladuk]

Wow

I posted a successful thread

I guess all the posts answered my question: there is no point to permiedom after all.

LOL I remember the days when you first posted on here for advice with your blinkers on. You got lots of different advice and managed to completely ignore most of it and just end up with the answer you really wanted regardless...

Nice to see nothing has changed.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Wow

I posted a successful thread

I guess all the posts answered my question: there is no point to permiedom after all.

[Doggy Styles]

By that I mean structured training, mentoring and then progressive exposure to increasingly complex real world implementations.

That's intermediate bullshit bingo standard - you're beginning to sound like a permie!

Get out before it's too late!

[SupremeSpod]

As both DaveB and Diescum say, it serves a purpose. If you are willing to jump between perm/contract/plan b it means that you will never be out of work. Just do whatever you need to do to earn a decent living.

What Gok says!

[MarillionFan]

As both DaveB and Diescum say, it serves a purpose. If you are willing to jump between perm/contract/plan b it means that you will never be out of work. Just do whatever you need to do to earn a decent living.

[DaveB]

I
I will go back to contracting but 400 a day doing commodity work in Bolton doesn't quite cut the mustard at the moment.

This pretty much where I am at the moment. Went permie 2 year ago as the recession started to bite and contracts were thin on the ground, but it was for a decently paid permie role, not a 30k grunt job.

I've got two industry qualifications I didn't have when I started, exposure to lots of new technology and at least 3 months notice of having to find something new if it comes to it (unless I punch someone). This job also opens up further possibilities for senior roles that a contractor probably wouldn't get.

I will go contracting again at some point but not just yet, and not for a 350 or 400 a day bum on seat gig.

It's not all rosy, the politics are tulipty, the usual office crap has to be dealt with and if I get pissed off I can't just submit invoices and think of the end date but for the time being it is worth putting up with.

Permie serves a purpose, and not just for those who will only ever be permie.

[DieScum]

It's been about seven years since my last contract but I still think of myself as a contractor who happens to be permie at the moment.

Definitely want to get back to contracting at some point but the deal has never stacked up for me.

If you are Dave in Swindon earning 30k sitting at your desk all day bored complaining that you aren't getting sent on training courses I can see that permiedom sucks.

My experiences of permie life has been

- decent money (65k + bonus + pension). Clearly a 500 quid a day contract beats that but there is a real risk with time on the bench and lower rates I'd be losing money contracting.

- career and skill progression. I know the whole 'career progression' phrase is whack and often used a meaningless carrot for dumb permies.

In the past seven years I have gone from zero experience to expert in two technology areas. I have done that in a way only permie employment would allow. By that I mean structured training, mentoring and then progressive exposure to increasingly complex real world implementations.

It would be much harder to get that going on my own.

As far as career stability goes it has always been me doing the quitting, or threatening to quit and being given a better deal. That probably won't continue forever but that is the experience so far.

Paid time off. Last year I had 28 days paid holiday + 8 days bank holidays. I worked from home 99% of the time so you can also add in christmas week as i was getting paid but no work was being done.

Unfortunately I also had to take three weeks bereavement leave and a week off with flu.

So that, in an exceptional year I've never taken a sick day before and I hope i never have to take bereavement leave again, was three months paid leave. The normal is around two months though.

I also tend to attend two or three weeks training or conferences abroad every year. Which is fun.

I will go back to contracting but 400 a day doing commodity work in Bolton doesn't quite cut the mustard at the moment.

[AtW]

And there the rest of us thought being great at what you do is the way, instead turning up "my company failed, give me a job?" is the best route.

It's all about having Plan B.

[aussielong]

I've mastered the 2nd part but i still struggle with boredom.

For me, contracting is a piece of piss & easy money. I find perm much more difficult.

I'm the same. Permie is high stress. Not because the work is different but because of the politics and boredom. I found I was getting pushed into managing people due to my age, which I got fed up of fighting.