Reply to: I feel dirty

[DiscoStu]

As a tester, is that not a given

Oi!

[keninparis]

I think I am now an office bastard.

Clientco's e-commerce director calls me upstairs for a 'quick chat'. So up I go to the top floor, sit down and he does the small talk. Then he comes to the point; 'the budget is running out quickly and <Contractorname>'s contract runs out at the end of this month. I want to keep you on for testing until the end of the year but I need budget to do it. Do you need him for your test team?' I thought for a moment and then said 'no, he's very knowledgeable but his knowledge can be transferred to the new permie guy'.

My contract runs 'till end of november with verbal extension 'till end of december.

Am I a complete tuliphead or is this just the harsh reality of 'bizziniss'?

Verbal extentions no good. Best to get the contract (and don't sign it). Cli. Co. takes the ****, contractor takes the ****

[oracleslave]

but don't expect to do any serious engineering

As a tester, is that not a given

[darrenb]

Clientco's e-commerce director calls me upstairs for a 'quick chat'. So up I go to the top floor, sit down and he does the small talk. Then he comes to the point; 'the budget is running out quickly and <Contractorname>'s contract runs out at the end of this month. I want to keep you on for testing until the end of the year but I need budget to do it. Do you need him for your test team?' I thought for a moment and then said 'no, he's very knowledgeable but his knowledge can be transferred to the new permie guy'.

My contract runs 'till end of november with verbal extension 'till end of december.

Am I a complete tuliphead or is this just the harsh reality of 'bizziniss'?

Sounds like a tuliphole if they are playing off the contractors against each other. Wonder what others are being asked to say about you?

You don't have to feel dirty but don't expect to do any serious engineering either in a paranoid environment like that.

[MarillionFan]

What a bastard the OP is.

I'd always take the hit over stitching someone else up.

[Paddy]

Twenty odd years ago I was a technical manager at an OEM. I received a 20% pay rise but I was told to keep costs down. I did a performance review for all of the teckie guys and I told the them that times are hard and there is no money in the pot for a pay review. We are all in it together blab bla bla.

[PAH]

"No if's, no buts, no arguing the toss!"

"Why didn't you tell me it was going to cause a problem?"

I love muppet managers. Most of the time they're too busy chasing their tail to pester you. Other times MF decks them.

[PAH]

a certain phone reseller

It wouldn't be a certain empire set up by John Caudwell would it?

Midway through my contracting life I was tempted to go permie and had applied for a role at the office just off the M6. After the second interview and them still faffing about wanting me to go back and meet other bods I threw in the towel and decided it wasn't for me.

Applied for a contract instead, did a brief telephone interview, and started the following monday.

[Churchill]

The Development Manager of a company I once worked for waltzed into a meeting and demanded that we give him the names of 2 contractors by the end of the day that he could terminate. "No if's, no buts, no arguing the toss!"

We gave him the names. He terminated their contracts. Days later when he noticed that we'd re-jigged our delivery schedule he asked "why?". We told him that we'd lost some resource so had to redo the project plan.

His response of "Why didn't you tell me it was going to cause a problem?" didn't go down too well...

[lukemg]

I am still haunted by having to bounce a new chap out the door of a certain phone reseller when I was perm manager. Chap had given up another job to go there and had been there 2 months when my boss (nickname - MadDog) told me to bin him. Week after I did this, someone else on the team bailed leaving us short....
I should have said no, or bailed myself.
Was slightly gratified to bump into said chap somewhere else, who was by now contracting and doing good but I still regret what I did.
With a contractor, it would have been a lot easier, it's the nature of things.

[Mich the Tester]

Sounds terrible, of course you'll be drowning your sorrows with the help of the wine list.

Well not the list, but the stuff that comes out of the bottles listed on it, yes.

[norrahe]

Yep, awful. I might be forced to celebrate at Lambermons tomorrow evening.

Sounds terrible, of course you'll be drowning your sorrows with the help of the wine list.

[Mich the Tester]

tulip happens, you have to look out for number 1

Yep, awful. I might be forced to celebrate at Lambermons tomorrow evening.

[norrahe]

tulip happens, you have to look out for number 1

[PAH]

It's survival of the fittest.

I currently have a good record* of being the last contractor to be kicked out of the door when the inevitable cull comes along. I have no sleep problems.


* i.e. For the last 3 out of 4 contracts. Probably means I'm either very good or very cheap. Probably the latter, but it pays better than being on the bench.