Reply to: Grim Places to work Part 2 - feel like starting a fight

[BrilloPad]

So long as they're not so regular they could be construed as whining. If you update weekly that's probably enough.

Keep up the good work!

tpd is the place for live updates......

[suityou01]

Indeed - I have made sure to send out regular updates on progress and what the sticking points are.

So long as they're not so regular they could be construed as whining. If you update weekly that's probably enough.

Keep up the good work!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Nope, i think you're a fukwit 52 weeks a year

Cheers

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

And for the hard of thinking, I'm not disputing that. In point of fact I stated there was nothing the OP could do about it other than make sure his arse is covered and keep invoicing.

Some really really crap trolling going on here this morning.

Indeed - I have made sure to send out regular updates on progress and what the sticking points are.

[BrilloPad]

I always seem to catch you at the wrong time of the month don't I......

Nope, i think you're a fukwit 52 weeks a year

Pogle likes you. She thinks I am a fukwit 365 days a year and 366 on leap years.....

[Pogle]

I always seem to catch you at the wrong time of the month don't I......

Nope, i think you're a fukwit 52 weeks a year

[d000hg]

WHS

From what I read of Suitys post he misses the point. Nothing of what we do as contractors is worth a jot of benefit for mankind. It's all bollix. People who build houses can still see those in fifty years. In IT you may as well be pissing in the wind.

Worthless.

Disagree. Even leaving aside areas where software can last decades, even short-lived software can make a difference. For instance, many modern medical devices use software to give people quality of life that 'dumb' technologies couldn't offer. Modern insulin pumps spring to mind as a very direct example, but anyone who has had a CT/MRI scan, or even ultrasound/x-ray, has benefited due to software. Your software might only be used 5 years before it's replaced by newer equipment with new software, but during that time it's made a difference to peoples' lives.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

This is precisely what I went through on my last gig. The pressure of wanting to shout at someone, or wet the bed or hit someone (in your case) is immeasurable.

You try escalating and it falls on deaf ears. You get told "just do your best", while everyone else above you just shrugs their shoulders.

At some point 1 of 6 things will happen.

1) Those above you will get found out and bollocked or worse.
2) Those above you will get found out and be replaced.
3) Those above you will get found out, try and blame you to cover their arses. You get canned.
4) No one cares, the project gets later and later. No one cares, it's just the culture of the place.
5) No one cares as the project is getting tulip-canned anyways and you just don't know it yet.
6) Those above you are playing political games and want the project to struggle. Usually as they want more budget / resource.

You will notice not any of those items are in your control.

The only thing in your control is to submit a weekly report to the project manager, with a copy sent to a private mail account. This should show what you were supposed to work on, what came up that was unplanned, what obstacles you face in terms of risks and issues, and what you have done about them - usually in terms of escalating and performing regular chases.

Soon enough you're entire working week will become chasing people and writing up these reports. Then when any of the 1-6 options occurs you are belt braces and bollocks and can turn over the evidence.

Even if they don't have weekly meetings, or ask for weekly reports, rise above it and issue one anyway.

Really good post dude - excellent summary of what kind of stuff happens in IT. At my last place they were desperate to hand on to my skills and I ended up putting the notice in. Without me the systems I built would start falling appart but that's what the managers wanted to happen to prove a point about rate cuts and retaining good contractors.

[Sands of Time]

WMFS x1000
Need to get a sense of perspective. By all means do a job to the best of your ability but do all you can to leave it at work. Especially as a contractor you are 'just visiting' in Monopoly jail parlance.
You are being paid, probably a comparitively large chunk of change that should give you and family a pleasant standard of living now and in the future, this is worth a lot !
Don't kid yourself you are anything more than a tiny cog having no impact on anything of any importance.
My lovely money s/sheet records all the revenue and as long as that is ticking over I can deal with the rest or if I can't I leave and it all goes away.

Like a true contractor!


Tone

[lukemg]

WMFS x1000
Need to get a sense of perspective. By all means do a job to the best of your ability but do all you can to leave it at work. Especially as a contractor you are 'just visiting' in Monopoly jail parlance.
You are being paid, probably a comparitively large chunk of change that should give you and family a pleasant standard of living now and in the future, this is worth a lot !
Don't kid yourself you are anything more than a tiny cog having no impact on anything of any importance.
My lovely money s/sheet records all the revenue and as long as that is ticking over I can deal with the rest or if I can't I leave and it all goes away.

[darmstadt]

WHS

From what I read of Suitys post he misses the point. Nothing of what we do as contractors is worth a jot of benefit for mankind. It's all bollix. People who build houses can still see those in fifty years. In IT you may as well be pissing in the wind.

Worthless.

Maybe in the world of kiddie computers but I still see code written nearly 50 years ago and because it works, it doesn't get touched...

[hyperD]

What's the last thing that will go through your mind as you take your last breath before you die?

Is it: "I wish I spent more time in the office"?

Like **** it will be.

So get it all in perspective.

Bear the responsibilities of your own actions and choices.

Enjoy your short life to the full.

[oscarose]

It will all be alright in the end.

Relax, worry about stuff you have control over, enjoy life and learn from every day.



Tone

Excellent advice.

[Sands of Time]

It will all be alright in the end.

Relax, worry about stuff you have control over, enjoy life and learn from every day.



Tone

[alluvial]

Depends where you choose to contract. But it's true, a lot of these larger places don't seem to be Industrial Centres but Containment Centres. Keeps you off the streets basically. As long as you look concerned and stressed, you are fulfilling the point of your contract.



Not if the Antarctic glaciers melt and London is submerged. Which makes property prices all the more ridiculous.

I predict the capital will be moved to sunny Edinburgh. Not a bad idea to start over really.

According to this linky London's looking pretty safe for quite a while yet. Edinburgh will cop it long before London. Want to borrow our capitqal city? Tough, go and be independant somewhere else.