Reply to: I have been sacked from my contract

[northernladuk]

Get back under your bridge. Spend more time making a real company and less time using words to pretend you are

Better than using words that prove I am not

[d000hg]

No one on here as ever been 'sacked' from a contract. Maybe it is because you don't understand contracts you got 'sacked'?

Get back under your bridge. Spend more time making a real company and less time using words to pretend you are

[MyUserName]

As a permie I took a job doing linux programming. In the interview I stated several times that I had no linux background and if that was required I would not be able to do the job and did not want it. They assured me that it was not important and I would easily pick it up as long as I could program.

Took the job, learned linux bits and bobs as I went along. After a month or so a new CEO took over who was the CO's best mate. He did not agree with the decision to hire me and told me on the last day of my probation that, although my skills were up to the job and everything was getting done, he wanted to extend it a month and demanded that I signed a form agreeing my skills were not up to the job and that we had already had a meeting about it. I pointed out that he had already said the opposite to this and the meeting mentioned on the form had never happened and he told me he would fire me on the spot unless I signed it. I had a mortgage, a child and a pregnant wife so I had to sign it.

Over the next month I suggested changing my employment to a one month rolling contract with no notice period. Therefore if my 'lack of skills' ever became an issue he could get rid of me but until then I might as well say. He replied that if I even mentioned anything like that again he would fire me on the spot.

I resigned a week or so later as he had told me there was no way I could pass the probation and it was just a formality and there was only a week left. He was happy, smiling, clapping me on the back etc. However, he refused to sign my resignation and wrote a letter himself to sign which specified that it was my last day that day (no mention of my 1 week mandatory notice period) then they said that they would pay me several more day's worth of holiday that I had left ... pretty much my notice period's worth.

After this I decided I would rather be a contractor and have control rather than let something like that walk all over me again. So far I have never looked back!

Actually can anyone think why they might have been so weird about the notice period thing?

[geoffreywhereveryoumaybe]

Happend to me once

New contract on good pay and after the first month they told me they were releasing me.

Got a month's pay and landed a new assignment after a week.

It happens - in this case they had lots of contractors from a consultancy house and they decided to kick an independent out to try and show some muscle.

Best advice you have received is that as is was so short you can drop it from your cv

[Scrag Meister]

When you say sacked to you mean terminated prematurely, prior to contract end?

Unless there was a lot of venom and f'off out the door talk, escorted out of the building, I would say this is normal for contracting.

My last contract was 6 months, extended for another 6 then 1 month into the extension they terminated it, for being a too highly paid support engineer, and change of dev strategy.

Back to a previous client, been here nearly 18 months and will be looking come September.

Stand up, dust yourself off and get looking.

Like someone else said check back with the other offer.

[ThomasSoerensen]

I am new to this board but not new to contracting, unfortunetly i have just been sacked after a few weeks in my contract
i am gutted it;s never happened to me before but apprently they do this a lot it;s Agency said this has happened to them several times with other contractors; They seem to have a very bad reputation for treating people badly.

After a few days of being upset just started looking again and trying to bounce back

Has this happened to anyone else?

I am so jinxed i had two offers at the same time and i took this one what a nightmare!!!!Hi

anyways i now need therepy from fellow contractors so i have joined this board for inspiration

Grow a pair and move on.

[Grasser73]

That and raiding the stationary cabinet.

Easier than raiding a moving cabinet I suppose.

[oscarose]

Better luck with your next one old chap.

[Old Hack]

Man up, you are a contractor. Dismiss them from your mind as quickly as you dismissed them from your cv and move on. If that are the twats you've outed them as, you'll be much happier not being there. It is summer, go forth and enjoy some of your warchest on a couple of weeks off somewhere nice, come back rejuvenated and seek more work.

Only happened to me once, that was 4 months into my best, most lucrative contract ever, when Eric Pickles finally understood the auditors telling him that it wouldn't work, was over budget, under functionally specified and wasn't fit for purpose. Selfish fat twat he is.

[alluvial]

This^ is the only therapy.

Although I prefer F**k 'em, myself.

That and raiding the stationary cabinet.

[nomadd]

Sod 'em. Plenty more and better places to be.

This^ is the only therapy.

Although I prefer F**k 'em, myself.

[xoggoth]

Only once but they got rid of 12 others at same time so it wasn't personal.

[northernladuk]

Hope they paid you your notice!

[Mich the Tester]

I got fired three times as a permie;
- once for f**king up a DBA task
- once for 'speaking my mind'
- one redundancy

Hasn't happened yet as a contractor, but tulip happens; pick yourself up, don't blame yourself but do spend a few hours (no more than that) thinking about what you can do better next time, and get yourself the next contract. In a year´s time you´ll laugh about it.

[bobspud]

Years ago I worked with a very capable engineer. He was totally switched on to the role but a little soft when it came to big politics. They sacked him with as much grace as tulipe falling out a seagulls arse. They said it was because he spent all day on the job boards We had just delivered a massive project and were both on hands off time (unless in emergency), so that the servers could go to BAU and both had our marching orders in place... Long story short, he went back a year later and managed fifteen months on the best rate he ever had.

I left a month later than him the first time, hailed as the top dog and couldn't get my CV back in the door when the role came up... (strange times)

Back luck Forget about it and get looking for something else. Clients that play this game get the reputation eventually and agents stop putting effort into them.