Introduction
I’ve now been contracting for nine months at the same client after an initial three month contract.
I left permanent employment last July for the world of contracting.
At the time I wanted to:
- improve my quality of life by reducing the number of days worked each month
- leave my job in the office.
- work on challenging and varied projects
- avoid day to day recurring support issues
So, have I achieved any of this and what lessons have I learnt?
Quality of life and time off
My quality of life has definitely improved. I still work five days a week as I found “part time” contracts are pretty much non-existent but I’m in the fortunate position of being able to take time off whenever I want to, other than during critical stages of a project.
[Ed: See Contractor Doctor: Can I Get Part Time Contracts]
Leaving the job in the office
I do leave my job at the office and feel comfortable enough with the service I provide to not worry about leaving at the end of the day.
Challenging and varied projects
After nine months, and now into my third extension, I do feel that I’ve become stale. I’ve completed two projects and have three more to finish this year but I’m becoming drawn into the politics of each one and that was something I was trying to avoid. It appears that it’s not only the project itself which needs to be stimulating, I also need a change of scene as well.
[Ed: See Contractor Doctor: How often should I change contracts]
The main aspect I’ve learnt is that contractors don’t get the boring jobs, they get the difficult ones.
As a business analyst I get to have conversations that the project manager or development team leader does not want to have with the users.
Lessons learnt
It’s worth remembering that, typically, as a contractor you may well have the responsibility but none of the authority. This can work in your favour and allows you to act quite obtusely at times but remember to temper this with flashes of genius, otherwise the client will just think that you’re obtuse!
Also, as a conscientious worker I have also, at times, taken on an element of team building. After a particularly arduous deployment I took the entire development team out for evening drinks.
I’ve made the mistake of not increasing my rate when being offered extensions. I’ve also been too willing to take on tasks which aren’t strictly within my remit. That said, it’s my first contract and I’ll know better for next time.
[Ed: See Preparing and Negotiating a Contract Renewal]
Regarding time off, I’ve not fallen into the common trap of looking at every day off as a day’s lost pay. I’ve got a forecast for the rest of year and am spreading my contract earnings to take into account a whole month off in December for holidays followed by time off to look for a new contract in January.
Advice for contractors
I’ve learnt that the problems are the same in every organisation.
Poor project management, weak leadership and “very slightly too late” development happen everywhere.
As a contractor you have only a limited ability to fix problems. My advice is to work within the framework you are given and do the best job that you can. Then you and other contractors will be thought of positively.