Any of you do contract IT work, rather than full-time career path??
 

Ok, here I go on the career thing again. I have decided that I am too easily bored with the common corporate career-type path that I am on and I feel I need re-stimulation every 6 mos to a year.

I got this current job as a contract to hire position. The idea of working a lot of shorter-term contracts kind of appeals to me. I can work with different companies and technologies, I can choose whether or not to take contracts, etc.

The down side is obviously benefits and stability. However, the salary "could" make up for that in most cases.

Do any of you other IT'ers jump from contract to contract? Do you always use the same recruiters/placement companies? Do you have any advice for a waivering soul?

Thanks
-Brad

Re: Any of you do contract IT work, rather than full-time career path??
 

I've been doing this for almost 10 years now.

My recommendations would be to keep your skills current and some cash in the bank for a rainy day.

The market is getting thin due to competition from India and China, so you have to be able to offer companies something that can't get from Samir's Discount House of Code.

Learn to network, develop your people skills. You'll have more success with a real estate agent mindset as opposed to tech nerd mindset. The guys paying you detest and/or fear smelly computer geeks as a rule. Despite what you've read on /., showers are not evil.

I don't do it, don't have the cojones or savings, but I wish I did because I get bored easily and like a change.

Networking (interpersonal, not Cisco) is key. Also, you may want to look up a book called "From Serf to Surfer" It's out of print last time I looked, but has some great info. You may be able to find it in a library.

I've been doing contract work on the side for about 10 years and continue to earn about 20% of my regular pay from my full-time job doing part-time IT consulting for small local companies. Die to the situation at Ford, I may have to do my "part-time" work "full-time"!

Thanks for the replies guys.. The more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense for my lifestyle and personality.

-Brad

My brother wavers between full-time gigs and contract work. He'll take a permanent position, drop his contract jobs, the get bored after 2 years and go back to contract work. Then he takes a year to build up contracts, gets "too busy", and takes a full-time gig. He'd be a lot better off going all-in, and hiring someone to help with the workload.

During one of his peak years, I did some contract work on the side doing usability, content & design consulting. I don't build anything, I just "audit" sites and report findings, provide suggestions & mock-ups. There seemed to be lots of work for this in the SMB market, but I have a good full time gig doing the same work, and didn't have the time to really pursue it. Just did it for pocket money, and to help my brother out. Would definitely consider pursuing it full-time if the bottom ever fell out where I'm at.

I've been in IT for 18 years and have spent 12 of them as a contractor. I also spent two+ years early on working for a large consulting company. And I will never again work as a full time employee for any company ever again. The benefits of contracting are overwhelming IMO. The money rocks. The ability to work in a wide variety of environments and technologies has done wonders for my skillset. The fact that I don't have to participate in "annual reviews" with "performance goals" and "diversity training seminars" and "corporate outings" and required "career enhancement classes" etc etc etc is simply beautiful. I don't have to pretend that I give a rats a$$ about the company's latest productivity initiatives or the weekly department reorg. I get to do what I do best (i.e. code) and ignore the rest. And did I mention the money?

Also, I find that getting contracting gigs is easier than other jobs. All the employer wants to know is whether you can do the job. Since they can fire you at any time with no repurcussions, they are less concerned about the details. If they want you out, there is no need for HR forms, documentation, warnings, appeals etc. They just say "leave" and you leave. That actually gives you an advantage over full time employees.

Plus, most companies "pay" their employees in forms other than money. They give them "status", "responsibility", fancy "titles", endless little plaques and awards and "attaboys". And frankly, I prefer cash. Pay me enough $$ and I won't care if my business card says "Piss Boy". I'll just say, "That's Mr Piss Boy to you!"

That said, I'd love to take the next step and start an independent contracting company - maybe even a loosely associated group of local IT pros who can work individually or pitch larger projects as a team. That way I'd get to keep 100% of my billing rate. I've had friends who have done it individually but none who actually managed to grow it into anything.

"Loosely associated group of IT folks" is exactly what my brother worked on last time he was doing contract work. It was a tough gig, some joined until they could float enough contracts to fly solo, then split. Too much flux, and too much ambiguity around roles & responsibilities. People were dropping unfinished work when they left the group, tarnishing the reputation of the "collective". Got ugly in the end.

Obviously, YMMV.

This thread is of increasing interest to me as things are not looking good at my job (FoMoCo) and I may be doing the "IT contractor" thing as a full-time job in the very near future... I'm preparing for the "death by a thousand paper cuts" by updating my resume amd CV, reestablishing contacts in IT and various businesses and contacting people I've worked with over the past 14 years to find out where my next opportunity may be. Very scary but also very challenging...

I hear you Art.... I am always thinking that my job could be RIF'd or outsourced at anytime. If I did not have 16 years invested in IT, I'd look at a career change. Maybe opening up an ice cream shop would work :) Good luck to you. As for me, I am getting in touch with recruiters to test the contractor market..

cheers
-Brad

Brad,
Yep, I've got some tough decisions to make. I have 10 years in IT at Ford and some would say "tough it out, you'll make this cut", but that really doesn't satisfy my need for stability. I can only rely upon myself and the things I can do, so working for myself sure seems like a good alternative to the corporate world. We'll see...

...and did I mention the money?

One of the things I love about contracting is that you can make up rediculous numbers and people don't laugh at you. They may not pay you the outrageous number - but they are always willing to entertain it.

Case in point. I just called my old headhunter to see about getting a new contract. I told him I had done some C# programming and that I had updated my resume to reflect it. He agreed that C# was a marketable skill and then he asked, "How much money are you looking to make?"

Um....

So I closed my eyes and said, "I hear .NET programmers can make north of $100 per hour."

Then I waited for his uncontrolled laughter and the sound of the telephone being hurled out the window.. But instead he just said, "Okay, send me your new resume and I'll get back to you next week."

My hands are still shaking.

Then, as if to reinforce the point, I got a call from another headhunter while I was emailing my resume to the first headhunter. The second headhunter called because my profile on Monster said 'C#.NET". And she also asked how much I wanted to make and I tried it again..."I'm looking for $100 per hour."....and again all I heard was, "Okay, send me your resume."

I may never get anywhere near $100/hr. But man, I just LOVE drinking the coolaide! Contracting is like one giant pool party at the Playboy Mansion where all the coolaide is spiked with mescaline powered Everclear!

Do you prefer to work hourly, or to set a price for the project, or some other arrangement? What do the clients seem to prefer.

I contracted to Tek Systems and others for 5 years.

Only problem for me was when work ran out sometimes it would be a while before something else came up.

John,
I have two clients that have a standing contract with me that's based upon a quarterly fee. They pay the fee no matter how many hours I have to put in. This arrangement gives me the incentive to keep everything running smoothly so I don't spend too much time at their offices and they love it because their systems are reliable and we keep outages to a minimum! The key to this arrangement working well is that I set everything up and did it to maximize reliability and uptime. If you're working in an environment that someone else set up, you may not fare as well. Kind of like getting a PPI on a Porsche... you keep up with maintenance and keep the "break-fix" to a minimum...

Any of you independent IT guys may want to look into this.

www.ca.com/onsite

Home, Small/Home Office and SMB solutions.

You get a discount on the software, charge the customer full MSRP plus you get a SPIF (commision).

If you sign up they'll send you a Free Welcome Kit with all their software.

Scott

I will know my fate after Sept. 15th, and may be headed to the full-time contract work world. I'm nervous, a little scared, but mostly excited. Worst case scenario, our current project dries up and I start my own wee little company. There's enough in Lincoln to keep me busy for ten lifetimes.

My friend is looking for someone to handle the IT for his office. He has a small law office, just a few people, but it's beyond the stage of just using a couple of PCs. I would guess he needs help w/ networking a file server, printers and scanners, desktop PCs; a really good data backup system; setting up remote access for laptops (to be able to access files and Outlook over internet); I'm not really sure what else he uses. Maybe help with VOIP phone if that would save him money. How would he find an independent IT guy (or company) to set up his office, maintain it, and come fix it when it breaks? How would he know what's a fair price to pay?

Maybe I need another cup of coffee - but I can't figure out what they are offering? Is it a service? Are they looking for people to sell their software?

jyl: Has your friend called any of the new techie services like http://geeksoncall.com/? I have no experience with them. But they all seem to wear tape on their glasses so I assume they are smart. ;)

http://www.onforce.com is a good place to pick up some additional contract/consultant work in you local area....