Slashdot Mirror
Moving from a Permanent Position to Contract Work?
duncan bayne asks: "I'm sure many developers in salaried, permanent positions have been tempted by the self-management, flexibility and higher pay that are the perks of being a contractor, while at the same time looking nervously at the uncertainty and irregular income. So, to all those in the Slashdot crowd who've made the change - what was it like, was it worth it, and what advice can you share?"
Contracting isn't exactly self-management. Many companies prefer to do all project management themselves and simply treat contractors as implementers.
I think it was worth it to me. You have to realize that you won't always get higher pay and more flexibility; sometimes part of becoming your own one-man company is that you have less flexibility because you are the only one to do things. And while the pay may be more per hour often you get fewer hours, or spend huge amounts of time marketing yourself and doing research to setting up contracts.
Still, on the whole it is worth it. You do have more independence.
Traditionally people following this route have had former employers as their main clients. With sites such as scriptlance, rentacoder, guru.com, and etc., you can now get a larger client base, and even start doing it before you quit your old job.
However, I do have to say, that if insecurity makes you nervous, maybe you shouldn't do it, or at least save up money for a while first.
Switching to Contracting? KFN
I made this move a little over 3 years ago. I was in a desperate situation in that my employer at the time was axing people left and right, good people too. I ended up getting dumped an entire bag of junk and work that I couldn't perform. My coworker, who was in an architect manager role had had enough and made the jump about 3 weeks prior. I ended up hooking up with the same contracting firm he went to and got myself under a W-2 employment agreement with them. He on the otherhand already had a 1099 corp established and was able to get the appropriate agreements in place for it. I personally didn't want to go through the motions of establishing personal health care, the 1099 corp, etc. It just wasn't something I could stomach at the time.
The jump was scary as all hell. I hopped on a new contract about 48 hours after leaving my former employer and started getting setup. Unfortunately, the position was not exactly as my account rep had conveyed with me. Nor was it as clear cut as the contractee's interview/position description stated. Needless to say, the first few weeks were a bit bumpy. I was able to establish a fairly good rapport with the client and things have been more or less peachy since. There is the temptation in some cases that, as contract, you will get paid overtime. I have to warn you. This is a blessing and a curse. When you do this stuff and go the extra mile, it sometimes becomes expected of you. While the extra money is nice, the long hours tend to really eat in to you.
In early June, after a couple of internal management organization shifts, I was under the impression that my contract was stable through the end of the year. Well 1 week into June, I was informed that I would no longer be needed in my current role after 30 June. Needless to say I felt that I had just been screwed over, my contract firm was outraged, and I was really starting to freak out as my, then, girlfriend (now wife) had just moved in. Money coming in was VERY important. Luckily, my contract firm has feelers in all over this particular company, they were able to secure me a position quickly in C++ land, which I wasn't overly proficient at as having programmed in Java for the last 4 years, but it was work. The way the agreement was inked, I would be paid as a salaried employee up to 40 hours, get 2 weeks vacation time, 5 sick days, etc. Overtime was a bit of a sticker. I have to work something like 6% overtime or some such garbage before I get paid for it. Since my earlier experience put a real pinch on me, overtime was going to be minimal at most if I could help it.
Long and short of this is that you should really research your options and your current situation. If you can stick it out and look for a perm position, go for it. If you are willing to "eat shit" for a while, you may come up smelling like a rose. My experience may or may not be the same that many people have. If you are confident in your skills and are able to adapt quickly to fluid situations, then you may want to try your hand at it. Make sure though that you have enough banked up to cover shortages in hours (i.e. around christmas time where code freezes may be rampant and actual work may be scarce).
Hope my long winded telling of my last three years has not been over the top or wandering too much.
My consulting business took off the day that I decided that I would never again perform work on an hourly basis. It makes for difficult negotiations, but I insist on a flat fee and a set completion date. This allows me to over-perform by getting jobs done ahead of schedule, and my clients dont bother me about adhering to a schedule. I show up for meetings and any other duties at the client site, but I dont let them watch me program, and I aint there to teach anyone how to do anything for free. This way, I can manage 4-5 programming jobs at the same time, and never have to watch a clock. I get a bonus if early and a fine if I am late. If you fill out a timecard in order to get paid, then you are a temp. Plain and simple.
Being in my late 40's, it's almost impossible for me to find a technology or programming position with an established company. I'm either too old, too set in my ways, will want too much money, over experienced, too primadona, or too close to retirement age to be of any consideration compared to the 20-somethings out there. And since I don't want the headaches or want to play the politics of a management position, I'm basically forced into becoming a freelance consultant. With that in mind - I love it! I make my own hours. True, I usually work 60+ hours a week. But, I get to choose to take a morning off now and then without having to ask anyone for permission. Yes, the financials are a bit of a nightmare, but once you get the hang of it and keep track of every cent made, and every receipt, then it's not so bad. Also, if you have a lot of experience in a specific area of technology, and you have a knack at writing then you could also look at writing articles and books. Between writing and programming, I'm managing to keep pretty busy.
TheTiminator