So whenever you've taken over a project from a permie you've always had perfect documentation as well as code that's so polished it shines. Lucky you. What follows are my own opinions and personal experiences as both permie AND contractor. I'm not making sweeping generalisations, because as we all know there are good and bad in any walk of life... A noticable difference between permies/contractors that I've experienced is the degree of professionalism shown by either type: contractors behave more professionally on the whole - have better timekeeping and do a better job, more efficiently, because at the end of the day they have to be professional to get that renewal and a higher rate, not to mention the reference when they do leave. They need to do the job better than their permie counterparts to make their manager feel he's getting his money's worth. Remember that permies are a lot harder to get rid of so it's easier for them to get away with slacking off and doing a shit job - 'oh, send me for some training and I'll do it better (and slower) next time', whereas a contractor doing the same will find himself out of a job pretty sharpish, or without being offered a renewal when expected. When it comes down to it the only REAL difference between contractors and regular employees is that successful contractors are confident enough in their abilities to feel comfortable taking the 'risk' of giving up their nice 'secure' (ahem!) permie job and go along the contract route for greater financial gain. And I must point out - the key word here is SUCCESSFUL - sure, anyone can blag their way into a contract or two, but it's only the ones who can prove themselves repeatedly that can make a susccessful and very lucrative living out of it. In my (most humble) opinion, in this day and age the only reason for staying a permie in a technical job is that you either don't yet have enough experience, you genuinely don't want to take the risk (and what's the risk anyway? You can always go get another a permanent position if the contract market dries up) or simply not good enough in your field to be able to make a success of being a contractor.
Slashdot Mirror
So whenever you've taken over a project from a permie you've always had perfect documentation as well as code that's so polished it shines. Lucky you. What follows are my own opinions and personal experiences as both permie AND contractor. I'm not making sweeping generalisations, because as we all know there are good and bad in any walk of life... A noticable difference between permies/contractors that I've experienced is the degree of professionalism shown by either type: contractors behave more professionally on the whole - have better timekeeping and do a better job, more efficiently, because at the end of the day they have to be professional to get that renewal and a higher rate, not to mention the reference when they do leave. They need to do the job better than their permie counterparts to make their manager feel he's getting his money's worth. Remember that permies are a lot harder to get rid of so it's easier for them to get away with slacking off and doing a shit job - 'oh, send me for some training and I'll do it better (and slower) next time', whereas a contractor doing the same will find himself out of a job pretty sharpish, or without being offered a renewal when expected. When it comes down to it the only REAL difference between contractors and regular employees is that successful contractors are confident enough in their abilities to feel comfortable taking the 'risk' of giving up their nice 'secure' (ahem!) permie job and go along the contract route for greater financial gain. And I must point out - the key word here is SUCCESSFUL - sure, anyone can blag their way into a contract or two, but it's only the ones who can prove themselves repeatedly that can make a susccessful and very lucrative living out of it. In my (most humble) opinion, in this day and age the only reason for staying a permie in a technical job is that you either don't yet have enough experience, you genuinely don't want to take the risk (and what's the risk anyway? You can always go get another a permanent position if the contract market dries up) or simply not good enough in your field to be able to make a success of being a contractor.