October 28, 2019 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Contracting for Work
October 28, 2019 at 12:40 pm
I've been running my own consulting business for 9 years straight until I decided to get employed again. My monthly income now isn't that bad compared to being your own boss and your holidays are actually paid and do exist. In theory all I've lost is dealing with the business and finance part at first look.
Would I consider running my own business again? Yes I would but not again as my own and only employee, might find myself in some sort of Startup within the next 1 - 2 years.
October 28, 2019 at 1:59 pm
I've been a full time employee for most of my career, but what makes contracting appealing for me isn't necessarily the prospect of more money but rather the opportunity to bring my my strongest skills where they are needed most and then move on when the job is finished. Sometimes I feel like I spend only 10% of my time doing the things I enjoy and excel at and remainder is just going through the motions. I don't always end the day that way, it's just a nagging feeling that I get during moments of self reflection.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 28, 2019 at 2:39 pm
Lots to consider when making this decision, and for me, the technical work is the least important part.Too many other things get in the way around the technical work, so those have to be things I want, or don't want, to do.
October 28, 2019 at 2:49 pm
Well you should aswell consider that speaking strictly "technical work" the higher your hourly rate is, the bigger the chance they'll leave you to do your work instead of calling you into 100 meetings / week because everyone else is in there, too. For some of our customers I'm still too expensive to be thrown into meetings all day long and your CV will end up being rather big and - hopefully - filled with a lot of interesting names and topics I guess the most widely known one from my CV would contain something in relation to "Dieselgate" which about everyone has heard by now - which is a rare thing for "IT topics" unless you're a techie.
I spent my whole time being self employed only taking up projects I thought of being interesting to have a look at which as an employee you might not have the chance to, that's one of the biggest advantages of running your own consulting business. But such an attitude might mean you might not find something interesting for a few weeks or even months if you're really picky (yes, I was!) and you still need to pay all the bills etc. so financial management is a must.
October 28, 2019 at 3:15 pm
I would submit that the paradigm of either being an employee or a contractor is a bit off the mark vis a vis today's environment.
Let me make a few assertions and, please, if you think I am missing something, misreading the market, or just plain nuts 🙂 I would be delighted to know. I am keenly interested in your thinking as I think Eric Russell nailed one of the key components - passion.
The nature of being in the world of development, software, data, hardware, operations, architecture, and all other areas is, by nature fluid. Especially data, which by its very nature is extremely fungible, prone to incompleteness, not necessarily by being inaccurate but as a result of the tension inherent in "wanting it right" and "I need to look at this differently", a chore BI in the main, does a great job with. This is the tension between the very real business and ROI needs of both static and dynamic data. It is a relatively "rare bird" manager who thrives on chaos and uncertainty and what is often lost from their perspective, given they also need to satisfy their superiors with "good news" which, from the longer-term planning perspective intensly dislikes uncertainty. The fundamental construct of any business, large or small, is, in fact, brining order out of chaos. A new widget from a new way of bolting parts together, real or electronic, is the ticket to success, as measured by cash flow.
Then, there is ROI and the attempt to increase it. In business there are only two ways to achieve this. Only two. Spend less or make more. Spending less was seen in the flight to India and other offshore development. It is also to be seen in the cloud. Making more follows the same rule; spend less. So, we have seen imperitive programming, then object-oriented and then functional, though not as many seem to 'see' this as expected. But, you DO see functional thinking in IOT. And, where is all the interest these days? IOT. Why? ROI. 1 + 1 still equals 2.
Fast forward (skipping a few needed connected dots) and I would suggest that those who follow Paul Jarvis' "Company of One" ethos and combine that with Rob Thomas' book, "The End of Tech Companies" and then find a way to monetize your passion and I think you are on to something. What is the missing link? The ability to independently "link" and monetize your passion (read: expertise and interest) in a voluntary collaboration with others.
OK, just plain nuts. 🙂
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