What is it about IT contracting.....

Setenza

Prominent Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2002
Messages
3,349
Reaction score
194
Points
803
I secured an lenghty contract with a well known and prestigious educational body two weeks ago. It became very clear that the story that the recruitment exec had spun and the truth were readically different. The project I had been employed to undertake was once again being run by "yes" men, there was far too much politics and there was so many delays that we ended just helping out the support team doing the most mundane tasks.

So, I was fortunate to jump ships to another contract, at a time where I did not cause any bother to my current employer, and secured a higher hourly rate. I arrived onsite today (a major NHS trust) to find another poorly run project thats hopelessly behinf schedule. The project manager told me he was thinking of leaving (I'd only known him a few hours).

I've had one good contract this year with a government body that I've worked with before. The others have all been fiascos.

I fed up with lying agencies with fat cat execs bleeding me dry and getting rich off the fruits of my labour. Sick of the shiny suits, the certain brands of aftershave (you know which ones) and the false sincerity.

Sick of engineers with no IT skills, language difficulties and a penchant for doing **** all.

Had enough of project managers and teamleaders that want multiple skills, long hours and to pay peanuts for it.

The IT market is already slowing down in London and the countries economic problems are only going to make it worse.

Time to quit the contract market and find a permanent job. Might even bail on IT altogether. Too many cowboys, idiots, freaks, weirdos, sociopaths and people who are just plain wrong.

Yes, I've had a bad day, but don't tell me there's no a grain of truth in my rant.

XoD.
 
Thats about the size of it.

I'd get out of IT if I were you. I would if I was good at anything else and actually had the money to re-train.
 
I feel you need to find a permanent role, I'm a Oracle DBA and love my job, Would I ever contract.. never because of the points you made. I hope you find something suitable/enjoyable soon
 
Hi XoD,


It seems to me that if you'd titled the thread "What is it about IT projects" that you'd have been nearer the mark. ;)


If you can stay away from project work, contracting becomes a much nicer proposition.

I'm currently raking in £180 pd, for doing 1st line telephone suport....
I've been at it since late February, my contract runs until the end of June. :D

....The permy guy at the desk next to me is on around £18k pa.

mwahhhhhahhahhahhhahaahahaahahahaaaaa :devil:
 
You can get bad co-workers / management in any job.

I'm a software developer and I also do a fair bit of networking.
I love my job, though at times I end up getting annoyed at certain aspects. But at the end of the day i'd much rather be in IT than doing something else.
 
Hi XoD,


It seems to me that if you'd titled the thread "What is it about IT projects" that you'd have been nearer the mark. ;)


If you can stay away from project work, contracting becomes a much nicer proposition.

I'm currently raking in £180 pd, for doing 1st line telephone suport....
I've been at it since late February, my contract runs until the end of June. :D

....The permy guy at the desk next to me is on around £18k pa.

mwahhhhhahhahhahhhahaahahaahahahaaaaa :devil:
What does 1st line telephone support entitle ???? Seen loads o jobs which are for his position. What skills would be required ?
Sorry XOD for hijacking !
 
I'm clearing about £140 a day which is not too bad, but the whole project is a disaster.

I'll do my utmost this year to find the right fulltime job.

I finished a six year stint as an IT Manager in March 2006 and have been contracting since. The pay has been okay and I've not had too many gaps in my employment, but the work is hardly taxing and I'm not being tested to the best of my ability.

But I've notice a huge decline in the calibre of staff that I've encountered. A lot of the people I've met have vague technical skills, no grasp on etiquette and social interaction. They're simply unlikeable and dishonest and I don't like working with them less they drag me down with them.

Well just have to look and see what happens and hope something better comes up.

XoD.
 
Well just have to look and see what happens and hope something better comes up.

I'm sure it will, Good luck
 
I have a A+ & Networking comptia book tand have been meaning to take the exam for ages, but keep getting put off by people saying that company's don't even bother with these now.
How much would a microsoft one cost and any directions on where to go ?
I have seen so many on the net and your nether to sure weather its legit !
 
What does 1st line telephone support entitle ???? Seen loads o jobs which are for his position. What skills would be required ?
Sorry XOD for hijacking !



Acting skills are the only real requirement for helpdesk work. :)

English speaking, hard drinking, ladies-man is desireable. :D



Have you ever watched 'The IT Crowd' ? :lesson: ;)
 
Where I work we don't even look at A+ and N+ on the CV, I think a Microsoft certification holds much more strength, depending what you want to get into really, the Cisco certifications carry a lot of weight in the networking field.

But nothing can beat experience if you can get it, it's always prefered over a bunch of qualifications.



It depends what you want to do as to what certification is right for you...
 
...
But I've notice a huge decline in the calibre of staff that I've encountered. A lot of the people I've met have vague technical skills, no grasp on etiquette and social interaction. They're simply unlikeable and dishonest and I don't like working with them less they drag me down with them.

XoD.

Weird.... I don't even remember you, which site did we work together?? :D






Best of luck as always mate, maybe you should get yourself Prince2 accredited and go show some halfwit PMs how it should be done?? :smashin:
 
Acting skills are the only real requirement for helpdesk work. :)

English speaking, hard drinking, ladies-man is desireable. :D



Have you ever watched 'The IT Crowd' ? :lesson: ;)

I learnt much from "The Bastard Operator From Hell" ;)

It seems that I'm the only hard drinker out of my peers at the moment.
 
I have a A+ & Networking comptia book tand have been meaning to take the exam for ages, but keep getting put off by people saying that company's don't even bother with these now.
How much would a microsoft one cost and any directions on where to go ?
I have seen so many on the net and your nether to sure weather its legit !

Well between 2000 - 2002 I took and passed the following exam

Comptia A+
Comptia N+
Comptia i-Net+
Comptia Server+
Microsoft MCP Windows 2000
Microsoft MCSA Windows 2000

The next/last exam I took was last year and that was for the Oracle OCM path

To be honest between 2000 - 2002 I just as many exams as possible, I really did'nt know what direction I wanted to take within IT (Hence the mixture of course I took). Once I completed these exams I got the opportunity to become a 'Server Adminstatior' and after many years of doing this job I decided to leave this role to start a journey to become an Oracle DBA. I was quite fortunate to find a junior Apps Support/DBA position within a local international company, I have been there for coming up to 4 years and I just recently took over to become the senior DBA position for the company.

To be honest, you can't beat experaince (Or buy) but I found that with the certifications I took did help me with building my knowledge and help me get into the IT field.

I suggest try and decided on what area of IT you want to go into and find an appropriate training course
 
Wanna good agency story?

My CV's "Profile" section goes something like this (I have changed the product line, but the principle still applies):

"Anti Virus Consultant qualified as an Symantec Certified Engineer (v1.5 & 2.0), McAfee Certified Engineer, and a 2003 MCSE/MCSA with a Security MCP having considerable experience of all Windows platforms and VMWare, storage, and clustering. Additionally trained in Kaspersky and Trend with experience of integrating Symantec with SMS. Detailed knowledge of the Symantec suite of products built up over 6 years design, implementation and OS & application rollout experience."

So I was quite surprised to see the following job ad:

"A leading media company is looking for a Symantec Administrator for an initial 6 month contract with possibilities for extension. Ideally, you should be qualified as a Symantec Certified Engineer (v1.5 & 2.0), McAfee Certified Engineer, and a 2003 MCSE/MCSA with a Security MCP having experience of all Windows platforms and VMWare, storage, and clustering. Also it would be advantageous if you are trained in Kaspersky and Trend with experience of integrating Symantec with SMS. Detailed knowledge of the Symantec suite of products in design, implementation and OS / application rollout is essential. If your details match the above please apply now for a quick response."

WTF? I haven't been able to get in touch with the agent yet to find out what they're playing at.
 
Wanna good agency story?

My CV's "Profile" section goes something like this (I have changed the product line, but the principle still applies):

"Anti Virus Consultant qualified as an Symantec Certified Engineer (v1.5 & 2.0), McAfee Certified Engineer, and a 2003 MCSE/MCSA with a Security MCP having considerable experience of all Windows platforms and VMWare, storage, and clustering. Additionally trained in Kaspersky and Trend with experience of integrating Symantec with SMS. Detailed knowledge of the Symantec suite of products built up over 6 years design, implementation and OS & application rollout experience."

So I was quite surprised to see the following job ad:

"A leading media company is looking for a Symantec Administrator for an initial 6 month contract with possibilities for extension. Ideally, you should be qualified as a Symantec Certified Engineer (v1.5 & 2.0), McAfee Certified Engineer, and a 2003 MCSE/MCSA with a Security MCP having experience of all Windows platforms and VMWare, storage, and clustering. Also it would be advantageous if you are trained in Kaspersky and Trend with experience of integrating Symantec with SMS. Detailed knowledge of the Symantec suite of products in design, implementation and OS / application rollout is essential. If your details match the above please apply now for a quick response."

WTF? I haven't been able to get in touch with the agent yet to find out what they're playing at.

WOW :thumbsup:, I think you need to try again :smashin:
 
Hello there,

Unfortunately I've been hit by the credit crunch. I was told my contract would not be renewed in June due to all project work being stopped due to budget cuts, and that the BAU work I did was going back to the full timers.

A right pain as it was a damned good contract for a damned good company.

Rob
 
Hello there,

Unfortunately I've been hit by the credit crunch. I was told my contract would not be renewed in June due to all project work being stopped due to budget cuts, and that the BAU work I did was going back to the full timers.

A right pain as it was a damned good contract for a damned good company.

Rob

Prospects may not be too bad, I was "between contracts" for 3 months at the start of the year then got two interviews the same day, both for contracts at a (slightly) higher rate than my last. One was with a bank, too.

My girlfriend's totally unrelated business has just started to get quite busy again after a 6 month slowdown.
 
Sick of engineers with no IT skills, language difficulties and a penchant for doing **** all.

Had enough of project managers and teamleaders that want multiple skills, long hours and to pay peanuts for it.

The IT market is already slowing down in London and the countries economic problems are only going to make it worse.

Time to quit the contract market and find a permanent job. Might even bail on IT altogether. Too many cowboys, idiots, freaks, weirdos, sociopaths and people who are just plain wrong.

How very very true.
 
The poor level of co-workers skills isn't really restricted to any type of work in computing i've noticed. In companies that move people into different departments a lot, there's a lot of people just picking up their monthly salary, and are not really ready to devote themselves to the work they do.

On the other side, the bigger IT support organisations, when a company outsources support to them are usually bound to transfer over existing IT staff to the outsourcers. I'm still amazed at some people who have been transferred over to my company, under existing conditions, at 50 grand a year, who really don't have a clue what to do in the area of work they're supposed to be a specialist in, or for a role that only usually pays half that amount in the market.
 
To be honest I contracted for while in the late nineties as an Oracle DBA / VMS systems manager... That paid for the deposit on our house and made early married life that little bit easier.

Some of my best friends still contract in financial sectors, doing Oracle financials and other apps support.. Some are paid 1200/day.. but are expected to work 18 hour days 6 days a week in a really stressfull environment.

Moneys great but home life is very poor - which is why they are single i guess!!

I'm happy pootling along, running a small team of DBA's for BT in Birmingham and really don't miss contracting at all..

Moral - guess it depends if your addicted to the money or not as to whether you stay contracting!

PS.. Real world job experience will win over any interviewer 99 times out of a 100 over certifications... I'd much rather have a guy who has been there and done it in the heat of the moment than someone who has not and is unproven in the real world..
 
It is a bind. You simply earn to much money to realistically consider stopping and doing something else. Im a contractor myself and do get frustrated with all the items you mention XoD. Although having said that I have done permy IT for 5 years previous to contracting and the calibre of staff was just as bad.

For me, I dont love IT. I like the money and going on nice holidays etc etc. While I ponder what i really want to do (Even if this takes years), i will be contracting, as this is where the money is.

Your just having a bad day. Take up smoking.
 
PS.. Real world job experience will win over any interviewer 99 times out of a 100 over certifications... I'd much rather have a guy who has been there and done it in the heat of the moment than someone who has not and is unproven in the real world..

Totally agree
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom