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I have been contracting for the last two years and have been doing ~3-6 month contracts so my answer might be a little different. Whatever the stack I get up t

I have been contracting for the last two years and have been doing ~3-6 month contracts so my answer might be a little different. Whatever the stack I get up to speed usually after 1 week and provide value to the company pretty much immediately (it's always scary starting a new project because I feel like I need to prove myself within the first few days since I'm working with a new team). If it's a normal job, I think 1.5 years should be a good amount since that is apparently the median for how long developers stay at a company nowadays. I think the mentality that a hiring manager won't hire someone because he's afraid someone will leave after 6 months is old school. People are going to leave, but you need to figure out how to get the most value out of your developers while they are there. Also, if it takes you that long to get someone up to speed it's either that developer is too slow or there's someone wrong with your process. Ultimately I see the pros of job hopping (early on in your career at least) because you will have worked with so many different people. Your gauge in people's personalities and experience will be a useful asset. Plus you will get to know a lot of people in the industry.

fweespeech 10y ago
> I have been contracting for the last two years and have been doing ~3-6 month contracts so my answer might be a little different. Tbh, I lump all these together under "Self Employed" on my resume. I personally think anything 1099 / short-term contracts should be considered 1 employer (you). I wouldn't call contract work "job hopping" since the employer is really yourself and you are simply working on a series of 3-6 month projects.
- antoniuschan99 10y ago
  ^ agreed. Job hopping != contracting
- cloudjacker 10y ago
  the problem is that most people that proclaim self employed are actually unemployed, which is less marketable in corporate culture. so to differentiate yourself, write the project and client details
  - antoniuschan99 10y ago
    I don't lump it into Self Employed either. On my resume I treat it as just another company or project that I worked on/at. And recruiters/headhunters see it the same way. They are always more interested in the previous company that I worked at more than the project details for some reason.
  - fweespeech 10y ago
    I think you are confusing what I mean. The details are there but at a quick skim it doesn't look like you job hopped. And lets be honest, no one does more than a quick skim of a resume until they've decided to talk to you. I'd bet you a large % of the people that toss out resumes for "job hopping" skim a heading-per-contract-from-Y-to-Y format and toss your resume without sorting out the details. Self Employed YYYY to YYYY * Contract A * Contract B * Contract Farming Agency (which gave me N projects) Corporate Titan YYYY to YYYY * Project A * Project B
    - antoniuschan99 10y ago
      Hrmm, looks like a good way to do it :)
      - fweespeech 10y ago
        Yeah I started doing it when people asked me questions in phone screens about why I left Job X after 3 months. It is why I'm convinced people just skim resumes until they think they'll bring you onsite.

fweespeech 10y ago

> I have been contracting for the last two years and have been doing ~3-6 month contracts so my answer might be a little different. Tbh, I lump all these together under "Self Employed" on my resume. I personally think anything 1099 / short-term contracts should be considered 1 employer (you). I wouldn't call contract work "job hopping" since the employer is really yourself and you are simply working on a series of 3-6 month projects.

antoniuschan99 10y ago
^ agreed. Job hopping != contracting
cloudjacker 10y ago
the problem is that most people that proclaim self employed are actually unemployed, which is less marketable in corporate culture. so to differentiate yourself, write the project and client details
- antoniuschan99 10y ago
  I don't lump it into Self Employed either. On my resume I treat it as just another company or project that I worked on/at. And recruiters/headhunters see it the same way. They are always more interested in the previous company that I worked at more than the project details for some reason.
- fweespeech 10y ago
  I think you are confusing what I mean. The details are there but at a quick skim it doesn't look like you job hopped. And lets be honest, no one does more than a quick skim of a resume until they've decided to talk to you. I'd bet you a large % of the people that toss out resumes for "job hopping" skim a heading-per-contract-from-Y-to-Y format and toss your resume without sorting out the details. Self Employed YYYY to YYYY * Contract A * Contract B * Contract Farming Agency (which gave me N projects) Corporate Titan YYYY to YYYY * Project A * Project B
  - antoniuschan99 10y ago
    Hrmm, looks like a good way to do it :)
    - fweespeech 10y ago
      Yeah I started doing it when people asked me questions in phone screens about why I left Job X after 3 months. It is why I'm convinced people just skim resumes until they think they'll bring you onsite.