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Contracting dials engineering work all the way up on some things but all the way down on others. You’re basically a hired gun. If you consider building software

by gfodor 5y ago

Contracting dials engineering work all the way up on some things but all the way down on others. You’re basically a hired gun. If you consider building software a creative pursuit you want to be connected to personally, and working on teams to be at least partially about teamwork and camaraderie, you lose most of these kinds of dynamics being a full time contractor. It was a surprising moment for me when I did this for the first time when on launch day my boss gave me zero credit for the work and showered public praise on my employee peers. Of course, I was paid well, but part of the cost of being paid so well is being seen, by nearly everyone, more as an expensive machine that writes code than a team mate.

seanwilson 5y ago
> If you consider building software a creative pursuit you want to be connected to personally You mean you think this isn't possible while contracting? > my boss gave me zero credit for the work > being seen, by nearly everyone, more as an expensive machine that writes code than a team mate. It really depends where you work and who your client/boss is I think, the same as if you're an employee. I've had contracts where they want you to be part of the team and others where you're kept outside too.
- gfodor 5y ago
  That’s helpful to understand. I’ve done a few contract jobs and they all had the characteristic of the feeling outlined in my post.
  - seanwilson 5y ago
    You should try asking before you start about what your relationship will be with the team and mention what would make you more happy. I'm sure most people you'd want to work with will be empathic about it and your ability to negotiate here is really different to working in a company. Were you working in a big team of mostly developers all working on the same code? In combination with the personalities of the people you're working with, there's lots of different scenarios like being in your own isolated project so you don't need to talk to the dev team, or you're working directly with the founder, or you're the only developer on a team of graphic designers, or you're working with an agency that wants to hide you from the real client etc. I've been in lots of different scenarios where I've celebrated at launch with the client/team, made friends on the way and felt good that I've contributed something meaningful.

by gfodor 5y ago

seanwilson 5y ago

> If you consider building software a creative pursuit you want to be connected to personally You mean you think this isn't possible while contracting? > my boss gave me zero credit for the work > being seen, by nearly everyone, more as an expensive machine that writes code than a team mate. It really depends where you work and who your client/boss is I think, the same as if you're an employee. I've had contracts where they want you to be part of the team and others where you're kept outside too.

gfodor 5y ago
That’s helpful to understand. I’ve done a few contract jobs and they all had the characteristic of the feeling outlined in my post.
- seanwilson 5y ago
  You should try asking before you start about what your relationship will be with the team and mention what would make you more happy. I'm sure most people you'd want to work with will be empathic about it and your ability to negotiate here is really different to working in a company. Were you working in a big team of mostly developers all working on the same code? In combination with the personalities of the people you're working with, there's lots of different scenarios like being in your own isolated project so you don't need to talk to the dev team, or you're working directly with the founder, or you're the only developer on a team of graphic designers, or you're working with an agency that wants to hide you from the real client etc. I've been in lots of different scenarios where I've celebrated at launch with the client/team, made friends on the way and felt good that I've contributed something meaningful.