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Speaking as a contractor, you hire/fire/manage just as you would any other employee. You are the ones who define "finished", based on a set of defined requireme

by cgh 15y ago

Speaking as a contractor, you hire/fire/manage just as you would any other employee. You are the ones who define "finished", based on a set of defined requirements, not the contractor/employee. And just as you don't do in-house development by locking an employee in a room for two months and then checking out what they've done, you don't send away contractors to do stuff and report back when they are finished. You do the usual code reviews and status updates, etc. In short, manage contractors like employees, with the added bonus that they are much easier to fire and they are generally cheaper in the long run.

rogerbinns 15y ago
> In short, manage contractors like employees .. Actually you have to be very careful about that in the US. In particular if you control how the work is done then they are legally an employee. All sorts of nasty things can happen. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.h... > ... they are much easier to fire ... This always amused me. My contracts always say I can be terminated at a moment's notice and without reason. But I'm in an at-will state and the employment agreements and state law have exactly the same provision. Despite that most companies treat employee termination far nicer than law allows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment > ... they are generally cheaper in the long run Also more productive. As a contractor I don't have to get involved in corporate politics, can avoid many meetings and can focus on the work at hand. It is also simpler to deal with me - pay the amount on the invoice. I deal with my own taxes, healthcare, benefits etc. I also have a reputation to maintain so I can't be an underperformer.
- cgh 15y ago
  Hmm, good point about US law. I am not in the US so I wasn't aware of that. Agreed about the other points. It's funny how complicated people make this, like hiring contractors is a dicey thing to do and are somehow less "loyal" (whatever that means) than employees.

by cgh 15y ago

rogerbinns 15y ago

> In short, manage contractors like employees .. Actually you have to be very careful about that in the US. In particular if you control how the work is done then they are legally an employee. All sorts of nasty things can happen. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.h... > ... they are much easier to fire ... This always amused me. My contracts always say I can be terminated at a moment's notice and without reason. But I'm in an at-will state and the employment agreements and state law have exactly the same provision. Despite that most companies treat employee termination far nicer than law allows. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment > ... they are generally cheaper in the long run Also more productive. As a contractor I don't have to get involved in corporate politics, can avoid many meetings and can focus on the work at hand. It is also simpler to deal with me - pay the amount on the invoice. I deal with my own taxes, healthcare, benefits etc. I also have a reputation to maintain so I can't be an underperformer.

cgh 15y ago
Hmm, good point about US law. I am not in the US so I wasn't aware of that. Agreed about the other points. It's funny how complicated people make this, like hiring contractors is a dicey thing to do and are somehow less "loyal" (whatever that means) than employees.