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Don't Hire That Developer

itmanagement.earthweb.com

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Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#11

Post by jrockway »

bombs wrote: post #4

There have been times where my longer term contractings jobs were normal jobs, except I had to pay for my own benefits. I think the government now frowns upon this practice though.

Indeed. I was a contractor for the last year or so. Now I am an associate at the same company. I sit at the same desk and do the same work. Except now my salary is higher, I get a month of vacation, I get 401(k) matching, I get vision/medical/dental insurance, and so on. And I still don't wake up for the "rah rah" meetings :)

I worked with people exactly like the contractor in the article. This kind of person cares only about one thing; money. The project? Secondary. Coming to work regularly? Secondary. Finding every last tax deduction? Critical.

(I take it as a compliment that someone I work with told me, "wow, you're a contractor? I had no idea".)

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#12

Post by [deleted] »

angrycoder wrote: post #9
bradhe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hated about contracting was not working with other people. I wasn't afforded opportunities to learnbfrom senior people like some of my peers were. When I did decide to get a "9-5" I was a bit behind everyone else,

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

[deleted]

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#13

Post by bradhe »

angrycoder wrote: post #9
bradhe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hated about contracting was not working with other people. I wasn't afforded opportunities to learnbfrom senior people like some of my peers were. When I did decide to get a "9-5" I was a bit behind everyone else,

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

There are some nuances I'm sure you've missed. Likewise, the opportunity to bounce things off othervpeople with a vested interest is invaluable.

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#14

Post by angrycoder »

As someone who has been working as a contractor for the past two years, the big thing I see missing from that list is 'the ability to say no'. That is my primary motivator for staying independent, I get to pick the problems I work on. That is the deciding factor when switching clients or picking up a new task with an existing client, which one of them has the most interesting problem.

The big negative that the article doesn't talk about is all the time you have to spend maintaing a social and professional network. The interesting problems aren't going to come knocking on your door.

Also, the comments about getting paid for 'all your time' are BS. Submitting invoices for 60 hours a week is a great way to find yourself out of a contract real quick. That extra billing is reserved for things like crunch in the last few weeks of the project or when someone explicitly asks you to take on extra work. Invoices over 40 hours maybe cool with the manager, but they send up red flags in accounting and suddenly everyone is wondering why they are paying you for 60 hours a week when they could hire 2 or 3 full time employees.

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#15

Post by angrycoder »

bradhe wrote: post #13
angrycoder wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

There are some nuances I'm sure you've missed. Likewise, the opportunity to bounce things off othervpeople with a vested interest is invaluable.

Not really. If I need a face to with the people who have a vested interest, it has never been prevented by the fact that I am a contractor.

If I need someone to bounce ideas off of, I just go to lunch with one of my developer friends.

Being a contractor only makes you isolated if you let it.

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#16

Post by zepolen »

angrycoder wrote: post #14

As someone who has been working as a contractor for the past two years, the big thing I see missing from that list is 'the ability to say no'. That is my primary motivator for staying independent, I get to pick the problems I work on. That is the deciding factor when switching clients or picking up a new task with an existing client, which one of them has the most interesting problem. The big negative that the articl…

I suppose you could split those 60 hours between 3 projects making it 20 hours a piece which won't be as tragic for accounting.

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#17

Post by [deleted] »

gaius wrote: post #8
MJR wrote: post #6

He got paid more and he has more expenses. No health coverage - he'll be lucky to find a group policy with an organization or professional association. No matching 401K, no tuition reimbursement, and on and on. It's not a valid comparison. Line up the employee's benefits and income against the contractor's expenses and income and then see where you come out. Then realize you've only looked at one piece of the equatio…

The thing to remember about contractors is they're not fellow employees, they're another company providing services to your company. There's a strong case IMHO that contractors shouldn't even be paid during the period they're "getting up to speed" - what is the service that they're providing during that period? Certainly many I've worked with should have been paying us for teaching them basic IT skills!

[deleted]

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#18

Post by Tichy »

donaq wrote: post #2

Speaking as someone who is currently a contractor dealing with arcane legacy code without documentation (as is usually the case in my experience), institutional knowledge matters.

Because employees never have to work on arcane legacy code?

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#19

Post by dirkstoop »

angrycoder wrote: post #9
bradhe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hated about contracting was not working with other people. I wasn't afforded opportunities to learnbfrom senior people like some of my peers were. When I did decide to get a "9-5" I was a bit behind everyone else,

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

For concrete problem solving, sure. Esp. If the problems are small or common enough. But there's more that you get out of working closely together with someone who can teach you something.

Re: Don't Hire That Developer

#20

Post by c1sc0 »

angrycoder wrote: post #9
bradhe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hated about contracting was not working with other people. I wasn't afforded opportunities to learnbfrom senior people like some of my peers were. When I did decide to get a "9-5" I was a bit behind everyone else,

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

In my experience listening to the company's 'experts' is often a great way to learn outdated skills.
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