It depends on the firm. At some non-tech firms, being an independent is the only way to get higher cash. (Not universal) In this case an expert developer who doesn’t want to manage people escapes junior level salary bands.
Not a full timer
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Re: Not a full timer
#12I had to stop reading at “ruflessly”, I can’t trust someone’s opinion if they can’t take the time.
Indeed. I read supposedly poignant articles all the time only to end up befuddled by a grammatical error. Typos are one thing, we are all in a hurry, but if someone is discussing "Marshall Law" I know they're an idiot.
We're very lucky that the Nigerian scammers don't possess better grammar and understanding of cultural norms.
As far as contracting goes, I have done both. Today's corporations are ruthless, and will exploit full time workers into working far more hours than they are legally required to. Contracting can cut through most of that noise. You want me to work? Pay me. Benefits and other matters are nice, but for software developers, hourly is very good.
Re: Not a full timer
#1380% of my clothes are sportwears for a long time. It gives the feeling that you are a pro. A professional athlete, and a professional at your career, your performance totally relies on you. Nothing looks more professional than someone sitting at a desk in yoga pants or a tracksuit. Yes indeed. You know what else looks professional? A military or public services uniform. This guy should get a firefighter outfit to wea…
I prefer the professionalism of black leather, myself. Sure, it creaks a little when I move and gets a lil sweaty in hot weather but at least it doesn't smell as much as latex.
Re: Not a full timer
#14It depends on the firm. At some non-tech firms, being an independent is the only way to get higher cash. (Not universal) In this case an expert developer who doesn’t want to manage people escapes junior level salary bands.
In the US, it's a cash vs benefits trade-off. I am happy to sacrifice a lot of salary to get the Cadillac healthcare my company offers to me and my family at no cost.
Re: Not a full timer
#15I find the term 'full time' unnecessarily ambiguous. Certainly 'employee' suggests something contra to 'contractor', but there's no reason someone working 40 hours a week can't or shouldn't be considered full-time regardless of their permanent / contractor status. I can't tell if this is irony, in the context of being 'precise in your communications' and advice to 'edit ruthlessly': > You must ruflessly cut out bulls…
I believe it is just an unimportant mistake from someone that might not be a native English speaker. I do those all the time, something like a "phonetic typo" ; I write things as they sound in my native language and don't realize it.
Perhaps.
Note that the author asserted:
> It helps to actually take time 6 hours, 12 hours before a reply. Meditate on the email. Write the email by hand on your notebook. Edit ruthlessly. Type it up on your computer. Only then, send it.
So, a) they knew how to type ruthlessly at least once, and/or b) had spell-check pick them up on that one.
But the gist of the particularly prescriptive advice was to word your missives carefully lest they be misunderstood.
In good faith, let's assume it's an unimportant mistake.
So let's consider:
> Fuck “working for Free”
> If you work for free. You are contributing to tyranny. You are facilitating the spread of tyranny. Nobody in their right mind and right intentions work for free.
I'm typing my considered and reasoned response on a computer that's running almost exclusively free software, the authors of which I'm eternally grateful to.
Because I'm currently employed (full time, contractor) for an agency that's doing good work (by my assessment) I'm quite happy to perform occasional non-billable work.
Certainly, in my time I've worked in places that made me feel something approaching TFA's emotional response, but it's not a set of rules that I feel can or should be casually applied to all contractual engagements.
Re: Not a full timer
#16It depends on the firm. At some non-tech firms, being an independent is the only way to get higher cash. (Not universal) In this case an expert developer who doesn’t want to manage people escapes junior level salary bands.
In the US, it's a cash vs benefits trade-off. I am happy to sacrifice a lot of salary to get the Cadillac healthcare my company offers to me and my family at no cost.
It's like buying an insurance where number of years it covers depends on how many years you want to work for a company. Yes, that means getting little sicks is not that worth it. Having serious condition? It's a fucked up anyway.
Re: Not a full timer
#17It never feels like the contractor is an "expert" in a field, is any more efficient than another employee and is nothing more than another person that has been hired to do programming with less HR/employment overhead. So not sure which audience this article is aimed at. Maybe my experience in London doesn't reflect other places but as a contract and as someone who has looked for contractors it never felt like we got…
Your not paying for the best you are probably paying a similiar amount for your fulltime employees. What you get is all of the people who couldn't find a fulltime role who have to take this without any benefits so the quality is lower.
Now if you remote sourced the role gems will be found.
Re: Not a full timer
#18I had to stop reading at “ruflessly”, I can’t trust someone’s opinion if they can’t take the time.
The time to what? To finish off the sentence?
Re: Not a full timer
#19I feel like I'm reading half of an argument here. Is this a response to something? Who in the world works for free when they're doing contract work?
It happens all the time.
The development scope is feature X with A,B,C. Customer asks for D and E. Technically D and E will add maybe 3 hours and Y cost to the total.
Your choices:
a) Bring it up which almost always leads to some haggling. Emails turn into calls, calls turn into meetings. Meetings turn into negotiations, negotiations lead to some compromise, in the end you have spent 3 hours just reaching an agreement, which nobody will reimburse you for. If you don't reach an agreement you stand your ground in numerous ways, most of which result in getting stiffed or losing business.
b) Spend the extra 3 hours.
A lot of times it's just simpler to choose (b), and like the author says, give in to tyranny. It's a genuine problem.
Re: Not a full timer
#20I feel like I'm reading half of an argument here. Is this a response to something? Who in the world works for free when they're doing contract work?
It’s a “I have been doing this for six months and I have the world figured out” type article, best I can tell. Next up “The Seven Telltale Signs of a 10x Developer (which just happen to describe me)”