Who's a contracter

[Gary.Lowe]

Dear All

I am interested in finding out the pro's & con's of contracting.

Is anybody out there contracting at the moment

[Mongo]

I've played as a contractor for six of the last seven years. What would you like to know about?

[Gary.Lowe]

Mongo

basically I want to know how to go about setting up as a contracter i.e.

Agencies - How to go about applying
Clients - What clients are looking for in a contracter
Rates- What are the rates of pay/ what do you need to consider when going for a job.

What to do and what not to do.

[Mongo]

Hopefully, this doesn't sound too soapbox; but if so, ask for your money back! *smirk* For what it's worth, here are a couple thoughts from the Midwest. It's sad, but as far as agencies and clients go, my experience has been that it's not what you know, but who you know; unless, of course, you're blessed or uncommonly lucky -- neither of which ever apply to me.

As for agencies, I wouldn't bother with companies that advertise in the newspaper. I ran that route when I first started and the ones I looked at were pulp mills: their focus being to jam as many bodies through a shredder into low-end or dead-end positions as possible. With twenty-twenty hindsight, I wouldn't recommend starting with a small or local company either. I tried that and the net effect after two years of hard work was that I had only small-time, local results to show for my efforts.

A good agency will look at your resume, personally interview you, and give you a fair technical assessment of your skills. They should have a solid health plan, vacation, 401K, bonus/incentive program, paid education/training and other perks. They should want to place you in a position and location that interests you. They won't be afraid to allow a client to hire you out from under them. They should be able to identify clear, realistic goals and expectations for your advancement (a 6-18% annual increase is realistic to expect). If they don't test your skill set or your tech-out belittles you, consider it a red flag against a company that will waste your time and energy. Many firms have a 90 or 180-day initial-hire performance review; and if you let them, you can expect an annual performance review and opportunity to negotiation increased benefits.

I've rubbed elbows with folks from other good consulting companies and they tend to be much the same in what and how they have to offer. Most offer full-time and hourly consultant positions. Generally, you can look to start as an hourly consultant, which means the company doesn't promise full-time pay for bench-time (the period when you are not assigned to a client). A full-time consultant has a set base salary whether on the bench or working for a client. In both cases, you are paid for the number of hours you work for a client -- which if you're a workaholic like me, is a good thing. Some companies pay their consultants their full client billing rate when they work over the equivalent of 40 hours a week, others pay a multiple or the same base rate. Most pay their consultants weekly or biweekly. Some companies are paranoid about their consultants knowing their client-billing rate; others are adult about it. Remember a consulting firm is in business to make a profit from their consultants' skills, so you can expect to take home 35-55% of your client-billing rate for an average work period. While I don't recommend doing it, some hire consultants out by project. Not all work has to be on-site, but this is primarily an individual client's call.

Typically, once you establish yourself, the headhunter adventure begins. Though sometimes, headhunters fish for initial leads in the local paper. If you're good and/or find one headhunter, then you can look forward to hearing from many of them on a regular basis (a dubious honor). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, more a nuisance. You must always be the manager of your career; and headhunters can be a good leverage source for negotiating and judging your overall position in the market. I'm happy with the company I work for and they have offices worldwide (most are in the States). I would be happy to look over your resume and if we are both satisfied with it, forward it to my company to see what happens. I won't pull any punches. If you are qualified and choose to hire on, I will get a modest bonus; like I said, a good company takes care of its people.

If there is any rule about clients, it is that the customer is always right. So, the consultant's interim goal is to work with his company to find the kind of client who is right for him. Most agencies have account representatives who manage 4-20 consultants, the number being based on geographic region or skill set for the reps. The experience level of the reps varies from kids straight out of college with marketing degrees to seasoned multi-language programmers. Generally, these people are the former, but they get available client/project lists and assist the consultant in finding and maintaining a win-win consultant-client relationship. In a lessor realm, these people are concerned foremost with their "managerial" position over consultants or they are, at best, salespeople. In an unhealthy consulting firm, consultants know these people as their "pimps." A good company will emphasize teamwork and cooperation in making and maintaining your position. An account rep can be a valuable go-between for you and your company, and you and your client.

As far as clients go, you can expect to see the full spectrum. It should be your choice whom you choose to work for. If it's grunt work, filling manpower shortage type jobs that you want or filling technical expert, specialized solution development requirements depends entirely upon your skills and abilities. In making the match with a client, the goal shifts to identifying the available tools and resources needed to effectively, efficiently achieve the ends the client wants. You must honestly determine whether you're qualified and interested in filling a position. This is a challenge, because typically client management has limited clues or interest about what it is they are asking for (i.e., sketchy definition, scope, specs), is often not directly involved in or adversarial to the consultant hiring process, but holds a firm expectation about how long it will take to complete. Some clients will expect you to wear blue jeans and a T-shirt, while others mandate a three-piece suit while in their office. Some clients may expect you to sit on a cardboard box in a back closet, while most will find space in a cubicle or open area among several other (and often competing) consultants. With the exceptions of the used-car offshore salespeople masquerading as consultant and the private off-line work-a-secret-deal-on-the-side consultant, I would recommend that you not hesitate to work together with whatever crew is available to complete your client's project. In the long run, team players win; and in the short-term, the cooperative, communicators get the work done and build invaluable job-networking connections.

Rates vary wildly from region to region. Don't consider less than 40K/year, if you can code anything more advanced than "Hello, World." VBJP runs a regional breakdown of average VB-type salaries annually. Check the back issues of it or one of the web sites for specifics to your area. Otherwise, be sure to take the cost of living into account along with an initial base salary offer. Consider that you want to find a position, location and growth opportunity where you are going to be, and can continue to be, satisfied and happy with who you are and who you want to become. Hope this helps or at least give you a few ideas.

[Gary.Lowe]

Mongo

Thanks a lot

It does sound very interesting. The place where I work has contracters working for them down south who basically do the same job I do. I'm not sure what level my skills are but I will get a resume together and send it to you to see what you think.

I appreciate the time you have spent expalining the ins and outs and thank you again

[gravyboy]

Gazza,

You sly dog!

You're right though contracting, or even working for an IT oriented company, is an option.

For those that don't know Gary & I work in the same development team within a large utilities company.

[Gary.Lowe]

Matt

have you nothing better to do on you day off than come on this site.

if your that bored I can find something for you to do, maybe a CILIST!!

[gravyboy]

q:\secproc\documentation 2000\prewarrant & warrant\CILIST.exe

[Gary.Lowe]

Ba Bum Tishhh!