normiss 818 #26 August 13, 2007 I'm in the Orlando metro area, and would gladly welcome ANY and ALL help! I cannot support my jumping AND Harley habits without a real job. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Armour666 0 #27 August 13, 2007 Some people like others hate it. I love it I have made much more then I would have ever in a full time job. I do all my contracts through my own business name and reap the benefits of write-offs as a business. I don't go in to the office 60% of the time and work from home often or where ever I have a internet connection. The down side as some have found out is the instability. I've been doing it for almost 6 years now and my repetition and connections have brought me more work that the only time I'm without is when I want to take the time off. In the last year I've worked only 6 month because I wanted the time of. But you do have to hustle and network if you want to stay busy. There are pluses to it just depends if your the type of person that is not afraid of the down falls that can happen being a consultant. In the begging work doesn’t come to you have to find it and it sucks but once you get past that and get a reputation going it dose get better. Almost all of my work now is with companies and people I’ve worked with in the past. Good luck hope things move fast for you and it works out. Just read BOFH and how he turned being a contractor in to pluses SO this one time at band camp..... "Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 818 #28 August 13, 2007 You've described what I had first hope I would find in contracting, albeit I didn't choose the option. I just don't seem to be able to find a way to keep the work coming...once the projects are over that's it. Then the staff changes due to the same things...and I lose my contacts with the companies. Am I just in a very unstable market are in central Florida? I've heard a few times that may be the issue. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #29 August 13, 2007 I've had a lot of calls from people in Orlando as well. Most of the ones i still have contact info for are in Tampa but I'm sure they either have offices in Orlando or cover the Orlando area. I'll give them a call and get some contact numbers together for you if you want. What type of position would you be looking for (i'm sure they'll ask)? BTW - one thing i've learned from the calls recently, unless you're really attached to the Orlando area, is that the rates seem to be a bit higher in Tampa/St. Pete (for development positions anyway). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 818 #30 August 13, 2007 funny you say that...last time I was looking, Orlando was paying better...for network engineers / admins anyway...which is what I'm looking for. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #31 August 13, 2007 Might be specific to developer (Java) positions then. I think the difference was about $5-10 an hour-ish. I'll pm you some contact info tomorrow. BTW - have you ever posted your resume on Monster? Every time I have in the past my phone/email goes ape-shit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheBachelor 5 #32 August 13, 2007 I've been lucky. I've had two contracts since 1986. The first one was 12+ years, and I'm going on 10 years at my current position. The staff here is 90% contractors, but they're actually pushing people to become FTE's. The rates are going down the toilet because most of the new contractors coming on are from India, and will work for much less. Fortunately I got in when the rates were the highest and I'm still at that rate. At age 43, I've made enough to retire. Yes, I do consider myself one lucky SOB.There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CanuckInUSA 0 #33 August 13, 2007 QuoteI've been doing this IT crap since 1980. I thinks me needs a new career sometimes... I'm with you there. The corporate IT world is rather annoying. But don't fool yourself into thinking that becoming an employee of someone will automatically make you happier and more secure. Not all jobs and contracts are created equally. There are pros and cons to the contracting and employment worlds. I can't stand the corporate bureaucracy I am forced to work in day in and day out. The constant TPS reports? The corporate installed spyware on the computer that brings it to a grinding halt and the six month performance reviews where you are constantly judged as being that good corporate lemming. No I am counting the days as to when I can get out of this corporate world. My problem is, is that I have yet to find a suitable new career where the standard of living will not take a huge hit. But I have only myself to blame for the corporate misery I find myself in. I know where the door is, I just haven't taken the necessary steps towards opening it ... yet. Good Luck Try not to worry about the things you have no control over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 818 #34 August 13, 2007 I have posted there with pretty much the same results...although I hate their sales pitch messages every other page you go through. I have had better luck with Dice. thanks for the info Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #35 August 13, 2007 Yea... I have to agree with you there. That did get a bit annoying. I just clicked past them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #36 August 13, 2007 QuoteI have found this to be very cyclical... Most companies have different budget structures for contractors vs employees. FTE layoffs or pension buyouts drop long-term costs that affect the Wall Street stock rating. Contractor layoffs are short term cash grabs at budget time. They hire contractors for development, then convert 2 of the 14 to FTE. The pension doesn't apply for 5-7 years. Later, they restructure and lay off the FTEs before the pension kicks in. Saw that happen at one place in 2003. 70 employees with 4 years in. Pension buyouts have a very profitable 3 year return. Executive incentive plans are based on one year. The VP level, and up, do not care about the long term health of the company. They won't be there in 5 years. Only venture capital groups have 5 year plans. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #37 August 14, 2007 Quote I'm getting used to it. The problem is, fewer and fewer full time slots around in IT...it's all getting subbed out it appears. Zero stability. joy You need to split IT activities into Moore's Core and Context categories from _Crossing the Chasm_ . Core activities create sustainable differentiation which produces a competitive advantage. Context activites are everything else. While you need E-mail to get business done, making messages pop up in milliseconds instead of a larger fraction of a second is not going to improve your bottom line unless you're in the business of selling E-mail. Many companies would do well to outsource E-mail administration to a company that has that as a core activity in the same way they have ADP run their payroll. Building software which is not easily assembled from off-the-shelf compnents (tracking cellular calls, searching the web, provide augmented reality for aircraft pilots, etc.) is a core activity for many companies. Puting another company in charge of those family jewels would be bad. The last two companies I've worked for could not hire enough people to fill their open reqs in core positions even though neither required new hires to know their primary programming language. That said the software and hardware businesses are geographically concentrated. The Silicon Valley, Colorado Front Range, Seattle, and Boston areas have lots. Austin has some. I would not want to start a hardware or sofware company somewhere else, and existing companies are opening remote offices in those locations to tap the local talent pools (for example Google now has Kirkland, WA and Boulder, CO offices). The complication here is globalization - it's not too hard to open foreign offices where labor costs are 1/10th what they are in the United States and India is producing fine engineering graduates. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JoeyRamone 0 #38 August 14, 2007 Dam you were getting screwed. Send me a PM I can get you another contract if you like. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #39 August 14, 2007 Quote BTW - have you ever posted your resume on Monster? Every time I have in the past my phone/email goes ape-shit. I've posted on moster and dice and while that generates lots of phone calls and E-mails the vast majority of the positions are things that I wouldn't want to do. With 15 years experience writing complex systems software I'm not going to be happy with an entry level engineering position which requires a couple years .NET and the employer posting it isn't going to like my salary history. TheLadders.com is the only national jobs site I've encountered which has a reasonable signal to noise ratio. Local mailing lists (craigslist san francisco or denver; rocky mountain internet user's group; etc.) are reasonable too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
denete 3 #40 August 14, 2007 CareerBuilder gave me the best results. Monster was like "talking" to Eliza (for those of you who remember learning to program in basic in 1980). I found that I had to spend about 2-4 hours / day filling out applications at this high-point of my job search. Right now I've picked up an IT support / programming job, am still in the process of earning a tech design job with a big corporation (a little robot-ish, but easy work), and got a call Friday from a company that wants me to do back-end web programming. The weird thing is that I went for almost 2-1/2 months without getting one single interview. I just kept at it, and when I finally got an interview, the others just started popping up. I thought about going to trade school to become a welding apprentice at one point. My wife has done some good reading on this job search, and found a piece of advice on the time-table. For every $10K that you want to earn, expect to spend one month searching for a job. Best luck to you. Try CareerBuilder. - DavidSCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bob.dino 1 #41 August 14, 2007 Quote That's the price of worker mobility and why we get big pay cheques Yep. If you're not a FTE you better be putting a large chunk of that paycheck into the bank for the leaner times. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #42 August 14, 2007 Quote No I am counting the days as to when I can get out of this corporate world. My problem is, is that I have yet to find a suitable new career where the standard of living will not take a huge hit. But I have only myself to blame for the corporate misery I find myself in. I know where the door is, I just haven't taken the necessary steps towards opening it ... yet. totally agree.. if there is one thing that is easy to get addicted to it is a 'standard of living'.... somehow i managed to live as a part time flooring installer/rockclimber for 3 years living out of our trucks with a few like minded friends.. It was some of the best moments of my life, and yet i have an amazingly hard time when i think about returning to something like it.... all the little toys.. the perks of being able to jump/play/buy pretty much whatever i desire at the time is hard to give up... after all i'm not REALLY that unhappy am i???? guess it depends on which day it is...____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
