Contracting outside of Dublin or remote contracting?

um7y1h83ge06nx

Hi guys,

I'm currently trying to come up with some sort of career path for myself and it is a new year and I find myself drifting.

One of the areas that might interest me is becoming a contractor. It would mainly be Java and possibly some .NET as well.

Thing is I live in Limerick and would be thinking that most contracting would involve me travelling outside of the Mid-West region and off to Galway, Cork and of course Dublin.

Do people find this is generally the case when being a contractor in the country i.e. the need to travel in order to find work?

Is there many opportunities where companies allowing contractors to work remotely and travel to the office for meetings etc. maybe once or twice a week?

For personal reasons I would be happier if I didn't have to be away every weeknight (work to live, live to work and all that)

Any opinions appreciated.

Graham

Take a look at any of the job sites and you'll get a representative sample of the geographic distribution for your particular line of work.

Without looking I would guess most of the opportunities are going to be in Dublin or will involve a plane journey somewhere. If you're young, single and flexible you'll naturally have a lot more opportunities than you will tying yourself to a specific area.

In my early career I got known within a few agencies as a Martini contractor (for anyone old enough to remember the ads), anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Great fun if you can get out of the mindset that you're missing a Thursday night in the pub at home with the lads.

srsly78

Forget about contracting if you won't travel. Forget about good rates if you won't travel internationally.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Thanks for the replies lads, great points raised.

What you two have said tends to tally with my own opinion of contracting.

Sounds like a great lifestyle for some but probably not for me.

moycullen14

I've contracted over the years in the UK (London and the South East) and, occasionally in Cork & Limerick.

As a contractor, the differences are stark.

Your quality of life as a contractor is primarily determined by supply & demand. If you have skills that are in demand then things are great. Don't like the work, pay, conditions? Off you go down the road for more money, better work, etc. London, in this respect, is great. A nice side-effect is that you are treated better - companies know that they can't treat people like crap and expect them to stay so they don't.

Even now, in the midst of a so-called skills shortage, there are few enough opportunities in Cork and Limerick and those that have contracts generally want to hang on to them. It's really a numbers game.

Contracting away from large population centers will always be difficult. If you can, base yourself in London, Dublin, etc.

Oh and remote working is a complete crock. It just doesn't work. I'm with Marissa Mayer on this one.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-marissa-mayer-told-remote-employees-to-work-in-an-office--or-quit-2013-2

ChRoMe

moycullen14 wrote: »

Oh and remote working is a complete crock. It just doesn't work. I'm with Marissa Mayer on this one.

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-marissa-mayer-told-remote-employees-to-work-in-an-office--or-quit-2013-2

Not quite in my experience, I think remote working can work very well, working on the assumption that the employee has spent a considerable amount of time in the office initially.

I've been and have worked with people who spent several years in the office and then due to a change of personal circumstances along with the company wanting to retain them, started working remotely. They were productive members of the team and it never caused any issues.

Elessar

I'm currently studying a Comp Sci degree in the evenings and hope to move into development eventually. The one thing I would love more than anything is more flexibility in work. I currently work in an office and I am sick of the politics and the status quo. I want to work for myself as much as possible so contracting is looking very tempting. Being able to work remotely would be a dream come true, contracting or otherwise.

I actually think I would spend MORE time in the office, knowing that I could work from home if I wanted. Just knowing I had that option would be enough. Realistically I would only use it sparingly (I know the value of a routine) but my time, more than money, is the most important thing to me, after job satisfaction.

EDIT: To clarify, time means time on my own, i.e. away from the office politics, working on a project.

moycullen14

ChRoMe wrote: »

Not quite in my experience, I think remote working can work very well, working on the assumption that the employee has spent a considerable amount of time in the office initially.

I've been and have worked with people who spent several years in the office and then due to a change of personal circumstances along with the company wanting to retain them, started working remotely. They were productive members of the team and it never caused any issues.

On the face of it, you'd think it would/could work. It's just that there is a large communication element in most projects and 'remote' working degrades the quality of communication. Skype, IM, etc are just no substitute for face to face, ad-hoc interactions.

The one place I did see it work was with possibly the most obnoxious individual I ever had the misfortune to work with. Everyone on the team was glad when he 'worked from home'

John_Mc

ChRoMe wrote: »

Not quite in my experience, I think remote working can work very well, working on the assumption that the employee has spent a considerable amount of time in the office initially.

I've been and have worked with people who spent several years in the office and then due to a change of personal circumstances along with the company wanting to retain them, started working remotely. They were productive members of the team and it never caused any issues.

Yep, I work from home 4 days a week and this is pretty much my experience.

ChRoMe

Elessar wrote: »

EDIT: To clarify, time means time on my own, i.e. away from the office politics, working on a project.

Prepare to be disappointed, working remotely does not extract you from politics, if anything it can make it worse.

Elessar

ChRoMe wrote: »

Prepare to be disappointed, working remotely does not extract you from politics, if anything it can make it worse.

How so?

srsly78

Because it just means all the politics happens behind your back, so you lose any chance to defend yourself.