Will you be sitting the same place in years to come?

BossArky · 01-11-2006 12:57PM #1

I work as consultant (IT-ish) which means moving around from client to client all over the place every few months.

I was previously in a permanent job based in one location prior to my current job. It was fine, but now I think that I could never go back to just being based in one location as the thought of always being stuck in the same area, with the same group of people, doing possibly the same type of work for years on end would drive me mad.

Nowadays I know that no matter how bad the current job is, there is always only a few weeks or months to go before I will be at a different client and different location / tasks.

What are the opinions of people based in one location or other people who travel about as contractors or consultants? I'm asking because I feel that I could now now return to a one location job as it would bore me to tears (even if the job was interesting enough).

Alun · 01-11-2006 01:08PM

It depends ... I don't know how long you've been doing this kind of work, but I personally found that after doing it for the best part of 10 years I started to get fed up with it. Whilst I was, like you, glad to be able to quickly get out of some truly dreadful work environments, there were some places where I enjoyed the work, where there were some great work colleagues (some of whom became personal friends) and managers and I was actually sorry to leave at the end of the contract. Also while to start with I enjoyed the challenge of a learning my way round a new organisation every few months, it got to be a bit of a pain after a few years, and I longed for a bit of stability.

The Hill Billy · 01-11-2006 01:55PM

I've been at the ol' contracting lark almost 10 years now & have had some great gigs & some really crappy ones too. I've still got itchy feet though & am nearly always glad to move on.

The thoughts of a permanent role doesn't really bother me, it is the thoughts of having to deal with the HR b0ll0xology that goes with them that gives me the heebie-jeebies. * shudders * * checks Jobserve *

Tom Dunne · 01-11-2006 03:50PM

It's an interesting one.

I see people in my current job who are doing the same thing, day-in, day-out and they are happy to plod along until retirement (these people are late 20's/early 30's). No initiative whatsoever and don't ask them to do anything outside their job spec, or they will call in the unions. Not me, thank you very much.

On the other hand, I wonder if I could handle the uncertainty of contracting. I have never done it, I am being drawn towards it, but I don't know if it would be for me. I've moved into a nice IT niche, where I think I could make a good living contracting, but again, I don't know if the uncertainty would be worth it.

Floodzie · 01-11-2006 04:10PM

I've worked in all sorts of IT-ish roles over the last 10 years. I've been fired from a couple ('tis always good experience to get let go once or twice, trust me), been 'retrenched' in two (a fancy way of saying they're firing you because they can't afford to pay you) and I've walked out on one.

I've worked permanent and contract roles, and am lucky enough to have fairly in-demand skills at the minute, so I'm VERY happy in my current (contracting) role. There's nothing better for your self-confidence/smugness than getting calls every few days from people trying to persuade you to come for interviews.

I once spent some time working as a contractor for a large Irish telecoms company (who shall remain nameless). It was a depressing experience. A lot of the staff were former civil servants and treated their roles as if they were still the same - ie showing up late, taking LONG lunches and lots of breaks, and then heading off about 4:30. Oh, and calling the union in about every small gripe. Some of these people had been working there since they left school so didn't know any other work environment. Fair enough if you can get away with it, but I was contracting and depending on various people to help me get stuff done, but they were, as always, never around.... I don't think the company will be around for much longer in its current state, and the people there are going to find it tough to adapt to the real world.

So yeah, contract for as long as you can, get in as many different types of roles/skills and most of all TRAVEL!! If you have no attachments, why not spend six months here and a year there... just don't end up the way my former colleagues in the telecoms company did, spending their whole working lives in the same place, never spending more than a few weeks a year abroad, mired in office politics and awaiting the big payout at retirement. I'd spent a few years travelling before I worked there, and had crammed more into my short life than a lot of the people there. Jaysus, I was only 26!!

CiaranC · 01-11-2006 04:23PM

Im in IT too. I attend different client sites for weeks, or sometimes just days at a time. The variety is great, I love it.

Unusually, this week im covering for an IT manager, sitting on my arse 9-5 at a desk in the IFSC. Its brutal, I dont know how anyone does it all year, every year.

Will you be sitting the same place in years to come?

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