At what age are you a 'young' or an 'old' contractor?

[dude69]

I always felt slightly superior about being the youngest in the office, having started in IT at 18.

Having taken the last two years off, I've had the overnight (or midday, or whatever) epiphany that the commute into London is better than staying home with the wife + kids.

I am now nearly 28. Obviously not old, but I guess not particularly young either, which is mildly depressing, especially when I have hardly been advancing my career prospects sitting on my backside, and I guess I no longer really qualify as 'young'.

Anyway, I digress, but what age would you define as 'old' in contractor terms? I always had the perception of it being 'over 40', but perhaps it depends on the industry.

[Cliphead]

Started at 18 now 49, 31 years in the biz.

EDIT:

I no longer need to rely on agencies having built up an excellent network and now go direct with the client.

Plan B (and C), could easily replace contracting and likely will soon but I enjoy what I do even after all these years.

So, I'm an old knackered bastard contractor who's seen it all. Still feel superior?

[dude69]

So, I'm an old knackered bastard contractor who's seen it all. Still feel superior?

Sadly not, as I am

(a) unemployed (oh well I do work from home, but not getting out is getting to me)
(b) no longer 18

I am a bit curious where all the old people go. Or perhaps they never existed, and the disparity between old and young more reflects the fact that in 1979 when you started (and before I was born, I suppose), the market was a tiny fraction of what it is today, so the apparent disparity simply reflects the expansion of the market, IT training/education industry, such that in 20 years time, making the fairly reasonable assumption that the IT market will not expand much over that timeframe, there will be the same mix of old and young in IT as you see in teaching/accounting/medicine/law, so you won't be seen as an 'old' programmer at 45 in the future.

[Cliphead]

(b) no longer 18

That should work in your favour. Good luck hunting the next gig.

[dude69]

That should work in your favour. Good luck hunting the next gig.

I guess I should use the next couple of months to get up to speed (going away for a month over Easter), so that I can portray my time as equivalent to another couple of years still working in the bank. In reality I'm sure the pimps will tell me that my 'banking experience' is now out-of-date/stale, but whatever. Will email all my old colleagues, that seems the best way of getting a job IM (limited) E.

Funny that confidence in ones own abilities seems somewhat inversely correlated with age.

[Cliphead]

Funny that confidence in ones own abilities seems somewhat inversely correlated with age.

I have to disagree with that one. I find that confidence is directly proportional to age and experience. Of course that could just be a personal trait.

You gotta sell yourself and a positive attitude is 90% of the way there.

Are you a contractor or permie fodder, that's a question you have to ask yourself...

[TykeMerc]

My last contract was somewhat weird in that respect, I was the youngest in the office and I'm 44.

I'm used to being the old giffer, not the sprog, it was very strange but a refreshing change to work with people who had more than the first clue about project delivery.

[dude69]

I have to disagree with that one. I find that confidence is directly proportional to age and experience. Of course that could just be a personal trait.

You gotta sell yourself and a positive attitude is 90% of the way there.

I agree with that, although it depends on the gig. In interviews I've had for permy gigs it seems that much of the time I could simply spend the interview talking about my amazing achievements, whereas in contractor gigs there's been a tendency more towards technical questions.

Perhaps it's a reflection on my industry shift as well, and I guess it also depends on what kind of expertise you are selling (technical or domain, or perhaps both), but in my contractor interviews the ability to get stuck in immediately seems much more important (so you should have the required (possibly esoteric) technical/domain skills).

[dude69]

My last contract was somewhat weird in that respect, I was the youngest in the office and I'm 44.

Were the others all contractors?

Was it just coincidence/hiring policy, or did the gig tend to attract oldies (COBOL perhaps)?

[Cliphead]

I agree with that, although it depends on the gig. In interviews I've had for permy gigs it seems that much of the time I could simply spend the interview talking about my amazing achievements, whereas in contractor gigs there's been a tendency more towards technical questions.

Perhaps it's a reflection on my industry shift as well, and I guess it also depends on what kind of expertise you are selling (technical or domain, or perhaps both), but in my contractor interviews the ability to get stuck in immediately seems much more important (so you should have the required (possibly esoteric) technical/domain skills).

Most people interviewing for a candidate permie or contactor haven't got scoobie what they're doing. I've found that asking lots of questions that leave the interviewer(s) feeling that you have a slightly superior knowledge to them sets you up nicely for the follow up interview if that's even required and more or less secures the gig.

Here's the thing about getting older and chasing gigs, often the guy interviewing will be younger and less experienced than you and might feel insecure about hiring someone he may perceive as a threat to his position. It's up to you as a seasoned contractor to bury that one and get the gig by whatever means you think within the realms of bulltulip.