Work not as described. Would you stick with it?

**captainham** · 16 August 2012, 16:50

It's the opposite of what you signed up for, the client duped you, and you say there is plenty of other work out there? Bin it.

No need for reprisals, just be honest and upfront and say tatty-bye.

**northernladuk** · 16 August 2012, 16:53

Originally posted by ACYork View Post

Ok, first time post here and I have a question for you all. I switched to contracting so I could get good quality project work - the sort I love doing (the money was a bonus too) and not get stuck in the mundane support roles that I always seemed to get stuck with as a permie because I always got the work done quickly.

Well there is your first mistake

In the past I have been brought in to two gigs that were doomed to fail and I could be scapegoat. One of them there was no way in hell it was recoverable and over coffee was told they would blame the contract at the end of the gig.

Unfortunately, a month down the line on my second client and despite an interview that mentioned all the latest and greatest tech (WCF, WPF, EF) I've been playing the role of second line support dev, with no active project in site working on .NET 2 and a lot of XSLT 1.0 (a technology I actually out and out stated I hated with a fiery passion in the interview) and with large periods of nothing to do. I have no fear of getting another contract - there's loads out there at the moment and my previous contract loved me. I have a 2 week notice period and I believe I can walk away without serious reprisal, the question is, would you walk away in the same situation or would you be worried about damage to professional reputation and recruiter relations for walking away. I can cope with (and thrive on) hard - I'm not sure I can cope with a year of dull! It's like being a permie again!

Work described at interview or as described in your schedule? If it is the latter then you can't stay as you will be under D&C from the client and struggling with IR35. You have a set of deliverables and you must deliver, anything else isn't good.

If you have a notice period and really really don't like the work or will ruin your skill set then point this out, give notice and leave. Most would say grow some and keep invoicing but if you are really so sure you can find a gig then leave. There will be no damage to your reputation doing it once or twice in a long period, it is when you do it every contract that you start to look a complete winker (not mentioning any names!!!)

I do think you might have the wrong idea of contracting though. You don't always get the good work and often will get shafted before the permies do. That said it doesn't mean you have to do work that you were not brought in to do.

Choice is yours at end of the day though. If you are sure you can stay outside IR35 some would say stay, see it through, try get the best out of it. Others will say you work for yourself so leave. If you are inside IR35 then you have no choice, you have to leave IMO

**SueEllen** · 16 August 2012, 17:34

Few points:
1. The recruiter doesn't care. Being a recruitment consultant is a cut throat industry. If you walk away and they can make money out of you on a new contract they will offer you that new contract.

2. If you don't want to do support work then make sure that isn't clearly highlighted on your CV. Don't lie about what you did but don't stress it. Both clients and recruiters are looking for people with experience so if you haven't done certain roles before then they won't even consider you.

3. Companies use contractors for a variety of reasons. If you are lucky you may get a project from conception but if it's going really well and if there is a permie with the required skills they will take the role over.

4. Most work is dull. Just hope you don't end up in an office of people you don't get on with then that is hell.

**BolshieBastard** · 16 August 2012, 18:49

Originally posted by ACYork View Post

Ok, first time post here and I have a question for you all. I switched to contracting so I could get good quality project work - the sort I love doing (the money was a bonus too) and not get stuck in the mundane support roles that I always seemed to get stuck with as a permie because I always got the work done quickly. Unfortunately, a month down the line on my second client and despite an interview that mentioned all the latest and greatest tech (WCF, WPF, EF) I've been playing the role of second line support dev, with no active project in site working on .NET 2 and a lot of XSLT 1.0 (a technology I actually out and out stated I hated with a fiery passion in the interview) and with large periods of nothing to do. I have no fear of getting another contract - there's loads out there at the moment and my previous contract loved me. I have a 2 week notice period and I believe I can walk away without serious reprisal, the question is, would you walk away in the same situation or would you be worried about damage to professional reputation and recruiter relations for walking away. I can cope with (and thrive on) hard - I'm not sure I can cope with a year of dull! It's like being a permie again!

I cannot be arsed reading through all of this so, forgive the brevity of my response.

You're paid more than a permie when contracting because you often have to deal with tulip thrown at you. If you're going to whinge everytime something like this happens (and it happens), then, imho, you aint cut out for contracting.

Sometimes as contractors, we have to bite the bullet, roll up the sleeves and get on with it then, at the end of the contract bail.

Being a contractor isnt all doing what 'you' want to do.

**BrilloPad** · 16 August 2012, 19:21

Personally I would look round until I find something better.

BTW I am in the same boat as you are now - but a permie. Difficult to move after such a short time as a permie - and I have the carrot of an enormous bonus dangled in front of me.

**farout117** · 17 August 2012, 08:38

Welcome to the world of contracting! You do not always get to work on funky new technologies in cutting edge offices.............

From experience, most of the time, contractors are hired to "fix" the tulip permies do. I still love what I do though.

(no disrespect to you Brillo, you're one of us

)

**jmo21** · 17 August 2012, 08:48

Move on.

It's not what you want to do, you are confident you cna get other roles.

The others are correct, sometimes you will get the tulip, and if you know that going in, and are happy to take the contract then fine.

But if the role has been sold as one thing and changes, then no one can blame you for wanting to move.

Whether end client or agency take the huff is another matter, and you won't know how they'll react until it happens. You may not even find out. End client co might bad mouth to their customer (internal, external whatever), "The contractor let us down... blah blah"

So long as you deal with it as professionally as possible then you can hold your head high.

**Lewis** · 17 August 2012, 09:57

My 2p worth...

If you can bear it and the people/money is good then stay, if you really don't like it leave. Life is just too short to spend it stuck in a office you don't like all day.

As you say another contract is always around the conrner (although you have to be pragmatic and realise things aren't great right now).

I've been doing this thing for a long, long time and I've only left mid contract twice, but I look back and think why did it take me so long to leave, sometimes there is no sensible option but to cut your loses.

You'll be able to return to the agency and the client again, people have very short memories, although to be honest you're unlikely to ever need to work for the client again anyway. In fact I can't think of even using the same agency twice!

As a C# banking contractor I reckon that in the last decade I've spent about 90% of my time on greenfield development, usually on the latest or near latest version of tools. And of course that then gets you the next greenfield role using the latest tools and the cycle continues...

If people see C#2 on your CV for your latest role, you're not going to land that C#5 job when it comes out or that C#4 job now. Decide what you want to be doing and chase that, you will get it. Lastly, make sure you read up on the latest technologies and use them at home, if you want to get into the new stuff you have to be able to talk about it in interviews - although, you probably already know all this!

People that are stuck on legacy toolsets are doing it through their own choice.

**ACYork** · 17 August 2012, 11:07

Cheers

Thanks for the advice guys. Even to the "grow some cajones" crowd and the the "TW;DR;" (too whingey, didn't read) response. Particularly, thanks Lewis - I intend on chasing the greenfield stuff, I was drawn in to a role with Finance experience though.
I'm having a chat with my LM today to say the job content doesn't fit with my expectations, I don't have defined enough deliverables to avoid myself being counted as outside IR35 (helps to have a legal reason behind it) and that I don't deal well with the boredom of not being given enough to do for 70% of my time, so they have two options: include me on a project that can use my time or I'll need to hand in notice to stop my skill set going staler than a fondue house's baguettes. I figure telling them that makes it easier for them to plan and react appropriately. Might agree that I'll serve 6 months (which is what I originally interviewed for) and then see how it's going.
As for pragmatically fearing the market, isn't anybody else seeing a boat load of .NET roles out there at the moment, or is that just in god's own country up north?
Oh, and before anybody starts talking about IR35 and deliverables needing to be defined, I can't be the only contractor that assumes I might have to creatively retro-actively define my deliverables in case of inspection because I work on a time / materials contract and my recruiter stands zero chance of accurately defining my deliverables, can I?

Work not as described. Would you stick with it?