Contractors that don't work 5 day weeks...

[fragglerock]

I am a permy dev.

I have had some changes in my personal life which means I would like to work 3 or 4 days a week. My current work are not interested in reducing my hours or giving me flexibility (eg to work longer days 4 days a week)

Have any of you contractor's been able to increase the flexibility of the days you work, or reduced the number of days per week you are available for?

I am cognisant of the fact that new contractors coming from permy are somewhat unliked and that the flexibility would reduce the pool of clients that would be willing to look at me, but I would be interested if anyone has made it work.

[rurffy]

It depends on your Level of expertise.. or i should say the level at which you work at the Comp. If you are working as a support engineer .. the the answer is NO NO as a contractor . If you are working as a project manager then - you should be able to work 4 days and the 5th from home.

[northernladuk]

WFH is a common option, not guaranteed though but guess that isn't what he is asking.

In the current market the chance of you getting a gig anywhere near home for less than 5 days is super slim to absolutely nil. The fact you are a new contractor in itself means getting a proper gig is going to be very difficult without your constraints.

Without any more detail we are just guessing but I would say not a hope.

[fragglerock]

"Senior Developer" seems about right... I am a bit irritatingly generalist at the moment which does not help matters!

[MyUserName]

Off the top of my head I cannot think of anyone who has done what you intend doing.

[chef]

Me. I currently work 4 day weeks which suits me fine. Previously I worked 5 day weeks for the same client. A new project came along, they didnt see the need for me to work "full time" (as they put it) on the new project but I wouldn't accept working a 2 or 3 day week for a longer contract period so the contract length was shortened to 6 months and the days per week are set at 4.. everybody's happy, I get a nice long weekend.

[stek]

Contractors that don't work 5 day weeks...

I've done it for DVLA at Swansea.

Five days compressed into four, home Thursday evening

Otherwise they'd never have got anyone to go!

[d000hg]

The fact your company won't let you work reduced hours isn't because you're a permie, it's because they are inflexible (or your line manager is). I wouldn't go contracting for that reason alone, in fact I think it would be far easier to find a new permie job with an employer who is prepared to treat you with more respect.


I work 2 part time contracts but both are with clients I have worked full-time with before and have returned to almost "to do them a favour" on the basis I cannot be available full time.

[VectraMan]

I managed to do 2 or 3 days a week, for about 5 months. But that was after having worked full time at a client for a couple of months. They didn't have enough work to justify keeping me on full time, but there were going to be bits of work coming up they didn't have the capacity for, so when I suggested "I could even do a couple of days a week", the manager's eyes lit up. He said "it never would have occurred to me to ask".

Obviously it meant being paid less, but as the market was pretty quiet and I had plan B stuff I wanted to get on with, I was happy to do it.

As with WFH or going direct, once you get in with a client and prove yourself, you can negotiate much better terms. But you won't find this sort of thing advertised anywhere, you need to make it happen.

[Antman]

I knew somebody that worked like this (only billed for 4 days a week, work / life balance).

They were there when I started but I guess that they got their feet under the table first and then managed the going down to 4 days a week after that.

He said that he told them they were getting his time for 20% less. IMHO it was a case of fairly amenable client rather than sh*t-hot developer calling the shots.