Difficult start to contract

[compedomp]

Hi,

I went in to contracting (programming) earlier this year and started off with a brilliant contract which was extended from 3 months to 6 months. I was riding high with confidence and was congratulating myself on the decision to go contract.

I was under no illusions that some contracts were going to be more difficult than others but I wanted to garner a bit of advice due to my lack of experience.

I've just won my second contract and 3 days in I'm in a bit of a quandary about whether to continue with it.

Having signed the contract, the start date was delayed by a week due to the company deciding that they needed a document completed regarding my right to work in the UK (I am British)

On my 3rd day, they asked me to sign a document allowing them to make background checks (fair enough, but I'm surprised that I didn't have to do this prior to signing and starting the contract)

The recruitment agent has also sent me a request to sign off on them also running background checks on me. Basically, it says "we can check anything from any agency" regarding your personal details.

I'm a little concerned that this is all happening after I've actually started work and I'm unhappy as I don't know who will end up holding the results of those checks given that it states that the information may also given to related entities where applicable.

Lastly, having arrived at said place of work there is little for me to do. The complicated distributed systems are archaic, the dev teams are silo'd and no-one is really giving me any information or help in getting started on any of the work items. I didn't even have local admin rights on my PC until day 3!

Should I just buckle down and hope for the best or get out if it all smells wrong? Any advice from the battle hardy would be much appreciated.

B

[cojak]

It sounds like usual Agency/client incompetence to me. The real alarm bells sound if they start mucking you about with invoices and payments.

You were just lucky with your first contract really.

[northernladuk]

You were just lucky with your first contract really.

Totally this!!

[BrilloPad]

Keep calm, carry on invoicing....

[Lance]

Some contracts you can do f*** all for months while they sort stuff out. It’s very frustrating but if you’re being paid not an issue. If they’re paying you they’re happy.
And after stuff gets sorted you can do actual stuff, provide real value and smile.

[SussexSeagull]

Same old same old. My last but one contact neglected to mention I had to get SC clearance until I started.

[compedomp]

Thanks for the responses.

Looks like I need to remove the rose tinted specs and crack on then!

[MrMarkyMark]

Thanks for the responses.

Looks like I need to remove the rose tinted specs and crack on then!

Your original post sounds like contractor BAU to me.
Such a situation can actually turn out to be very profitable

[eek]

Lastly, having arrived at said place of work there is little for me to do. The complicated distributed systems are archaic, the dev teams are silo'd and no-one is really giving me any information or help in getting started on any of the work items. I didn't even have local admin rights on my PC until day 3!

Should I just buckle down and hope for the best or get out if it all smells wrong? Any advice from the battle hardy would be much appreciated.

B

You see instantly I see something you could do to add value. Just document the steps required to start working so that when the next person starts everyone knows what is required and things can be set in place quicker...

[churchillsnip]

My first contract has turned out to be very similar. You should count yourself lucky that you had admin access by day 3. Nearly 7 months in, and many of the pre-reqs I need to deliver are still not in place, in a project that is almost certainly going to fail.