The trials of a seasoned contractor

[ladymuck]

I was at Barclays in 2008, only a short stint though. Was based at Harbour Exchange Square in Canary Wharf.

Went back in 2011 for a year and a bit and then back again in 2017 for another year and a bit.

I left saying 'never again' but that would contradict my 'never say never' life philosophy

[BABABlackSheep]

Always remember working at Barclays Radbroke 2008 and how stuffy the attitude was, had to wear suit/tie etc. Anyone laughing, well, that was a no-no.

Then going back 4 years later and totally different atmosphere, all mainframe guys pensioned off, staff mostly young graduates, all soya lattes and the latest skunkworks project. Very odd.

I'll be 45 next birthday so a few years to work out what the latest long player is popular in the hit parade.

qh

Oh thank god they changed. I worked there for a month to cover a consultant around 2006. I absolutely hated it, could hear a pin drop in the office.

I’m one of these older contractors now. I look and act younger. I also have more drive and a stronger work ethic than almost everyone I work with. They are either old and hanging on for Pension/VR, Young suck ups who spend all day working on their next stand up pitch whilst delivering sod all business value, or young and couldn’t give a tulip, come up with every excuse to work from home, usually as a result of getting smashed with their peers in the office mid week.
Most normal people have the brains to go contracting, or want to.

[tsmith]

"My cv goes back around seven years in detail."

In my experience - people only care about your last role. If that isnt relevant to the role for hire. They can find somebody whos a closer match.

Pretty much anything over 2 years seems irrelevant.

Ageism even worse in most startups. Usually headed by early to mid 30 somethings who had access to funding.

Theyre not gonna hire a 40+ year old underneath them.

[GhostofTarbera]

"My cv goes back around seven years in detail."

In my experience - people only care about your last role. If that isnt relevant to the role for hire. They can find somebody whos a closer match.

Pretty much anything over 2 years seems irrelevant.

Ageism even worse in most startups. Usually headed by early to mid 30 somethings who had access to funding.

Theyre not gonna hire a 40+ year old underneath them.

Agree all

Access to unlimited magic money tree funding from investors - losing £1M a week - who cares we will do another round of funding


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[thebone]

Being on the seasoned side myself, contracting has worked for me as engagements are finite from engager point of view i.e. my Ltd completes the work, my Ltd leaves and age has not really been a factor at all.

Now because of the IR35 shakeup and possibly a reduced number of contracts, it may mean having to start applying for perm roles and engager mindset will be different. The seasoned individual is going to run into ageism as a blocker a lot more. HMRC may just have forced me to retire (from IT anyway).

[BR14]

1974

[WTFH]

The trials of a seasoned contractor

In my experience - people only care about your last role. If that isnt relevant to the role for hire. They can find somebody whos a closer match.

Pretty much anything over 2 years seems irrelevant.

I disagree, and based on another thread where there’s talk about IT departments lagging behind and not wanting to upgrade, it would appear that other posters disagree too.

I’m currently at a site where they were interested in my most recent clients, but were more keen to discuss previous clients that were in the same market sector, and others that were using the same (5+ year old) version of the software.

[ladymuck]

I've found agencies can be short sighted and 'last role' focussed but clients are often more interested in overall experience that you can bring in from elsewhere.

[CoolCat]

I've found agencies can be short sighted and 'last role' focussed but clients are often more interested in overall experience that you can bring in from elsewhere.

yes I agree. what agents dont like about my CV is exactly the thing that the kinds of people I want to work for like about it. a number of times my CV (going direct) has been top of the list of the hiring managers shortlist, but I know almost no agents would have put my CV forward without their significant changes.

its not just the broader experience into the past, its also the pragmatic straightforward honesty that agents cannot sense or value, focusing as they mostly do on gloss, buzz words, wrong level of granularity in the wrong place, and hype.

it depends who the hiring manager/organisation is.

[LadyPenelope]

Agree all

Access to unlimited magic money tree funding from investors - losing £1M a week - who cares we will do another round of funding


Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

Some young interviewer in a startup digital agency I interviewed at a few years ago was not happy when I asked about the project management process there. Agent fed back that I wasn't 'flexible' enough. Because they liked to fly by the seat of their pants, apparently.

Oh, but he did ask me what my favourite film was, as part of the standard interview process. Highly relevant.