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You asked for some impressions of the relative advantages and
disadvantages of contracting. As I am sure is true of others on this
list, I find a lot about contracting inherently appealing. Benefits of
contracting include not being tied to a company, a product, or a
project. Also, if you work overtime, you get paid for it. I know a lot
of colleagues who love contracting as a way of life and who would not
consider going back to having a full-time permanent position. I think
you are right to question if there is such a thing as a "permanent"
position any more.
I am not sure how typical my experience is, but I have found contracting
to be inherently unstable and unreliable. Recently, I have been on two
projects as a contracting technical communicator. Both projects were
presented as long-term opportunities, but neither lasted more than four
months. I enjoyed one project immensely, and the other was just the
pits. In the end, when pressure from the powers-that-be came to bear on
the project managers, both found that, however reluctantly, they could
do without their technical communicators. In both cases, the end-result
was that I found myself in a situation of extreme stress as I had to
find another job without much time for reflection.
It may well be that people's differing life circumstances affect how
well contracting will work. For an unattached person responsible only
for himself or herself, contracting may be the way to go. For a person
in this situation, the unexpected end of a project may be no more than a
temporary inconvenience, nothing really even worth worrying about.
However, for a person with a family, even a short period of unemployment
may drain the savings account quickly.
One other trend I have noticed is that recruiters are selling the idea
of joining their team as a full-time salaried consultant. Usually, the
pitch is something along the lines of, "When you are between
assignments, we will pay you while we find another position." This is
called "bench time." I do not think that recruiters are necessarily
misleading people when they offer this, but a lot of consulting
companies have sporadic demands for technical communicators. When they
need you, they REALLY need you. What you may find if you join one of
these companies is that at the end of a project they will say something
like, "We just do not have any demand for someone with your skill set
right now, so we will pay you for two weeks and give you an excellent
reference." That is nice, but in the big picture it does not make up for
losing an expectation of being a member of the team for the long-term.
Also, in these situations, being an employee results in lower earnings
than simply being an hourly consultant, so the two weeks' pay does not
make up for this.
Personally, I am not quite sure whether to continue as a consultant or
to return to full-time work. Even in a good job market, it takes a
dedication and a good deal of energy to locate a new position. I have
been on the phone and on interviews a lot over the past two weeks, and
much of what I am doing feels like "hurry up and wait." By the way, if
anyone knows of any openings in Atlanta, please feel free to get in
touch.
