Isn't that what contracts are for? That's how it works in sports. You stay with the team for X years, and after that you're a free agent. Why can't it work the same way in technology? The way I see it, employers are trying to have it both ways: they want you to stay, but they also want the ability to fire you as they please.
It is why i like contracting and find it so more honest on my and companies side of things. They say "work here for 6 months", I say "ok" after that they can ask me to stay and I can agree or not or they can not renew me - either is fine.
Being an employee, generally (not always but it must be 99% of places) you need to:
1. love the company you are working for.
2. be willing to receive emails constantly.
3. not be attracted to other companies.
4. accept begin laid-off as and when the company desires.
Contracting on a fixed length contract, I am almost guaranteed to have work until the end of that contract - working for a company, 0 guarantee i will have a job in 1,2,6,12,18 whatever months.
(how the hell do you get lists on multiple lines here ha ha)
Yeah, but then how long will you be out of work until the next contract comes along?
Years ago, I tried running my own consulting company. I found that I was fine at the technical side, but I really and truly sucked on the business side. I just couldn’t keep the contracts rolling in, and I couldn’t do the marketing and PR, etc....
More importantly, by trying so hard to do those things that I was really horribly bad at, I ended up hurting myself on the technical side.
So, how long can you afford to not have any income? How long until you go hungry and get kicked out into the cold?
