Hi,
New to the board so go easy please.
I've been working in change & project management for the past few years, either as a PM or PMO. I'm Prince2 prac & close to doing my P3O. However I've been thinking about contract work. The money is better but comes with risks.
Has anyone got any advantages/disadvantages? How easy is it to get another contract after one finishes? Even simple questions like do you provide your own hardware (laptop etc).
Thanks in advance.
Contract work
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Ballie1981
- Full Member
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue 18 Jun 2013 6:16 pm
Many supply chain. So warehouse solutions, opening Distribution & integrating new customers.
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begeland
Hi...and thanks for posting. I've been an IT professional for 27 years and a project manager for 21 years. I've also been an independent consultant for the past 5+ years and I've done consulting work independently and along with direct hire work for the past 9+ years.
Yes, contract work brings risk...and finding your next gig is not always easy. Unless you're looking for that next big gig, having multiple streams of income is a great way to go. Be careful because you can get overloaded if you're doing several smaller 'projects' or consulting work and a big gig comes along that you just can't turn down...you don't want to fail at everything all at once. It's a juggling act.
But it is very rewarding and I've been fortunate to find consulting work that allows me to work completely remotely so where I was traveling a lot (on government contracts) when my first kids were little I am now able to spend tons of time with the smaller children we have adopted (we have four kids that are 5 years old and under now) and it's been a blast. But it's not for the faint of heart. It started for me when a CIO found me on the Allpm site back when they had boards to post your resume on (I think that's gone now). He made me a PM consulting offer at an hourly wage that I couldn't refuse. It was a small startup here in Las Vegas. I've done some direct hire (W2) work here since then, but most of what I've done has been independent consulting work. As for equipment, I've usually used my own, but a couple of places have given me laptops to use. One even went under still owing me money so I kept the laptop!
Not sure if this helped..feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try to answer.....
Brad
Yes, contract work brings risk...and finding your next gig is not always easy. Unless you're looking for that next big gig, having multiple streams of income is a great way to go. Be careful because you can get overloaded if you're doing several smaller 'projects' or consulting work and a big gig comes along that you just can't turn down...you don't want to fail at everything all at once. It's a juggling act.
But it is very rewarding and I've been fortunate to find consulting work that allows me to work completely remotely so where I was traveling a lot (on government contracts) when my first kids were little I am now able to spend tons of time with the smaller children we have adopted (we have four kids that are 5 years old and under now) and it's been a blast. But it's not for the faint of heart. It started for me when a CIO found me on the Allpm site back when they had boards to post your resume on (I think that's gone now). He made me a PM consulting offer at an hourly wage that I couldn't refuse. It was a small startup here in Las Vegas. I've done some direct hire (W2) work here since then, but most of what I've done has been independent consulting work. As for equipment, I've usually used my own, but a couple of places have given me laptops to use. One even went under still owing me money so I kept the laptop!
Not sure if this helped..feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try to answer.....
Brad
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Ballie1981
- Full Member
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Tue 18 Jun 2013 6:16 pm
Thanks that's a great help. The bit around finding the next contract is the barrier for me.
Also how do go about advertising yourself? Obviously contacts is important but is there an online board to availability and CVs?
Thanks again
Also how do go about advertising yourself? Obviously contacts is important but is there an online board to availability and CVs?
Thanks again