Re: Why do you do contract work?

[Folse Kate <folsek -at- BSCC -dot- BLS -dot- COM>]

John,

Actually, I am just a regular person who is kind of nosy. ;-)

I graduated from college 4 years ago and took the first
job that came my way - the same one I interned at
for 5 mos prior to graduation. Then, when I moved to
another city, I took the first perm job that came my
way. I was miserable and lasted 5 months before
I quit. It was then, after I decided job hopping wasn't
so bad that I could make the leap into consulting.
Turns out that at the end of my first contract, I was faced
with all sorts of issues: what next, why should I take
opp A as opposed to opp B, what about the money,
commute, dress code. And of course, there was
that big question - what if I don't find anything??
how much should I have saved up?

My survey is by no means scientific research. I just
wanted to gather some info from consulting/contracting
pros. Turns out a lot of people have responded back
wanting summaries. The majority of those folks
are considering consulting and want to know
what to expect.  A few have actually
suggested that I summarize this information
into an article and publish it in Intercom!

Best,
 --kate

>----------
From:  John Gough[SMTP:gough -at- AUSTIN -dot- ASC -dot- SLB -dot- COM]
>Sent:  Wednesday, April 16, 1997 10:09 PM
>To:  TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject:  Re: Why do you do contract work?
>
>You are asking fairly nosy questions. The questionnaire
>sounds like something a contract shop would put together.
>Who are you? Why are you performing this survey? If it
>is at the behest of your employer, who is your employer?
>
>It is simple courtesy to provide all of that information
>if you are asking people to give you data, especially in
>so much detail.
>
>If your purpose is commercial, then you should not post
>the questionnaire to this list, IMO. It might be appropriate
>to post notice of a questionnaire's existence and provide
>a web page/phone number/auto-emailer address for interested
>parties to contact. The posting should provide full disclosure
>of your identity and motivation.
>
>John
>
>
>>Date:    Tue, 15 Apr 1997 16:59:00 EDT
>>From:    Folse Kate <folsek -at- BSCC -dot- BLS -dot- COM>
>>Subject: Why do you do contract work?
>>
>>Hello all -
>>
>>I am trying to gather some information from you technical writers
>>who are employed as consultants either on your own or through
>>an agency. If  you could complete the following survey and return
>>it to me at kfolse -at- mindspring -dot- com, I would greatly appreciate it.
>>I'll post a summary if anyone indicates they'd like to see it on this
>>list.
>>
>>Thank you!
>> --Kate Folse
>>kfolse -at- mindspring -dot- com
>>
>
> TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
>to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
>   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
>  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
>browse the archives at
http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
>
>

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html