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Subject:Re: The Worst Thing About Contracting From:Sheridan-Smith John <john -dot- sheridan-smith -at- BMWFIN -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 8 Apr 1999 14:10:42 +0100
>Most independents, whether tech writers or other private entrepreneurs work
longer and harder than most
>employees.
In respect of the IT industry, having worked as both a contract and a
permanent writer, I must take issue with this picture of contractors as mini
captains of industry burning the macho midnight oil whist everyone on a
salary spends the day playing Minesweeper.
Most contractors could not be described as entrepreneurs. Although a few do
work in a genuinely entrepreneurial manner, most merely do the same jobs in
the same way as permies,
but gamble away holiday, sickness and job protection rights against a higher
net income. The overwhelming majority of contractors work through an agency
and the contractor's business is merely a tax convenience for the contractor
or, increasingly, a requirement of the agency.
The reason for all this is that that is what the majority of employers in
the IT industry want; flexible, short term, skilled labour for which they
deem it worth paying a premium.
My experience is solely UK based. Maybe it's all completely different over
the pond!
