Mr Pike's Blog

 Diary of an ASP.NET bodger

Contract - or work for a living?

Recently, on a list serv that I'm on (Uk webdevelopers - http://www.MsWebDev.org.uk/ ) we were discussing the ups and downs of being a developer. Money came up, as it does, and then the current high rates for contracting.

My own view is that is a short lived affair - and that it will happen less and less. My reasoning? .NET.
Microsoft have got it right now, and I mean properly right. Totally right. Well, maybe a couple of bugs here and there but if you can throw a datalist object back and forth like a tennis ball, in a proper object oriented fashion, and it makes no difference what language its in - surely someone somewhere should be saying "Ok, we give in.You win!"

So, companies are now happy to embrace the .NET framework into their business (or so it would appear from the recent demand for contractors).

However, will that demand last?
Will we see a return to the heady days of constant £500 a day contracts or will (as I suspect) expectations rise and therefore demands rise for increasingly complex web apps?

I dunno, cos I'm off out of it. .NET will be my hobby

Posted: Feb 04 2004, 10:31 AM by Mr Pike | with 4 comment(s)
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Comments

Scott Galloway said:

I've never actually tried contract coding...I used to run a small secuirty consultancy doing pen testing etc... on web applications but most of those jobs were on the order of days. That said, during the 'boom times' I had some bad experiences with contractors (an accurate CV was an extreme novelty), most of them were happy with a week at £50 p/h - they'd just jump to the next contract leaving me to pick up the pieces.
Recently I've been back working at a traditional web agency - so we do lots of pitches, most of our developers run their own jobs...hmm...it's different but it makes for some sloppy practices (most clients just won't pay for proper testing / application design - which leads to lots of ad-hoc development). Anyway, potted history - and I wish they'd quit the Bermuda thread on the list!
# February 4, 2004 5:42 AM

Mathew Nolton said:

i don't buy the fact that because of .net we will have less and less work. i believe the opposite is true. with all of the new tools and methodologies, i don't think the build-out process will stop. however, the question should be "who will be doing the work?"
the outsourcing phenom is the biggest pressure to drive down rates right now for those of us living in developed nations with higher costs of living.

-Mathew Nolton
# February 4, 2004 12:59 PM

Udi Dahan - The Software Simplist said:

Nowadays, any .Net developer can hock up a data driven web app in no time. But the quality usually sucks.

However, demand is up. But, the demand is now for quality. No longer is it enough to "just work". Clients, after being bitten once by low-quality programmers/contractors, are twice shy. Development shops in particular will need to be assured of expertise before bringing in outside help.

I am one of the quality contractors/consultants out there. I see that although .Net has lowered the bar for "it just works" work, at the same time it has become clear that that's just not enough. There will be more work for the good people. Not only more work, but more interesting work - the kind that we live for.
# February 4, 2004 5:46 PM

TrackBack said:

^_^,Pretty Good!
# April 9, 2005 10:12 PM
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