As an IT contractor I have had more interviews and projects in ten years than most permanent employees have in a lifetime. These include some strang interviews and situations. The ones described here give a flavour of what the would be contractor could experience.

Sometimes as  contractor I think I have seen it all. But I try not to think that because then  lif shows me something I haven’t seen and leaves me thinking “Whut?”

Interviews

A fellow contractor tells  a story of an interview where the interviewer wanted 5 years of experience in a particular technology.  When  they pointed out the technology was only three years old the interviewer said “In that case I want ten years experience with the technology”. At that point the interviewee decided to leave  and showed  themselves out. The recruiter  involved was very upset and said the interviewer  had been named Entrepreneur of the Year. A  few months later the “ Entrepreneur of the Year” was under investigation for  irregular practices.  Another interview commenced with a test. Then the panel entered and sat in silence. The contractor asked how he did on the test and was told 92%. Silence. More Silence. Then the contractor started telling them how he fit the role and how he could benefit the client. He was not hired because “He was too cocky”.

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On a couple of occasions I have been called for  interview – at my own expense -   and told “We filled the role but you are here because we wanted to see what you were like” I had one experience where, at the interview I was asked about various technologies, and said I knew next to nothing about them but was still hired. That contract did not last long and I will wonder for ever if I was hired to be the scapegoat for anticipated problems.

Starting problems

I am used to arriving and finding I have no PC or desk. On a speech recognition contract I was (after a few weeks) supplied with a PC that had neither sound card nor microphone. ON anothr occasion it took three weeks to find me a desk – not in the same office as the rest of the team,  and another three weeks to get me a PC. Then they moved me and issued me with a new PC.   There was the time I arrived (six weeks after  the offer) and found no one was expecting me. The gentlemen who had interviewed me had been transferred and no one else knew I was supposed to be arriving.

Bizarre Practices

In another place internet access was  only granted to  certain PCs ( not users) and to get internet access needed a business case.  Then they wanted to  upgrade my PC to one without Internet Access. I refused to let them.  The same company used to have a department with the sole function of telling  people they were  doing things wrongly. The department refused to  advise how to do things right.

Bizarre Problems

After about a month on one contract the agency suddenly became unreachable. The end client refused to pay the contractors claiming that itf the agency had gone bankrupt the client would have to pay twice if the receiver  demanded the money. I am still waiting for one month’s money from that contract. I ended up not trusting anyone involved with that project.

Another project  was in my opinion the worst one I have encountered.  At one point the IT manager was told programmers were  working to specifications six months out of date and answered “So what?” The internet connection was a IDN line shared with the warehouse below and work had to stop  in the afternoons to let the warehouse use their internet. Oh, and developers had to use their own laptop, regardless of the risk that posed to the enterprise.

Endings

The shortest contract I ever had was in Switzerland where I  arrived  early and was terminated immediately on the basis I  had arrived late and a tissue of lies about me. However the manager did not tell me that: The agency did that the next day: The manager told them  they would tell me but did not.  That still hurts years later Perhaps shorter than that was the contract cancelled a week before starting when the manager’s budget was given to another department.

On another contract I was told that  the day after I signed up they found someone willing to do the job asa permanent employee. I am told the conversation in HR went “Pity we signed the other guy up, but we will throw him away in a couple of months”. That company, bing worried about costs invited all employees to a expenses paid week long seminar in a German castle on how to cut costs

Overall

Every company is insane in its own way and a contractor sees a lot of companies. The experiences I have  recounted.  which cover about 10 percnt of all my contracts,  have  been balanced by  meeting and working with some excellent technical people ad more importantly some great people, the  team lead who  had turned cursing into a creative art form, the Dutch manager read Anna Karenina in Russian and discussed  technical matters in the same breath as High Culture, and the Business Analyst could drink four bottles of wine a night, discuss art and still be on top form the next morning. And that does not mention the friends I made  in the cities I worked. The interesting experiences I had outside work will wait for my autobiography,  and  may hav to wait till .