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Ask HN: How do I get employee opportunities as a long term contractor?

15 points by fwungy ↗ HN
For various reasons I've done a lot of contracting over the last 10 years. In the beginning it was because I needed to work remote and contract jobs were most available.

But this had to led to a resume of jobs lasting three months to two years, with lots of sub-year engagements.

This makes me appear to be either a job hopper or someone with performance issues, when in reality this is the nature of the beast with contracting and the fact that I've made a long career of contracting actually means I'm capable of jumping into new stacks and succeeding.

Contracting has its benefits but now in a remote friendly world I'd like to have opportunities in employee roles.

10 comments

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DamonHD
If you are clear that you have been contracting then anyone who claims your short stints are a problem is not someone you want to work with. (I had one guy in a big bank claim that I must be lying!)
iExploder
this is a nice thing to tell yourself to feel better, however in practice people will judge you and the current market is not going to make that one bit easier.

being career software engineer is dead anyways, time to re-skill. /rant off...

DamonHD
It remains true even if/when it doesn't make me feel better, in a tight market for example.

Interviews run both ways.

Anyhow, as a mindset it has worked well enough to get me to semi-retirement with cash in the bank.

iExploder
it might have worked for some people at some times. I'm just saying there is judgement, not substantiated judgement in my eyes, as willingness to go extra mile associated with reality of being a contractor should be seen as a positive, but often it may not.
fwungy
One problem is that resume reading software doesn't understand contracting usually so it lowers your scoring.
iExploder
time to grind job applications and be prepared to take a financial hit, be extra flexible and approachable, a doormat if you can really. its a numbers game at this point, wish you good luck mate.
twunde
This is mainly a matter of formatting your resume so that it looks like you've had one job but many projects. If you compared your resume to someone that works at a consulting company like Thoughtworks your resume should look similar
amerkhalid
Instead of calling it contracting, call it consulting.

Your top heading should be something like:

Ruby/Rails Consultant 2013-current

Then each of contracting gig should be subheading under it. Remove job title here. Just the company name, company location, dates and project details.

muzani
This smells off to me. It's like calling yourself CTO or principal engineer of a one man business.

It probably worked 6 years ago and it works for getting less experienced clients. But now you have people fresh out of college calling themselves consultants, you end up associating yourself with them.

muzani
Just apply? I only had trouble with getting one job, but the next one looked highly upon contracting experience.

Generally, people have a high view of those who are like themselves. If you end up in the hands of someone who was also a contractor, they'll strongly bias towards you. Someone who has experience working in the same company for 10 years would bias against you.