What you should do between contracts

Strange times with Covid-19

I can’t post this without mentioning the context I’m writing in of thecoronavirus pandemic lock-down.

I consider myself extremely lucky to be in the line of work I am that allows methe flexibility to continue working remotely whilst still protecting myself andthose around me by avoiding contact.

What I normally do

In calmer times I’d have taken the opportunity to spend at least a couple ofweeks with family (have small people and time with them is preciouslyfleeting). Then get my life in order, then go hell for leather getting into thenext thing I can help build.

Some of my fellow contractors like to make sure they have the next contractlined up ready for the finish date of their current contract. While this isoptimal for revenue I don’t do this because:

I find it is a full time job generating, tracking and dealing withcontracting leads
I wouldn’t want to be distracted from the current client’s work to the nextthing
I wouldn’t want to half-arse the contract hunt and not get the optimalcontract for myself and the next client.
There is a tendency for last-minute contract extensions to appear which wouldmean letting down one or other client.

So after a contract is completely finished, and some time with family, onlythen do I take the contract hunt seriously.

What I’m doing this time

Given the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 + IR35 (by the way COVID is short forCorona Virus Disease) and the fact I just moved house (i.e. less cash reservesthan usual) I can’t take it too easy this time. Even though the IR35 changeshave been delayed a year a lot of the damage has been done so the contractormarket is challenging at the moment.

I finished my contract with DfE on a Tuesday, allowed myself till the followingMonday for uninterrupted family time. (Okay almost uninterrupted, I can’treally put technology down for that long and I also have my charitable work forDogLost that takes up some time.)

Now that is over, I’m doing roughly 9am-1pm on the business related taskssuggested below.

What should you do to make the most of finishing a contract?

Step 1. Take a break

Contracting is in my experience much more intense than permanent employment.This is in fact how I like it. But in order to be able to give your all to thenext contract I think it is important to give yourself the space to recharge.

When in a contract it’s easy to end up with tunnel vision, especially for oneas long as my last one (2 years!), where all you can think about is how it wasdone there and how you reacted to the influences around you during that time.One of the strengths you can bring to a contract as a contractor is the broaderperspective from seeing many organisations, approaches, technologies andpeople. It requires a bit of down-time for your latest experience to sink inonce you are out of the hustle and bustle of delivery, and for it to be mergedinto your bank of knowledge.

What better way to end a contract than with good chunk of time with family andfriends while your subconsious churns through and processes everything that’shappened over the last contract.

I believe if you dive headlong into the next thing with nothing more than anormal weekend off then your brain will not have the opportunity to properlyprocess what you’ve learnt before being overwhelmed with an influx of newinformation from a new client.

Step 2. Update your online presence and CV

You’ve probably learned a lot and changed a bit since you started the lastcontract.

Review and update all your profiles:

LinkedIn
Twitter (make a new pinned tweet!)
GitHub
StackOverflow
etc.

Think about what your next client will be interested in and what they want helpwith and make sure your profiles provide evidence that you have done similarthings before and can get results.

Step 3. Do some writing

The best way to shape your thoughts on the whole thing is to put them intowriting. So spend some time blogging like I’m doing now, and make sure tocross-post your articles to the places where your customers will see them. Youshould own your own content, keep it on your own domain on your own blog whereno platform can take away your audience, then cross-post to places likedev.to, LinkedIn and Medium (if that’s your thing) with linksback to your own domain. Better still on your posts ask people to sign up toyour mailing list and email them when you post new articles etc.

Step 4. Catch up with old acquaintances

It’s hard when you’re flat out with life and contracts to keep in touch witheveryone. Reach out to old business and personal friends. You never know itmight kick off your next opportunity, or help you learn something aboutyourself that’s useful.

Step 5. Go all guns blazing on getting the next piece of work

“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want,”~ Zig Ziglar

Figure out who’d value your skills most even in these difficult times and haveat it.

You might find my previous article “How to find contract developerjobs” usefulat this point.

Personally I’m looking to also increase the value I provide beyondimplementation work. This might take the form of team lead roles, or somedigital transformation consultancy.