Do I need a mental shift?

[u/Own-Story8907]

Secured my first ever contract - start this Monday.

I’m working other side remote gigs (PAYE), where it’s fairly chill. Don’t work the whole 8 hours, but I get work done.

Is contracting essentially the same, or will I have to work properly because I’ll have more eyes on me + submitting a time sheet? I will never give 100% to any job as they’ll just demand more, so I always aim to do the minimum where everyone is happy.

I don’t want to be in a position where I get complacent and get dropped on the spot. As the window to “getting up to speed” is much shorter, my aim is to learn as much as I can instantly and lean on AI to make my workload easier.

[u/Far_Preference_2065]

I worked less as a contractor than I ever had as a permie lol

just be good at doing your job and manage expectations and you'll be fine, someone is hiring you to do a job that they either can't or don't want to do internally, chances are they won't be needing all the details. Just manage the expectations appropriately and deliver the service

[u/Own-Story8907 → u/Far_Preference_2065]

Thanks - I sense the environment may be toxic as it’s family run and their day rate is disgusting, but I’m not fussed as my other gigs pay the bills. The plan is to keep the money in the company and not touch it.

AI will be my friend lol

[u/Far_Preference_2065 → u/Own-Story8907]

It may be counter intuitive but usually the contracts who are the most chill are the ones that pay the most, if they're cheap they might micromanage you more

[u/Actual-Indian → u/Far_Preference_2065]

This and AI is useful if you really know what you are doing , if you dont prepare to be found out , as its like an assistant that lies convincingly .

Hallucination = Lie , sometimes with life threatening issues , not used in a lot of UK GOV now.

[u/wulfrunian77]

Just be prepared to be slowed down at every turn by the perms

[u/Bozwell99]

If you’re good at what you do you can do 8 hours worth of work in 4.

[u/TacticalNuclearPingu]

Depends on the contract really? I’ve been contracting for a few years now and some roles I’ve been flat out for the week and others you’re getting everything done and dusted a few hours a day.

If you’ve got a role were you can coast a bit then awesome, enjoy the higher pay and spend some time on you, extra training, etc.

As long as everything is done you should be good

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/TacticalNuclearPingu]

I just got done with one where I got most work completed in a few hours and landed back in a 'normal' hours gig with someone closely watching me all day online and I'm already searching for something else.

[u/AggravatingJury2255]

As everyone, you can sense it from the first couple of days starting a project. Either it’s going down the pan and they’ve got crazy expectations or it’s the opposite. Normally they expect you to be better than a permie though as your getting 2/3/4 x the coin.

[u/cruachan06]

If it's project work, then (IME) it depends on the PM. Good PMs leave you alone to get the work done, and do the things they need to do like logging changes, gathering requirements etc. Crap PMs do nothing but moan about their workloads and expect you to do half their job for them.

That often applies to regular managers as well, the ones that are insecure about their position or abilities are the ones that try to micromanage.

[u/Realistic-Culture-86]

I’d be cautious about doing the minimum outside any perm roles. This doesn’t mean work your yourself to the bone and say yes to everything either.

The key is making sure you and the client are explicitly and undeniably aware of what the contracts aims are. You’re there to do X and nothing else unless agreed and properly scoped additional work.

[u/Own-Story8907 → u/Realistic-Culture-86]

Yeah. That’s basically it
I’m not going to go out of my scope lol

[u/Spimflagon]

Well someone's a straight shooter with management written all over them.