>>Under NO circumstances did I allow the CLIENT to dictact the days and hours I would work on their project. I WAS NOT THEIR EMPLOYEE. I avoided such misunderstandings or attempts to dictact behavior by having in the contract, they and I had to sign, references to the IRS rules for determining Independent vs corporate employees, and that I will abide by those rules to protect my independent status. My contract also states that I will have other clients under contract and may recieve phone calls from them or be called away for emergencies. I agree that if and when I appear on site it will be during their business hours, except when there are occasions that may require access to equipment and software during NON business hours (Installation, table modifications, or anything else that circumstance bring up). So, the contract covers all these contengencies and requires their signature and agreement, otherwise ... no deal.
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>>You will run into executives who like to dictate, dominate and generally present a 'superior' attitude. You have to decide if you want to work with such people. For me, life is too short to put up with inflating their egos.
>>You may, on the average, land only about 1 out of 3 contracts you bid on. But remember, the less they pay for your services the less they will respect you. There are average hourly rates for programmers in your area. Put yourself somewhere in the top 25%, if you think you match up, and be ready to accept some rejections. As I said before... 1,000 hrs at $80/hr is a lot better than 2,000 hours at $40/hr.
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>I'm sorry if this moves things off topic, but I would guess that there are a lot of people whohave experienced the same sort of issues...
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>I understand what you're saying, however diplomatically presenting things like that to a prospective client is something that I'm trying to learn. My lawyer did review and comment on a contract that I use. Since then it's been modified a bit, even more so to my advantage. Like you mentioned, adding a few references to the IRS rules may be beneficial as well.
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>But that prompts another question: if going through another agency, whether it be a headhunter, another consulting company, whatever, who do you get to sign the contract? The agency? The actual client? Both? (I do need an answer to this actually) :)


I took a job through a headhunter only ONCE...
When you work through a headhunter they won't sign your contract, you will sign theirs. They and the client will sign a contract in which you are not mentioned except as a third person "programmer". You can be taken off a project at the headhunter's whim and moved into another one, even at another client site, put 'on the bench'. HH's can interfer with your system analysis or dictate design, and if you can't convince the client his idea is wrong you can bet that he will convince the HH to make you see it his way. Your HH "handler" will keep him/herself in constant contact with the client, primarily to make sure they keep THEIR business links with the client, even at your expense. I've seen descrimination on the basis of race and age.

Headhunters take TOO LARGE a bite out (40-50% in some cases) of what you earn and you are, in effect, their employee, except without any benies, paid vac, sick leave, etc... Especially if they sense you are a desparate independent and they have you over a barrel. You have do to your own withholding. You will be given a form by the headhunter to fill out indicating the days and specific times you spend on site, which the client will sign, keeping a copy, and you then submit your signed 'payroll doc' to your headhunter, who will issue a check to you. Different headhunters may vary on the details but the essentials are the same.

Some companies like to use headhunters as a way of outsourcing their IT work. It supposedly lowers their payroll and bennies cost and makes more of it deductable. What it really does is exploit the programmer. I have no doubt that some managers at corps get kickbacks or other perks from headhunters and sign contracts with them on that basis.


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>Some say don't go through someone else, get work directly.

They are right! Don't let anyone front for you. Remember, the best thing you have going is the good word of your former clients who appreciated your work. Most of my new jobs came through word of mouth. You can, generally, only work on about three jobs at once... one you are just beginning, one you are in the heat of development with and spend 80% of your time on, and one you are just winding up....usually with handholding and minor changes or bugs which escaped initial detection. If you get yourself too overloaded and spread too thin you may have trouble meeting milestones in your contract. If you are down to two you'd better start doing some of the things I mention later on.


>Unfortunately there are times that independents are faced with having to "bite the bullet" if work is scarce. With all your years of experience I'm sure you've had to deal with that at some point, no? I've had to lower my rates a few of times just to get work or modify the contract a bit to make the client more "comfortable". As much as I hate to do it, I need to pay the bills.

That's why you have to have a 'drought' bank account with at least THREE MONTHS expenses in it. Don't ever let it drop below that and if you do then replenish it as quickly as possible.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use your own money to forward finance a client. Let them use their CC to purchase necessary hardware and software (including copies of devtools, if necessary) before you begin work. My contract required they purchase a copy of the devtools as part of the contract. If they can't afford to or won't then I'd look for other clients. If they can't afford to or won't then maybe they can't afford you or they are not trustworthy. Don't dance with the devil.

At one month into a drought you'd better be networking your former clients for additional work, posting your business card at hardware vendor sites, advertizing in local or area newspapers, running radio ads, or TV if you can afford it. Make sure you know all of your local hardware vendors and their techies by name... Throw some work their way, with the obvious message that if they find someone in need of programming they'll pass your name on.

Also, join a golf club or go golfing where business people golf, just to mingle. Somewhere down the line they may ask you for advice. Give it, but be general. Be especially alert when they are asking you to critique another programmers work. Be nice, but be accurate. If you can't golf (like me, :) then join a health club and get to know the regulars. Someone will ask what you do and you can tell them. They'll tell others. If you seem bright they will eventually ask you for some advice. You'll need the exercise anyway, setting at workstation as long as we do.

If your drought hits 2 1/2 months it's time to start looking for full time work before you run out of money.

Good luck.



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>On another front, most of the FoxPro work that I've seen posted over the past several months has been for full-time hires only. No one seems to want contract programmers. Then again, I'm still new at this too so I could be looking in the wrong places.
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>Recently, I've run into people who take the view saying that "FoxPro isn't that popular compared to Access and Visual Basic". I feel like saying "Ok, so what's your point?", but I can't. Trying to convince them that FoxPro is a viable option, let alone probably the best one for what they are trying to do, is getting harder. I'm sure that one of the reasons many want to go to VB/Access or VB/SQL Server is that there are more VB programmers out there and (possibly) cheaper to hire.
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>- Brian