And Suddenly, I’m Popular…

I know I mentioned in the last post that I had intentions of doing some much needed brick work this weekend, that plan did not come to fruition.

It seems my resume has been popping up lately on the radar screens of several recruiting firms.

Friday night, and Saturday morning I received no less than 15 emails from recruiters for one sort of FoxPro gig or another. Now, let me say first off, I’m very glad when any recruiter contacts me, without me first contacting them. However, this is a fairly strange time for me professionally, and responding to all of these took a little more than a ‘thanks’ email.

First, there’s that possible gig in Orlando, which would definitely be my first choice if I get the offer. But for a week now the folks at that agency have been making themselves ‘scarce’ so I have no idea where that stands at the moment.

Second, there’s the current gig, slated to run through the end of June, but, even that isn’t certain. Nor is the earlier ‘offer’ of employment if I’d take on an analyst role and document a second tire support position. There’s been no further mention of the actual job offer, nor, any mention of extending the current contract. So with less than six weeks remaining on this contract, I find myself somewhere between feeling the need to put on a full court press for a new gig, and adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude.

Perhaps if Maryan wasn’t facing another major surgery, or we had 6 months of cash ‘reserve’ stockpiled I wouldn’t be as torn as I am. I normally like to have a little downtime, to decompress from one gig before jumping full on into another. That’s not the case right now though. Between paying off the medical bills, having a higher than anticipated tax bill and several large and unanticipated ‘repair’ expenses over the past year, we’re just not where I’d like to be.

So I spent most of yesterday updating my resume on the various contract sites and crafting responses to the inquiries I had. Have you ever tried to tell someone you’re interested in their opportunity, yet have to place a ‘but’ in there, without it having to sound like a ‘but’? I’ve done it before, yet every time I have the need to do so, I find myself really stretching to put a positive ‘spin’ on my availability.

I’ve also scheduled a meeting with my project manager(s) next week to see if I can get a more definitive answer than “we plan on keeping you around”.

I do love contracting, and I especially love this gig I’ve been on, but, the hard cold truth is, it’s my living and I need to be working to keep the bills paid and the fridge full!

So, as always when I get to this point I find myself wondering about the sanity of ‘contract’ work… suddenly all of those folks with ‘regular’ jobs seem to have it so much easier. Then I remind myself that the only difference between them, and me, is that I’m going through this, because I know. I know the contract term, I know when I’ll be out of a job and can make plans to find something else before that day arrives. It doesn’t make it less stressful though. I should be used to it by now, I’ve spent most of my life going from one project to another, either with my own clients, or for those a recruiter set me up with.

I’m not though, and I think, that regardless of the number of times I do it, I’ll still stress over the available opportunities, lament that I don’t have the particular ‘skill set’ that is the one ‘de jour’… and feel like all of the good gigs for my skill set have ‘dried up’.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re not looking, there seem to be hundreds of jobs for what ever it is you do… then, when you are looking, they appear few and far between? I have… every single time I start looking!!

I almost wish I had the resources to take 4-6 months and just concentrate solely on some projects I have in my head, but, that’s not going to be the next six months, that’s for sure! We’re just not in a financial position to let me do that right now.

Not that the process is ‘all bad’… there’s a certain sense of excitement each time I review a new project, an anticipation of digging into something new, learning about a new business, their processes, rules and industry. How what they do is unique from others in a similar field, or is one that’s totally unique regardless of the industry. I know the fun I’ll have digging in, getting up to speed and discovering new and better ways to do what’s been done, finding and fixing bugs that have plagued a system for years, or any of a hundred other things I could be asked to do.

In the end, one thing is sure. I’ll find something to do to pay the bills. If I’m lucky, it will also feed my need to find happiness in what I’m doing. If it doesn’t, the one good thing about a contract is, I know when it will be over!!

Me, I’m off to mow the yard, run the ‘weed-eater’ and other manly ‘more-power’ pursuits!!

I hope you all have a great day!

Technorati Tags: FoxPro - Contracting - Job Search - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Job Search - Contracting - FoxPro