Inside the mind of a contractor

This week I started a 6-week contract as a .NET developer for a small consulting company in Glasgow. It's great, and the timing is perfect for me, but it is a bit of a different way of working than I'm used to.

When you are developing a product actually for your own company, or for commercial sale, your motivation is really to make the product the best it possibly can be. After all, it's got to beat the competition. You have pride in it. You really feel ownership of it.

When working for an external client, things are a bit different. You are working to a specification, a set of rules. There are discussions about whether or not each and every possible feature is "in spec" or not. If something's not paid for and explicitly stated in the contract, it doesn't go in. (we seem to spend half the time at work having discussions like this! ...deciding whether or not each piece of work should be done... and only half actually doing the work)

I guess it really depends on the relationship with the client, and the motivations of both parties, and of each person.

Personally, I am the sort of person who likes to produce the best work possible at all times, I like to take pride in my work, and of course I do, but there have been times over the last few days where I've thought: this bit could be done in a much better way. But nobody is paying for it.

I guess that is just the real world.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of it though.

I definitely need to be in a company that works slightly outside of the real world.

I wonder if Capgemini is that company. They did once do a recruitment in Second Life so maybe they are!