So I’ve been working as a contractor in various positions for nearly a decade. I was first able to get into IT through a staffing agency and I pretty much have worked with various agencies after that.
I liked being a contractor in the past because I felt like it gave me freedom that perm employees didn’t have. Plus I was under the impression that if I was permanent somewhere I wouldn’t be eligible for overtime (my first perm job was like this, and it sucked because I was definitely putting in more than 40 hrs a week). After that role I decided to stick to contract work.
Now I’ve been lucky over the years, because I haven’t had any major health problems that required me to take extended time off. Outside of the typical day or two, I’ve usually hit my goals as far as hours go.
Well now that its 2019 I’ve made it a point to pay attention to my health since i’m 30 now. Sure enough the week before last I started having pain in my left hand (and i’m left handed). I fought through it the first couple days but then the pain got bad and I had to get it checked out. Turned out it was something called an RSI (repetitive strain injury).
In short, I had to rest my hand or I could make things a lot worse. The problem for me was that I wasn’t given a set amount of time it could take to heal up. Which brings me to the main point of this post.
Contracting sucks because you don’t get paid when you need time off!!!
I pretty much had to take the week off (outside of some light remote work) because the pain was too great. I had to use my right hand for all the things I typically use my left for. UNPAID. Losing this many days at a time really made me look at the whole contracting deal a lot differently. I’m now focused on finding perm work that comes with the whole benefits package, because I’m getting older number 1, and because when I need time to rest due to something likely work related (like being on the computer all day), I shouldn’t have to just eat the charge like that. Now I’m making it a point to tell any recruiters who contact me that I am not interested in contract-to-hire or long-term contract roles anymore. Plus I’m looking for a company that is willing to invest in me as a developer, not an IT guy.
I’m not really sure what caused things to flare up in my wrist/hand now, but it might be due to the fact I was working under my car + writing a lot of python/django over the past few weeks. Heck, it could just be things catching up to me. Either way, my viewpoint has changed and I’m more aware of the aches and pains now. I won’t be ignoring or fighting through any kind of pain anymore! Sheesh.
