A cool thing about TECHWR-L after all these years (contractor burn-out)

[Dan Brinegar <vr2link -at- VR2LINK -dot- COM>]

This has been a good day from TECHWR-L !

[NOTE: personal gut-spilling follows -- it might actually have something to
do with my work-ethic and professional skills -- I still want to do things
that matter, not just punch a clock; persons easily disturbed by such
thoughts are advised to bail on this message immediately ;-]

Hi, my name is Dan, and I'm a burn-out .... I've been a subscriber and
contributor to TECHWR-L for about 6 years now, my first post was on 16
April 93.

I've been primarily a contractor that whole time: my only "permanent" gigs
didn't last any longer than the average contract --perm gigs never got
around to having bennies: there was one where they offered insurance, but
when the rep came in for sign-up, I was stuck handling a tech-support call
(darn companies went outta business 8-)

I used to be a revolutionary ( or a Mac-using subversive, if you prefer,
but I was able to work pretty regular ;-)

Anyway... when I was preparing for my career as a techwriter, I used to
take my TECHWR-L digests and "Frame" them (chunking a-la Info Mapping,
sorting, formatting, indexing, and so on). This technique proved highly
useful in coming to grips with the issues of the day and understanding what
'WhiR-Lers were doing to address them.

I've been wracking my brain trying to get re-motivated and figure out what
to do/explore next.

[&Set: PARANOIA =86%]
"What's the worst part of contracting?" Well, eventually you've worked
almost everywhere and if you've burned a bridge or two (or twenty) they
come back to haunt you... and those bridges (agencies) you've maintained
know that their clients *really* don't want a rather senior contractor --
even if they need one. Many of the pointy-haired do *not* take well to
being evangelized, or getting the advice they asked for 8-)
[&end PARANOIA]

On my ONE interview so far this month, I was asked where I saw my career
going/what I wanted to accomplish and I honestly couldn't say. That
sucks...

It just might be time to take the last couple days' digests and map 'em out
-- with a new tool probably, and see if I can't find something new. There
are still a number of folks here who like what they're doing... I'm gonna
get intimately familiar with the things they say they like, and try some of
'em...

Thanks, 'WhiR-Lers!!!!

At 12:00 AM -0500 4/9/99, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>There are 62 messages totalling 2704 lines in this issue.
>
[....]

>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Thu, 8 Apr 1999 05:25:34 -0700
>From:    John Posada <jposada01 -at- YAHOO -dot- COM>
>Subject: Re: The Worst Thing About Contracting
>
>Woe is me...
>
>I'm getting paid in the mid $120k's, get paid for all
>the hours I work, come and go as I please, set my
>hours, control what company I want to work at, and get
>referred to by the people I work for as the "document
>expert", but ya know...? I just never feel valued.
>
>Jeeeezzz, these working conditions suck!
>

[....]

>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Thu, 8 Apr 1999 23:03:28 EDT
>From:    Connie Giordano <CPGLJG -at- AOL -dot- COM>
>Subject: Re: Contracting Experiences
>
>I'm fascinated by this thread, particularly with the overwhelming support for
>contracting.  HoweverI come from an opposite set of experiences.  I much
>prefer the permanent work.  [....]
>Connie Giordano
>a truly happy permanent employee
>
>------------------------------


-------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Brinegar   Information Developer/Research Droid

"Leveraging Institutional Memory through Contextual
Digital Asymptotic Approximations of Application Processes suited to
utilization by Information-Constrained, Self-Actualizing
Non-Technologists."

vr2link "at" vr2link.com   CCDB Vr2Link
http://www.vr2link.com     Performance S u p p o r t Svcs.


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