'cause you are now a "consultant" or "expert". Also even at a higher hourly rate you may well be cheaper than an employee who drags along employers pension contributions, employers national insurance contributions, employment law so not easy to get rid of. They may only want you for a day here, a day there...
Because, unlike employees, they can not pay you when you don't work.
In message , Tim Streater writes
I was listening to a recent 'The Bottom Line' (I think) program on radio
4 - they have 3 CEO or other high up business bods discussing some business related issues (in this case one was ASDA CEO Andy Bond, formerly responsible for the Asda George clothing range).One point he was making was that some businesses are looking to shift some manufacturing back to the uk. Raw material costs are rising, and are likely to continue to do so, ditto transport costs, ditto labour costs in places like China. So it can be competitive again to shift manufacture back here - given that it can also be more responsive as you haven't got such long lead times because of shipping things back
Its a very different proposition to ask a client to pay you to do one job, than it is to ask someone to employ you and take on all the costs, commitment, and overheads that entails.
Six panels and 17 screws, and maybe even some instructions - you were lucky.
People keep giving me things that someone has taken apart and given up on. So I have no idea how they are put together, and come in 12 boxes of parts and 300 screws of 20 different types. Some screws and parts are missing or damaged and have to be replaced or repaired. There are usually some spare items that don't even belong on that device. And of course there are no instructions and the manufacturer went out of business 80 years ago. I have to glean clues from marks in the dirt and corrosion how the parts go together. Unless someone has cleaned all that off.
I always start by sorting out all the screws and parts, and put together the obvious ones. After a few days there are not so many parts left.
e.g. thing in bits:
large electromagnet?
Chris
It controls the motors and brakes in this 1906 tram:
It's a single blowout coil. Somehow that usually does the job. The arcing is something fearful, and can burn through the 12mm asbestos shields that go between each contact.
Nick
Forget the employee bit and all the faff that goes with that mindset. Theres no magic about it at all. Over time many have said to me aren't you "lucky" to have your own businesses. Lucky?, no bloody luck at all just application and work thats all there is to it...
I spent like your self many fraught hours applying for jobs etc many years ago then It seemed simpler in a way to set up shop on my own and whilst thats not without problems it is that I have far more control over them. Course if you can land a job that suits you then fine and theres a LOT around who need to be working for someone else as they have no idea in how to work for themselves or more correctly the right
..Attitude..
In the last few years I have know around 8 people who have either taken early retirement or redundancy who are now working for themselves in DIY or Garden maintenance applications, seem to be able most all of the time to turn work away!. One runs a small Taxi firm another a small house rental agency.
Its there.. Just needs a bit of thinking about .. then Go for it;!.....
Notice the A word above;?...
Well said that man.
You could be a contractor (=self employed) working medium scale in other companies - that would possibly have the disbenefits of both systems (you worry a lot and still get dragged about by someone's "management") - probably why contractos cost more...
But to start a business not as a medium term contractor does have two rather special requirements:
1) Service: what are you actually going to do... 2) Marketing and finding work;I've never had a decent idea for (1) otherwise I'd be doing it. I tend to work better when I get the measure of a place and do stuff with long term thinking - I can't see me doing a run-in, do a job, run away kind of business in IT. I've considered web development but those guys are two a penny and I find the art side "challenging".
(2) I could handle that - but, especially while starting up, it is a worry, if you *depend* in regular income...
I've got a PhD..... and I work for a supermarket emptying and refilling delivery lorries..... :-)
I've just got a reply from Morrisons saying: "The standard of application has been very high and it was only after much deliberation that we reached the decision that we will not be progressing with your application further."
So, if *I* can't get work stacking shelves in Morrisons, what sort of people *do* they want, people with PhDs?
JGH
If I could find another job, why on earth am I applying for supermarket shelf-stacking work?
I've tried that. "Hello, I'm a software engineer, have you got any programming that needs doing?" "Oo, yes, there's this that needs doing." "That will cost..." "Oh, no, we can do without".
JGH
I never claimed to. I was talking about the school that my kids attend.
MBQ
Not looking, doing. A few years ago there was a headlong rush to offshore electronics assembly including a lot of stuff that just didn't have the volumes to make it worthwhile. Much of that soon came back to the UK.
MBQ
I'd never have guessed that. How is the magnetic circuit arranged? Are there pole pieces in the covers seen sitting behind?
I remember doing development testing on a more modern indirect train controller, but even that had to cope with switching a worst case load of 10 A dc, when running in multiple, so we had to add permanent magnet blowout, and tiny arcing horns.
Chris
When I astounded my next-door neighbour, by designing and doing most of the assembly of the stairs up to the back door, I pointed out that it was rather like tailoring, only with rigid materials and different seaming techniques...
Indeed. And cooking is mostly applied chemistry and chemical engineering.
Imagine my surprise at Hugh Fearnly Bollocksface telling Beeb listeners that 'a rolling boil is hotter than a simmer'
I've had thermometers n both, and there is f*ck all temperature difference.100c plus minus, depending on the chemical composition of the liquid.
A rolling boil simply does its own stirring - useful to stop pasta from sticking together and evaporates liquids faster.
What a dick head that man is.
What's your specialisms? I keep hearing people moaning how hard it is to actually find a software dude who actually knows anything - and I see a lot of job emails flying around (this is the SE mind).
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