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[Craig Duncan <craigduncan AT entuend.com>]

DonBartholf AT aol.com wrote:

> Who knows about typical features of a contract job. I've heard they 
> typically pay a straight hourly rate with no benefits. That's pretty 
> simple. What happens if you get sick with the flu and don't go in. Or 
> can you take vacation/ personal time? If the contract is for 6 months, 
> can they whack you earlier, can you dump them for a permanent job? Is 
> a non compete clause typical? What else would be good to know?
>  
> Don Bartholf
>
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Some expectations are a given, e.g. the possibility of you getting sick. 
At the start of my previous contract, I had to have an operation on the 
second week - I was off for 5 days and everything was cool.

Follow whatever holiday schedule the company you are contracting for 
uses. If they close for say MLK day, plan to take that day off. If you 
have some vacation time planned, be sure to let them know in advance, 
but try to keep it down to a week.

If you decide to seek another oportunity, say a full time position 
elsewhere, try and give two weeks notice so that you can wrap up and do 
a succesful knowledge transfer. On the flip side, they can cancel the 
contract if they deem things are not working out. The amount of notice 
given is employer specific, they have no requirement to give advance 
notice. One six month contract ended one day after the six months were 
up, mostly due to a cash flow issue for my employer, but he did keep me 
there for the full term of the contract.

Non-compete clauses are not really worth the paper they are written on. 
As long as you do not steal the "crown jewels" of their code base and 
hand it to a competitor, I would not give it a second thought.

Most things are common sense and should not need discussion, but keeping 
a good and open line of communication will serve you well.

Craig