As others have mentioned, you could be out on the street tomorrow, minus your code. That's definately the downside of contracting. But let me point out the upside to you. We'll start with what the management may be thinking:

• We rely heavily on this kid
• All contractors screw over their employers
• Let's kick him out the door and get someone in house to maintain the code

It's an old, old story and you're not playing your part because you don't yet know what your part is. What they are expecting you to do is (in the nicest possible way) hold them to ransom. Both sides can choose not to renew a contract, but they have the potential to loose business if you vanish.

Maybe just blatently march up to him and tell him that you would like be be on a longer contract. Say that you would like to work for the company. Say that you're leaving ASAP. Negotiate cleverly. Say that you aren't happy here anymore and you won't renew your contract at the end of the month (don't be bluffing). Make them aware that you won't be able to comment every line before your contract runs out. You can have any relationship with your employer that you can negotiate your way into.

Heck, ask them straight out why they want you to document every line. You don't have to worry about being fired because you know that you're going anyway.

When I was a contractor I never said sir. I did my professional best in the job, but it was always in the back of my mind that my official company title was 'temporary resource'. You should always be looking out for the next job, the best time to jump. This sounds horribly arrogant and yuppie-ish, but consider that after three years of contracting at Compaq, I had my contract cancelled with 0hrs and 0mins notice, along with most of the office (this was just before the HP merger).

____________________
Jeremy
I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.

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