http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=606158


in reply to Any interest / use in a Perl-Work section?

+1. I like the idea of a PM Contracting area. I've been starting to do some independent work here and there for folks, and it would be valuable to share experiences and learn from others.

Seems like it would benefit the Perl community, to help have more informed Perl-centric contractors out there.

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Re^2: Any interest / use in a Perl-Work section?
by DrHyde (Prior) on Mar 23, 2007 at 10:09 UTC
    I would be strongly against an area of this site for contractors, as much as I would be against an area specifically for sysadmins, biologists, or students. The perl you write as a contractor (or student, or sysadmin) is indistinguishable from that you write as a real employee or which you write to control your model railway at home. The problems that you experience specifically because you're a contractor have nothing to do with perl, and so you're better off discussing them with your fellow tax-dodging slimeballscontractors in places like this.
      That's why I phrased it "...discussing the work or business side of being a Perl coder...", with the (apparently botched) intention of including all Perl coders' work experiences. "I don't get no respect", "How's the Perl coder job market?", "Problems communicating with non-Perlers", "Useful contract clauses", "The issue of PM postings ownership" (did this ever get resolved?), "Pitching Perl to prospects", "How to find businesses/employers that use Perl".....

      After all, although Perl does have its own innate value that transcends life, most of us are Perl coding to earn a living.

      But, more interesting - I would be sincerely interested to read more on "tax-dodging slimeballs contractors". Don't worry, the odds of you hurting my feelings are slim to nil. I'm honestly interested in learning more about why some poeple out there might have this opinion of contractors.




      Forget that fear of gravity,
      Get a little savagery in your life.

        You wrote "contract perl coder". At least where I'm from, that means someone who does temp work instead of getting a proper job. And anyway, I wasn't replying to you. I was replying to someone who talked about setting up a section for contractors.

        I don't feel strongly either way about having a section for discussing perl at work, although I doubt I'd use it myself unless interesting discussions about the practice of programming come up, such as discussing how to create and enforce coding standards, how to convince management that Testing Is Good. Of course, we've already had lots of discussions about those topics in other sections of the site.

        If you want to talk about useful contract clauses, the state of the perl job market and so on, every single thing you say will be locale-specific. That won't stop people from other locales chiming in and confusing matters though, nor will it prevent people from assuming that you're talking about their locale. Just as I did when I wrote "tax-dodging slimeballs" (that was crossed out to indicate it was what we call in English a "joke"). *Here* people go contracting either because they are incapable of getting a proper job or because it can be a way of evading certain taxes.