Interesting Links for 22-03-2013

[andrewducker]

• Public consultation backs lowering drink drive limit in Scotland
  (tags: scotland alcohol driving )
• Cyrpus bailout plan: good idea, badly implemented?
  (tags: banking cyprus )
• Why Charlie Stross doesn't self-publish (much the same reason I'm not a contractor)
  (tags: charlesstross writing publishing )
• Trans woman commits suicide after being bullied

Comments

[momentsmusicaux]

> reading contracts, accounting, managing other people

I do very little of that as a freelance developer. No contract reading ever, not very much accounting, and not much managing of other people.

[andrewducker]

You don't have contracts with the people you're doing the work for?

And you do, from previous conversations, spend a fair bit of time dealing with lots of the stuff around development that a pure developer wouldn't have to.

[momentsmusicaux]

I once worked for a developer in Edinburgh who wanted a contact for a fixed-rate quote for the work. Never again.

I bill the client each month for the hours I work, they pay me. That's it.

I do a fair bit of meetings and discussions about what the project should be doing. But I prefer to be in on that, rather than to be just handed requirements which patently make no sense!

[tobyaw]

When I was contracting, I typically didn’t have a contract. In one case I had a purchase order raised for the first week of work, and that was extended by verbal agreement. Which continued for years.

I chose to create my own limited company, and roll my VAT and PAYE by hand, at least partly so I could gain an understanding of how it all worked. Company registration and reporting is straightforward, costs little, and doesn’t take much time. VAT is almost ridiculously easy. And PAYE is an abomination that I found almost impossible to get right.

Of course, with the new rules for electronic reporting, it is all an order of magnitude more complex than it was a few years ago.

[danieldwilliam]

When I was doing contracting I used to let a recruitment agency handle the cash, the contracts and PAYE stuff. They also found me much of my work.

I tended to work in house as if I were a full time member of the company seconded to the project I was working on.

That worked okay for me. At the time.