Contracting Misconceptions Popular Misconceptions about Contracting Many technical communicators today yearn to go contract . Here are some sobering reasons to reconsider that goal. Their financial situations become substantially more complex and confusing.
Most contractors actually work harder, worry more, and keep less.
In our experience, it is a very rare contractor who can confidently decline a project without having something better on offer. Clients won t pay contractors to learn their technology or train them on how to meet their audience s needs. Moreover, we see many contractors being pigeon-holed by clients because they ve not taken the initiative to expand their skills, perhaps because they re too busy working or trying to find work. By contrast, staff employees routinely receive training that helps them develop new and marketable skills, and the expense of the instruction as well as the missed work time is borne by the employer. Most forward-looking employees avail themselves of this benefit frequently.