Notes on what to look for when considering contract development work:
- Compensation
- Rate
- Duration/size of contract
- Potential for extension/additional work
- Learning
- Will you learn new technical skills?
- Will you learn other useful things (domain, process, architecture, management, people skills)?
- Experience
- Will you enjoy the work itself?
- Will you like working with the people involved?
- Will you enjoy the work environment?
- Marketability
- Project visibility (“I worked on iOS” is better than “I worked on some internal systems for Big Company X.” It’s more meaningful to the next person hiring you. And the next and the next.)
- Technical skills (Gaining six months of experience in Node, for example.)
- Network (Will you make valuable new relationships?)
- Potential For Surprises
- Does the client know the real-world problems they’re trying to solve and are their efforts actually aligned with solving those problems?
- Do they have a clear idea of what success looks like?
- Will you be hand-holding on process and requirements definition?
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