It IS true that there are many variables over which a contractor has no control including (i) the economy (ii) IT Budgets (iii) your team leader (iv) your work environment (v) skills that you love being rejected as obsolete (vi) others working for a pittance killing your billing rate (v) jobs being sent offshore... etc etc
But one area they have control is to MAP out the Career they WANT when things (i) improve (ii) the right opportunity 'shows' up (iii) the Certs they can have ready (iv) the kind of companies they will work fr (v) the companies they will not and so on.
There is a method (created by Edward DeBono) that is USEFUL, FAST and FUN and is called the six thinking hats. So one thing I like to do is spend "six times 15 minutes" to SIX HAT YOUR CAREER VISION.
WHITE HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)SIX HAT YOUR CONTRACTING CAREER VISION.. Its FUN, FAST, SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE and it works
-> Lets get the facts
RED HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)
-> Lets find the passions
BLACK HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)
-> Lets locate the snags
YELLOW HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)
-> Lets look at this logically
GREEN HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)
-> Lets blow out the holes
BLUE HAT YOUR CAREER VISION (15 mins)
-> Lets make a decision
