I've found contract work tends to increase technical debt rather than decrease it. Contractors never say no. It's not their fault. They're not paid to say no. It doesn't matter if the work is "remove this emissions counter when x occurs," they just do what they're told. No push back. Push back means no contract.
If my PM asks me to hard code something, I understand the business well enough to know when it's a bad idea and when it's okay. Sometimes I say no, that's a 3 month project. They run out, get a contractor, who says yes, 1 week. Now I'm stuck with a 12 month repair job instead, because it has to be fixed in production.
I don't play ping pong or chat around the coffee maker either. I'm too busy cleaning up messes and trying to set things right so the server doesn't catch fire and force me to come in on my weekend.
Some days, I hate programming full time. I wish I was a contractor who would say "Sure, 1 week." I'd get all the glory. "Wow, that was fast. What a brilliant programmer." I'd hate myself for what I did to other programmers though. Bottom feeders, indeed.
If my PM asks me to hard code something, I understand the business well enough to know when it's a bad idea and when it's okay. Sometimes I say no, that's a 3 month project. They run out, get a contractor, who says yes, 1 week. Now I'm stuck with a 12 month repair job instead, because it has to be fixed in production.
I don't play ping pong or chat around the coffee maker either. I'm too busy cleaning up messes and trying to set things right so the server doesn't catch fire and force me to come in on my weekend.
Some days, I hate programming full time. I wish I was a contractor who would say "Sure, 1 week." I'd get all the glory. "Wow, that was fast. What a brilliant programmer." I'd hate myself for what I did to other programmers though. Bottom feeders, indeed.