It’s taken a little settling into my new role. It has nothing to do with the team I have joined or the practises they employ.

The issue has been me, or more specifically the routines I had gotten used to. So of these habits I will try to continue and some I will need to change as I come up to speed in the new job.

These can be simple differences such as the split of work, were previously I was responsible for both front-end and back-end work. At the new role, there is a dedicated front-end dev and I have to get used to passing the work across to him in a state I would previously have considered half finished.

Another difference is the number of task owners and the amount of design control they each expect. Previously, I would implement the most basic of interfaces, knowing the boss like to be closely involved in the development cycle and to have final sign-off on design decisions. At the new role, it is far more self-managed, with requests coming from multiple people in the team, all of whom are involved in the design and feedback to differing levels.

So how do I deal with these differences. It is pretty easy really, I just try and follow my standard work practise:

  1. identifying areas of improvement.
  2. then changing my practises to improve them.

I will keep this up for the full length of the contract and then start again when it is time to find a new role. If feel confident that I will follow this practise for the rest of my days as a contractor, because there is always something new to learn and some best practise to identify if you only bother to look.

It is these differences between workplaces that keep me excited about contracting. Hopefully, my experience with previous roles can help to shape the future of my current workplace. While at the same time expanding my skill base and preparing for future opportunities.