Freelance or a Second Contract?
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
As one of those people who seems to always be doing something - read, study, projects, freelance and contracts, etc - I’ve been very lucky to have a disability pension as a backstop. If it weren’t for the Pensioner Education Supplement I would still be that bogun chucking fish down the wharf in sixteen to twenty hour irregular shifts. There’s something incredibly wrong when you’re stuck in the socio-economic poverty trap that pits your back against younger footballers just to afford a few steaks and a beer.
Since mid-2001 I’ve done a serious shit-load of schooling, too. I’ve done industry level certification in Web Design and Web Administration and I’ve made the Dean’s Honour Roll of Excellence for my Faculty through a Bachelor of Computing. I have only one project unit left at University to achieve my undergraduate degree. At the same time I’ve taught myself best practice front end web development methodologies (started with an Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Web Page, no less). I’ve spent long hours researching issues such as accessibility and usability, pushed my boundaries into working with PHP, and blogged like a mad banshee into the wee bloody hours. It was to prove a point - I am better than that man who stood on the wharf at 4am in silky fish soaked boxers totally exhausted (and exploited).
