I agree with SW.
I've been a contractor more than I've been a perm employee over the last 15 years. Currently I'm contracted to one of the global providers supporting the kernel portion of their premium operating system product, and it's the second time around there for me, the first time supporting the Big Iron hardware that runs on that OS. I'm currently in the middle of interviews for a perm position on the team I'm working on. It'd be more money- how much, I don't exactly know, but I do pretty good in my opinion now. SWMBO has insurance bennies on me, so healthcare isn't a huge concern for me right now, but trust me, I'm doing my part to bankrupt BCBS of Texas with my monthly meds, which run about $10k per month (that's not a typo). My manager knows this- I was very up front about my medical condition when I was hired on as a contractor. Besides, it makes his EOE paperwork look better to have me on board.
I'm damned good at my job. I know more than 98% of anyone who works on this OS platform. I know the hardware inside and out. I know what works, how it works, and more importantly, why it works. I have headhunters calling and emailing almost daily trying to steal me away- I had to silence my phone last week while interviewing with my manager for the perm position, which was fun
. He knows I'm in demand- all of us on the team are. Perot Systems called me at WORK today asking if I was interested in talking to them! Geez.
I'm 47 now. I work with a guy who retired from the Company a few years ago with 29 years. He's back as a contractor, making a little less than he was when he was a 'real employee', but he's older than I and is definitely running into that silver ceiling. He gets a few interviews , but no followups, probably because of attitude and disposition as much as anything.
Lately they've been bringing older field guys into the office and setting them up to do tech/phone support, so the office if getting grayer. I rather enjoy it. I'd say the average age of my group is on the far side of 35 or so. We've got folks in our division who are old enough to collect SS and they're usually the ones I spend time discussing odd problems with rather than my 28 year old backend and 32 year old team lead.
My suggestion?
Work on your 'bleeding edge' skills. VOIP is cool stuff. It'll be around a long time. Keep updating your skill sets. Learning is a continuum, not a goal.
By the way, ComputerJobs.com is a fairly good place to stick your resume. Most of my really good leads came from Dice.com. I never got anything worthwhile off Monster.com- mostly calls from disreputable hip-pocket H1B contract weasels that want me to work a 3-6 month contract job for significantly less than I make now, and always halfway across the country in some pit of a town- without a per diem or housing allowance.
Regards,
Rabbit.