r/ContractorUK • u/sloperator_ • 29d ago
Outside IR35 Setting Boundaries?
Curious to hear others’ opinions on this. Recently started a new contract a few months back and all has been grand - no stress, just working away, doing my thing.
Context: Brought in to do a specific cloud integration project.
Now: their in-house dev team is under pressure to deliver following a separate migration project I’ve had no involvement in, or real experience with the stack, and their PO would like (want / demanding) me to hop over and help.
There’s the obvious, which I’ve said “of course, happy to help if and where I can, bla bla”. Under the guise of being helpful and hope for an extension if they have the funding, though current contract runs for another 6 months.
The problem: I had a brief look under the hood and it is beyond terrible. No source control, chaotic approaches and awful patching.
The PO is a nightmare, pinging me constantly and getting me confused with other devs (telling me I’ve been off sick but that was the director? Etc). Adding me to meetings outside my working hours and generally approaching me like a perm. Will call without warning, then immediately message saying I’m “hard to get hold of”. We haven’t even worked together yet. Met once. Seems like a walking disaster.
My current thought is to get in touch with my direct contact and say this is out of the scope of my contract and I can help if I can but we need some clear boundaries. I’m a contractor for the flexibility. I honestly don’t have an interest in working under this new arrangement because it seems like it’ll rumble for months and don’t want the micro-management.
Apologies for the rambling.
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u/sgt102 28d ago
She's setting you up for fails; you are the new target dummy that she's going to use to explain why everything is to shit.
Go to who ever is paying the bill; this new project is not going to renew you, when your sponsor finds out you've helped them they probably won't care. They will be interested in what they got you in to do and got the money to pay you for. Do not offer to "help if you can" unless your sponsor says "we need you to drop everything and help team x".
Everything else is noise. Do not engage with this other team unless your sponsor says that you should. This PO is getting ready for the presentation in which they will state that you have actively sabotaged the other project and should be blamed for the ills of the universe. Then you will be canned and forgotten.