OT but as an employee/contractor, I'm interested in what you wrote here:
Employees who don't need those nudges are very rare, and become expensive quickly
Could you elaborate on this? Are these employees just able to take specs and implement them on their own timetable? I would consider myself in this category - I currently telecommute and can go for days without any communication with the manager but still get things done. I just want to see if I am in that category from another person's point of view or see what else I can do to improve.
yeah. well, you need someone like you, and you need a manager who is good at communicating specs, and the manager needs to be okay that the end result will still be slightly different from his or her 'vision'
But yeah, it's pretty rare to have someone who keeps working hard on their own. it's more rare that the result looks anything like what the manager had in mind when they drafted the specs.
If you are one of those people, you should be able to charge a significant premium for your time. You are worth it. Now, the hard part here is that it's hard to prove you are one of those people without actually working for someone; still, if you are what you say you are, you should be able to build yourself a high-priced consulting business.
