Putting a pause on ContractAvailability

Quite early, while I was contracting in 2012, I thought of the idea behind Contract Availability, allowing developers to put up a profile and to mark when they were likely to be next available, and have recruiters quickly and easily find them – when the developer wanted to be found.

However, in the nearly 6 years since I first publicly discussed my idea, I have not been able to bring it to a complete-enough state for it to be a useful tool, and to it’s best ability. I still think that is a good idea though, and while there have been some other similar sites, none of them appear to have made a big difference – or lasted.

So, rather than continuing to work (slowly) on the same site, I’m taking a step back and – for now – shutting down ContractAvailability.com. It may well be back, but not until after I am confident I can deliver a service that can do, the huge majority all of what I believe is required to be genuinely useful for contractors (of various professions) – and those that would seek to hire them. I do have some ideas – but I need to try some ideas out first.

Therefore, at the end of September 2019, the website was closed, and all pages now redirect here. The database has been deleted, but usernames and customised profiles that have been previously created, will be reserved for any future related site . At the same time, the mailing list has also been deleted.

This has been a learning experience, in a multitude of ways. Although the site as it has been, isn’t the best structure to work from for a new version, I have learned, and gained, much from it. It has been valuable, for myself – and I think, others in that process. Looking into the future, I’m eager to learn more, and show the results in a different forum.

Alister Bulman
28th September, 2019.