It depends on how badly you need the money. If you really need to get paid you are probably better off finding a full time job and quit after 9 months. Otherwise invest the time in yourself. Work on a passion project or a blog.
replies(1):
In a short form question: If you do, where do you look for a short time projects?
I'd like to put my skill set to use and work on a project, I'm available for 6-9 months. The problem seems to be for me, that I cannot find any way of finding such project.
I'm quite skilled, I have 15 years of experience, first 3 as a system administrator, then I went full on developer - have been full stack for 2 of those years, then switched my focus fully on the backend - and ended up as platform data engineer - optimizing the heck out of systems to be able to process data fast and reliably at larger scale.
I already went through UpWork, Toptal and such and to my disappointment, there was no success to be found.
Do you know of any project boards, or feature bounty platforms, that I could use to find a short time project?
Thank you for your wisdom :)
Much different career wise than having short term contracts that are designed around a specific job.
I know that companies don’t necessarily follow an ethical standard but I find that I can at least follow personal ethics and that’s within my control. I’ve always treated my employers like I would like to be treated, even if the employer was being a jerk.
Over 30 years I’ve found that people remember and it’s surprising how acting ethically sticks in people’s minds and comes back in positive yields. I like to think I’d act the same way no matter what, but it’s a plus that acting properly ends up being better in the long run.
You will often hear scammers and con artists justify what they do by saying it's the only way they have to support their family. It's like, why is your family more important than any other family in the world? It's still a selfish act.
the question is rather: why is unethical behavior the only way to feed your family?
in case of the suggestion to just quit after 9 months i would say that if there is no other way to get work, then what choice do they have? this is similar to lying about the intention to have children. some might consider lying unethical, but it is so important that it is in fact legally protected in some countries.
but at the end of the day i can't let my children starve to achieve that goal, nor am i responsible to feed all my neighbors who sometimes struggle to actually afford all their daily necessities. there has to be a balance somewhere. and as i said the balance is to not resort to unethical behavior. but that's not the same thing as giving other families a higher priority than my own which is what you are suggesting (you are not explicitly saying it, but the opposite reading of "why is your family more important than others?" is "why should other families be more important than yours?".)
i brought these children into the world, and my responsibility is towards them first. this does not mean that i ignore the needs of others, if i can help them. it also does not mean that i focus on giving my children an advantage over others, or that i protect them from their own mistakes. all i am doing is to make sure that they are healthy and learn, in school and in life. that is my priority because it is my responsibility alone. noone else is going to do that for me. i am the only one who can make sure that it happens. caring for society on the other hand is a group responsibility, not an individual one. i can and do contribute to that, but only as much as my primary responsibility of caring for my children allows.