About 7 months ago I made the switch from a 5 year permie role (as a support dev

Question

About 7 months ago I made the switch from a 5 year permie role (as a support developer in C#) to a contract role. I did this because I was stagnating in my old role. The extra cash contracting is really helping too.

Unfortunately my team leader has taken a dislike to me from day 1. He regularly tells me I went out contracting too early, and frequently remarks that people in their 20's have no idea what they are talking about (I am 29).

I was recently given the task of configuring our reports via our in house reporting library. It works off of a database driven criteria base, with controls being loaded as needed. The configs can get fairly complex, with controls having various levels of dependency on each other. I had a short time frame to get 50 reports working, and I was told to just get the basic configuration done, after which they will be handed over to the reporting team for fine tuning, then the test team.

Our updated system was deployed 2 weeks ago, and it turned out that about 15 reports had issues causing incorrect data to be returned. Upon investigation I discovered that the reporting team hadn't even looked at them, and the test team hadn't bothered to test the reports. In spite of this, my team leader has told me that it is 100% my fault.

As a result, our help desk got hit hard. I worked back until 2am that night to fix the highest priority issues (on my wedding anniversary!). The next day I arrive at work at 7:45 am to continue with the fixes. I got no thanks, but keep getting repeatedly told by my manager that "I fucked up" and "this is all my fault".

I told my team leader I would spend part of my weekend working to fix the remaining issues. His response was "so you fucking should! you fucked it all up!" in front of the rest of the team. I responded "No worries." and left. I spent a decent chunk of my weekend working on it. Within 2 business days of finding out about the issues, I had all the medium and high priority issues fixed.

The only comments my team leader has made to me in the last 2 weeks is to tell me how I have caused a big mess, and to tell me it was all my fault. I get this multiple times a day. If I make any jokes to anyone else in the team, I get told not to be a smartass... even though the rest of the team jokes throughout the day. Apart from that, all I get is angry looks any time I am anywhere near the guy. I don't give any response other than "alright" or silence when he starts giving me a hard time.

Today we found out that the pilot release for the next stage has been pushed back. My team leader has said this was caused by me (but the higher ups said no such thing). He also said I have "no understanding of the ramifications of my actions".

My question is, should I break contract (I am contracted until June 30) and find another role? No one else in my team will speak up in my favour, as they are contractors too and have no interest in rocking the boat. I could complain to my team leaders boss, but I can't see that helping, as I will still be stuck in the same team. As this is my first contract, I imagine getting the next one will be hard without a reference.

I can't figure out if this guy is trying to get me fired up to provoke a confrontation (the guy loves conflict), or if he is just venting anger, or what. Copping this blame day after day is really wearing me down and making me depressed... especially since I have a wife and kid to support).

Explanation / Answer

This story sounds very one-sided. I'm not taking sides in this, but your depictions are very hyperbolic, and you've already made your determinations--"the guy loves conflict" (how do YOU know what he loves?). If none of this is your fault, then why are you busting your hump to fix it? Something about your narrative just doesn't smell right, so I'm going to list what I see:

A worker went from perm to contract (rare).
Updated system got deployed with issues.
Contractor was blamed for those issues, contractor works overtime to fix those issues.
Contractor asserts reporting team and test team didn't QC reports
Contractor does not deny writing the reports and/or writing buggy/inoperative reports.
Contractor is receiving abuse from team leader on a daily basis (regardless of the truth of the claims, abuse is unacceptable in any case).
So here's the reality of it all. You signed a contract. It doesn't matter if you don't like it, if you're unhappy, or if the big, bad man is calling you names and hurting your feelings. You're expected to be a professional and fulfill your contracts so do it. If you walk out on this contract, regardless of the reason, you will be very lucky if you even get a "next" contract. The fact that you did not fulfill this one will travel with you. Keep in mind that even in a big city contracting is a very incestuous world and your name will travel around as "Oh, yah, he's the guy who walked out on {X} after he screwed up their system." You do not want that stigma following you even in a passing reference.

Last year I took a course in understanding behavior in the workplace that talked about the "Stories we tell ourselves". In reading your narrative, it's very clear you've made some preconceptions about this person and the people around you and what they're thinking/feeling. Consider where these preconceptions come from. You used to work with these people every day so you are familiar with them I'm sure. What are your assumptions about them that have led you to these preconceptions? How can you eliminate these assumptions in order to assess the true nature of what is going on? This does not mean that your assessment is inaccurate, but I think given the hyperbolic nature of it, you might want to reflect on it and give it reconsideration.

This person appears to be the project lead, but I highly doubt he is the individual responsible for your contract. If his behavior is inappropriate, you should address this behavior with him directly. If that is to no avail (as it sounds like), then you should address it to his immediate supervisor (with his knowledge). If you are still unsatisfied with the response, then you need to address it with the individual responsible for engaging in a contract with you in the first place.

Lastly, if you are truly not to blame for this (and in a situation like this, there is no 1 person to blame, you are all at fault really), then responsibility needs to be directed where it belongs. If the testers didn't test, then you need to address this with both the project lead and the QA manager/supervisor. If the reporting individuals never looked at the reports, then you need to bring that to the attention of the project lead and the Reports manager/supervisor. It sounds very much like you wrote the reports and they are defective. However, you are NOT responsible for bad code making it into production. That is the responsibility of the QA team, Reports team and build management.

So here is my advice to you:

Be a professional and finish this contract out as best you can. If you continue here in a congenial fashion, awesome. If you don't, you can move on to the next one at least with the knowledge and reputation of having behaved responsibly, ethically and professionally.
Make time to hold those responsible for the release of untested code accountable for it. Set up a meeting with QA/Reports/Project lead to address how to avoid releasing untested code next time. Do NOT address how it occurred this time with the exception of identifying communication errors. It should not be a blame-storming session it should be a prevention session.
Address your project lead's behavior. If he won't modify his behavior, address it up the chain. If he's behaving this way to you, likely he's doing it to someone else. In all cases, stop being a candy-ass (sorry for the harsh language, but that's how it is) and stand up for yourself. Address the problems and act on them.
Even if you are the coder on this project, unless you are absolutely to blame on this and are ready to admit it, stop with the excessive overtime. Put it a little overtime, but do not give any extra effort that they are not willing to put in themselves. Consider this: You are a contractor and no longer beholden to the company's success or failure. You fulfill a contract. The permanent employees should be imminently concerned with the success/failure of any given project. If they are not putting in similar overtime, then it is a clear indication that this is not really all that big of a deal. Stop killing yourself just because one butthole is making you miserable. Put in the reasonable expected effort, but do not exceed anything they aren't willing to put forth themselves.

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