It’s now I got my last three role too. I always ask if I can do it that way to prove myself because I don’t have a traditional background (entirely self taught). I’ve had jobs say no, but I’ve had enough say yes that it got my career to a place where I’ve been very happy.
Right (I didn't say it was new). It's easier for someone who's unemployed to work under a short-term contract so I was encouraging employers to use "contract-to-hire" instead of a tech-interview.
Funny story: I actually did contract-to-hire by accident at one of my jobs. They wanted to hire me but couldn't fit me in their salary scale so I was a contractor for a while. They actually needed about three people and agreed that I could work as many extra hours as I was willing to on the other projects. So I worked 9 hours on my contract software project and most days about another 5-6 hours on the other embedded systems projects (I was young and an early riser, so I still got home before 1800 to play with my kids and have dinner). After about 2 months I got called into the presidents office and was offered a job with a better salary than the rate I'd asked for and was told I had made more than the president the last pay period and it raised the board's eye-brows. Still worked 10-11 hours a day for quite a while (and some ridiculous bursts in years after) since it was a start-up but I really was just trying to impress them enough to get hired.
