Anyone an IT contractor?

Agreed, you are only as good as your last job for proper contractors. Good contractors put the effort and time in to do the work and get paid well for it £300+ a day.

If you are fed up wit 11 hour days then get a perm job where you are able to walk out the door after 8 hours and not think about work till start of next shift.

SJD are good accountants if you go the ltd co route, for the amount you are looking at earning though I wouldn't bother. Go umbrella (I used SANZAR) and save yourself a lot of hassle.
 
"First off, don't let the multi environment stuff put you off. I was exactly the same 6 years ago, and it's never held me back. Avoid design roles, don't lie, but don't be too honest until you get into the role, then be honest and fearless."

Why avoid design ? Cos he's not got the background yet or because there's something wrong with design ?
 
Morba said:
Agreed, you are only as good as your last job for proper contractors. Good contractors put the effort and time in to do the work and get paid well for it £300+ a day.

If you are fed up wit 11 hour days then get a perm job where you are able to walk out the door after 8 hours and not think about work till start of next shift.

SJD are good accountants if you go the ltd co route, for the amount you are looking at earning though I wouldn't bother. Go umbrella (I used SANZAR) and save yourself a lot of hassle.
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Yep SJD were great for my first year, they made it all nice and easy.

Once you've got it all nice and comfortable in the 2nd year drop them for a local guy who charges half the amount :)
 
Stolly said:
Why avoid design ? Cos he's not got the background yet or because there's something wrong with design ?
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Because design roles as I see them are for infrastructure that needs design considerations to be really made, as opposed to just speccing single site kit, which he doesn't have experience of.

In my mind, I see him as being like I was (am) years back, and avoiding design roles seems like a decent way of avoiding benig 'completely' out of his(my) depth, without sticking only to comfortable stuff that sees him limited to IT temp-esque roles, at IT temp-esque rates.

On a personal level, I have never had the desire to get further into the technical side of things, instead prefering to 'buck the trend' and be more people friendly in a more customer facing/team lead non support role. Nothing wrong with design per say, it obviously offers a more in depth technical challenge, it just wasn't for me, which is why I never completed the MCSE or whatever...

I am absolutely not the person to be giving any advice on highly technical/consultancy career paths, and I certainly don't think I have all the answers (I appreciate this was not implied :)), I'm just attempting to help someone who in my mind seems to be treading a similar path, facing the same doubts/concerns I had... :)

I assumed given the hours the OP appears to have put in that the fustration appears to be at not being rewarded/recognised for going above and beyond, rather than a reluctance to out the effort in.

I guess the OP brought out my nurturing/seeing potential in a refreshingly non-work-shy colleague side...

imo, there are far too many techies (permie and contractors alike) out there that continue to trade on technical ability lone, and I believe (read hope!) that the future lies outside of people that believe that knowing how to administer AD is enough. Technical skills can be learnt, work ethic is more deeply seated and subsequently valuable imo.
 
Completely kingy, I got my last 2 contract over people I know who are more technical minded and have more experience. What got me the job was my recognised work ethic and my personality.
 
Trifid said:
It came out of my pay before tax was taken IIRC.
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It will do, but it should offset your tax hit, say for example a permie gets to earn 5.5k a year before they are taxed PAYE, your limit would be raised accordingly, resulting in a larger take home sum(tax offset).
 
Kingy said:
*snip*
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Yep totally agree, its the soft skills that really make the difference. Also I found design roles fairly hard to come by in the last 2 years, perhaps due to the economy people were putting large build outs on hold.

Looks like its picking up now though :)
 
Im a telecoms engineer (salaried rather than contractor) and my company charges

£195 per Hour + £85 subsequent hours
£395 Half Day
£595 Full Day

+ VAT

for my time.
 
I recently got offered a contracting position at £400 a day. But it was in MK. Having security clearance is a big win too. My current team of contractors are on £300 a day in London, packaging.

pepp77 said:
Im a telecoms engineer (salaried rather than contractor) and my company charges

£195 per Hour + £85 subsequent hours
£395 Half Day
£595 Full Day

+ VAT

for my time.
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Similar, although I am charged out at £900 a day. I don't see any of that mind :(
 
Morba said:
Agreed, you are only as good as your last job for proper contractors. Good contractors put the effort and time in to do the work and get paid well for it £300+ a day.
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Try double that, at the place I used to work at least! Megabucks, but it's traded in for job security and usually obscene working hours on short term projects.

The project I was working on regarded SAP, I was merely acting as a secretary.
 
MrRoper said:
Hi Kingy,

Excellent and informative posts.

I was wondering if you can help a little, I am a .NET developer looking to get into contracting, as I am not really happy in the Permy market.could you give me some advice on where to start on the whole umbrella company / IR35 / insurance thing!
I was hoping to use an umberella company at first to see if contracting is for me, but im not sure who or what to trust at the moment.

Thanks in advance
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I started contracting with Prosperity4 (:rolleyes:) who eventually went bust, before moving to GIANT PowerHouse (which got shut down when tax rules changed to outlaw Managed Service Companies) as the agency involved with a contract I had had an 'approved list' of umbrella companies, which didn't help my sceptcism.

I had a hard time getting my head around my experience with SJD, as the approach of "here, have all this free information, and the time of people to answer all your questions." threw me somewhat. To say it was a no pressure 'pitch' was an understatement. I met one of the directors for a drink and a chat, and it was incredibly informal, simply a case of 'now you know more, take your time to think it over, if you decide you want to proceed, give us a shout. :)"

This was a long but very worthwhile read when I started my limited company 3.5 years ago. The other links are very worthwhile too, and will likely replace a lot of your questions with answers.

Caunce O'Hara do my insurance, and the quick quote system is accurate.

Re the Umbrella company, as I said before agencies can have an approved list, so it might be worth limiting your action to research until you find a role, and then confirm who is on the list. Parasol have been around for ages, but others will be better placed to offer advice on umbrella companies as I'm so out of touch.

ContractorUK is a useful resource.

Finance wise, I found Contractor Money very helpful.

You'll need to consider your personal circumstances as part of this. Talking of the 'big picture' etc is all very dramatic, but it is relevant. I certainly don't want to come across as being snobbish and looking down on temps etc, rather trying to demonstrate that there is a half way house between permie and 'true' contractors. There's nothing wrong with being a 'temp' contractor, and indeed it may suit you better to work closer to home and accept less of an intrusion on your quality of life etc. Moving away from home and only coming back at weekends is tough. You need to make friends to survive, and to then leave that behind at a moments notice can be tough. There can be more money on offer for a 'true' contractor, but that might not be suitable if you have family commitments etc. Buying a house or remortgaging can be tough in the first couple of years, and you will need to make any such decisions on an informed basis.

The greater rewards can be life changing, but the experience will certainly be.
 
I used to be a contractor up until 3 months ago, when I switched back to being a permie in 3rd line IT support. So, I guess we are the opposite. :)

I did a couple years implementing ERP solutions. As the software I was working with was relatively niche I had to travel bunches for various gigs and I didn't really enjoy it as I was either constantly on the road or sitting in a hotel room hundreds of miles away from friends and family. Money is only so much remember. ;)

Working for yourself is great mind because you can, depending on the economic environment, cherry pick what you want to do. I was charging out 450+vat a day, plus whatever my agents were adding on top. I would say try to pick one of the systems you're good at an begin specialising. After a few gigs working on the same thing you can start increasing your rate as a "specialist".
 
Considered going into contracting myself (8 years experience) but believe the market is too saturated and I would have a hard time getting a foot in the door.

Those on lower budgets will not go with contractors and those with higher budgets will stick with who they know.

I imagine a large part of getting going will involve some obscured truths about your experience.

How are you with comms, backup strategy? An inevitable part of an environment setup.
 
I've been a contractor for coming up to two years now and to be honest I really wouldn't want to go back to being permie now.

Obviously there is the money aspect of things, but I feel as though I have more freedom as a contractor. There's no stigma about leaving a job after a year, no pressure to get involved with corporate stuff, no performance reviews etc.
There is also the lack of security, holiday pension, pensions and benefits, but my daily rate is enough that even taking those things into account I'm well over what I was on when I was permanent.

I started contracting before I had a mortgage and I'm still in that position now as you really need two years worth of company books before you'll get any decent sort of rate, at least where I looked that seemed to be the situation.
The two years of contracting has left my deposit looking very healthy though and hopefully I'll be buying my own place before too long.
 
MrRoper said:
Do we have any Developers on here? Just wondering what experiences they have had while looking for contract work. Technical tests and interviews etc.
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I'm a developer (mainly C#) and the interviews I've had for contract positions, while not easier than permanent roles, are certainly a lot less long winded!

The interview for my current role was a single interview lasting just over an hour. Got the offer the next morning.
Contractor interviews I've had have been very much focussed on your technical ability than waffling about situations you've faced, doing roleplays, talking about your future or any of that sort of stuff as they're really just interested in how well you can do the job for the time you're there.
 
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