Hi,
Apologies for what seems to be a very popular question on these boards. I had a look through some previous posts but would appreciate some specific collective forum wisdom.
I'm currently a permanent java developer with about five years of experience. My current job is as secure as it gets really but I'm looking for a change.
I've been offered a role that I can take either as a permie or contractor. The contract rate will be around 4-00-450. The salary would be around 60. I've been thinking about taking the contracting leap but wasn't planning to do so until I built up a war-chest so financially it would be a bit of a risk, with a reliance on overdraft and CC if it all goes horribly wrong. It given me a few questions:
1.) The java contract maket: is it currently stable and reasonable to find work or are things difficult?
2.) I consider myself a good, professional developer. I'm more dedicated and capable in my job than many others I've met but I'm not an amazing technical guru or wizzkid. On paper I imagine most contractors have more experience than me (I could be wrong) Is this going to make things too difficult when I'm looking for the next contract?
3.) How often (in your experience) are contracts cancelled very early on. The lack of a war-chest makes this a bit of concern so it would have to be a calculated risk.
Edit:
Some additional info: The company is a consultancy. They have a mixture of employees and contractors. Employees can switch project, client and work as directed by the company. Contractors are signed up to a specific client and project. The perm role would be starting on the same project the contract is offered for but will likely end up on others (or if there's no others redundancy). I have met employees and contractors from the firm. The contractors are operating outside of ir35 (wether legally or not I don't know.)
Both the permanent role and the contract role would offer a significant take home bump for me.
Thanks for all the advice so far!
Thanks for any advice.
Apologies for what seems to be a very popular question on these boards. I had a look through some previous posts but would appreciate some specific collective forum wisdom.
I'm currently a permanent java developer with about five years of experience. My current job is as secure as it gets really but I'm looking for a change.
I've been offered a role that I can take either as a permie or contractor. The contract rate will be around 4-00-450. The salary would be around 60. I've been thinking about taking the contracting leap but wasn't planning to do so until I built up a war-chest so financially it would be a bit of a risk, with a reliance on overdraft and CC if it all goes horribly wrong. It given me a few questions:
1.) The java contract maket: is it currently stable and reasonable to find work or are things difficult?
2.) I consider myself a good, professional developer. I'm more dedicated and capable in my job than many others I've met but I'm not an amazing technical guru or wizzkid. On paper I imagine most contractors have more experience than me (I could be wrong) Is this going to make things too difficult when I'm looking for the next contract?
3.) How often (in your experience) are contracts cancelled very early on. The lack of a war-chest makes this a bit of concern so it would have to be a calculated risk.
Edit:
Some additional info: The company is a consultancy. They have a mixture of employees and contractors. Employees can switch project, client and work as directed by the company. Contractors are signed up to a specific client and project. The perm role would be starting on the same project the contract is offered for but will likely end up on others (or if there's no others redundancy). I have met employees and contractors from the firm. The contractors are operating outside of ir35 (wether legally or not I don't know.)
Both the permanent role and the contract role would offer a significant take home bump for me.
Thanks for all the advice so far!
Thanks for any advice.
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