Contracting vs Perm

[Chilli]

deleted.

[NotAllThere]

There are plenty of online calculators. Why not try to find one?

[GhostofTarbera]

You will be completing with a 1000 experienced PMO’s for every Contract PMO role as no longer required by most businesses

5, 10 years ago I would have said fill your boots, right now forget it


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[northernladuk]

Completely missing the point here. You don't enter contracting to pursue a career. You do it once you've gained enough skills to be able to sell them on the open market. You will need the skills and experience you've gained getting to that 65K to then have a chance of securing a gig at the rates you mentioned. It's not a choice of perm career or just jump stright in to contracting. I assume, like every young un that comes on here asking this question, you've been enticed by the money without understanding what it is.

Stick to perm to get some skills. Contract is dead with covid and will be dead with IR35 so if you are going to survive you need to be very good and very experienced in what you do.

[malvolio]

I understand what you’re saying but I believe it’s important to know what my plan in the future is, as that determines what career path I go down.

If I were to be a contractor, I can be a bi analyst and still make decent salary as a perm whereas if I was a PMO it would only be worthwhile as a contractor. And if the contract market is too dead then it would make sense to Switch careers and get a junior BI analyst role.

The main question is whether the PMO career path is still worth Persuing and how much take home can I get on £350/£400 a day after IR35.

I tried using an online calculator and it resulted in:

£5,125 @400
£4,586 @350

I just wanted to confirm these figures are correct? They almost seem too High after IR35 or am I missing something?

Lots.

1. What are the assumptions used by the calcualtor?

2. You won't be able to claim any expenses for being a contractor, so travel and accommodation come out of your own pocket.

3. You will have to fund your own pension - with a maximum savings limit - and any training you may need.

4. You won't be working 230 days a year, so sickness, holidays, bank holidays and enforced furloughs will mean no income. Base your numbers on 7 months earning each year; if you get more then that's a bonus.

5. You can look forward to 2-3 month gaps between gigs

6. You won't have a career. What you start as - with very few exceptions - is what you end as.


HTH

[elsergiovolador]

6. You won't have a career. What you start as - with very few exceptions - is what you end as.

That is certainly not true. You can define clear career path in your own company. For example you can start as a Junior Associate PMO and then after a year advance to become an Associate, provided you meet all your defined targets and pass the performance reviews that you are going to make. After few years you can even become a CEO of your firm if you do everything right.
Sure you can give yourself a Global Operations Director (GOD) title from the start and not progress any further, but that is entirely a choice.

[malvolio]

That is certainly not true. You can define clear career path in your own company. For example you can start as a Junior Associate PMO and then after a year advance to become an Associate, provided you meet all your defined targets and pass the performance reviews that you are going to make. After few years you can even become a CEO of your firm if you do everything right.
Sure you can give yourself a Global Operations Director (GOD) title from the start and not progress any further, but that is entirely a choice.

Well it's a thought. Not really a helpful one.

In reality, you're still a PMO, just a better paid one (perhaps, given the state of the market, a worse paid one with more responsibilities...). What you won't be is anything else, since you will be hired on the basis of your PMO skills, nothing else. So how do you progress through a career?

It's different in the software world, where you can always move through new languages, grades, applications specialisms or industry verticals, or move from basic coder to team lead to manager or even off into testing. The OP is not so blessed.

I've worked with plenty of contractors who have wangled a role outside their core skills. They were, with very few exceptions, out of their depth.

[simes]

From the above, it appears Career means many things to many people.

Might be worth checking with the OP what his definition is before we all try to ram it down his throat....

[ladymuck]

From the above, it appears Career means many things to many people.

Might be worth checking with the OP what his definition is before we all try to ram it down his throat....

^^ this

My "career" has involved a quite diverse range of job roles and titles in a variety of industries. The core component has been being good at business process analysis and data wrangling (the simple end, not the beardy sandle wearing end). Rather than pigeon hole a role, think about the skill set and how you can grow and develop that while selling it to an agent who has no idea what they're talking about.

[edison]

From the above, it appears Career means many things to many people.

Might be worth checking with the OP what his definition is before we all try to ram it down his throat....

^^ this

My "career" has involved a quite diverse range of job roles and titles in a variety of industries. The core component has been being good at business process analysis and data wrangling (the simple end, not the beardy sandle wearing end). Rather than pigeon hole a role, think about the skill set and how you can grow and develop that while selling it to an agent who has no idea what they're talking about.

I like Ladymuck's thinking. Given that many people today may need to work in some capacity to 65, 70 and even beyond, we should start thinking more in terms of a lifetime of continual learning, especially in the tech sector. Arguably it will be the single most valuable non-tech skill to have in the years to come.