Keep itching to get into Contracting

[permidom]

Thing is my permanent job in IT is not very exciting. I've been in the job 10 years now and tired of it. The temptations to ditch my job are regular but l have a feeling I'd regret it given how "comfortable" the role is.

There are a few reason to ditch,

1. More variety
2. Experience life (90% of my work is home based with occasional travel to customer sites). Only advantage working from home is the 2.5 hrs l save not travelling, otherwise it's kinda boring as l like banter
3. More money (upto £450 should be attainable)
4. Nothing to lose but potentially a lot to gain - GF with no kids planned, debt free, war chest would last me years if l end up on the bench
5. New challenge

The reason not to ditch my job,
1. Salary (>£70K)
2. Usual perks such as good pension, life insurance, medical cover, car allowance, project bonus
3. Really easy projects (time consuming but nothing is rocket science)
4. Professional team members (no tools or wasters)
5. Plenty of work (can't recall idle time in-between projects)
6. At an age where it might not be best to jump. Keep thinking this is something l should have done in my 20's

Really I've got it good right now but it's as interesting as staring at a washing machine.

I do count myself lucky to be in this position at 40 years old.

Right now my skills are leading teams, writing design documents and getting my hands dirty on C++/JavaScript/HTML/.NET. I could easily works as a BA or get my hands dirty on development with the latter offering good daily rates.

Has anyone been in my position?

What would you do?

I do read about the contracting market not being so hot but l work with contractors a plenty.

[TykeMerc]

Standard response when someone asks "should I go contracting?" is an emphatic NO.

Anyone who's asking isn't mentally set up for the realities.

Standard response when someone asks "I've decided to go contracting, how best do I go about it?" is to give them as much info and advice I can think of how to set up and get going.

Reading your post you're not decided and looking for someone to convince you to jump into contracting, I won't, you're better off where you are.

[mudskipper]

Thing is my permanent job in IT is not very exciting. I've been in the job 10 years now and tired of it. The temptations to ditch my job are regular but l have a feeling I'd regret it given how "comfortable" the role is.

There are a few reason to ditch,

1. More variety
2. Experience life (90% of my work is home based with occasional travel to customer sites). Only advantage working from home is the 2.5 hrs l save not travelling, otherwise it's kinda boring as l like banter
3. More money (upto £450 should be attainable)
4. Nothing to lose but potentially a lot to gain - GF with no kids planned, debt free, war chest would last me years if l end up on the bench
5. New challenge

The reason not to ditch my job,
1. Salary (>£70K)
2. Usual perks such as good pension, life insurance, medical cover, car allowance, project bonus
3. Really easy projects (time consuming but nothing is rocket science)
4. Professional team members (no tools or wasters)
5. Plenty of work (can't recall idle time in-between projects)
6. At an age where it might not be best to jump. Keep thinking this is something l should have done in my 20's

Really I've got it good right now but it's as interesting as staring at a washing machine.

I do count myself lucky to be in this position at 40 years old.

Right now my skills are leading teams, writing design documents and getting my hands dirty on C++/JavaScript/HTML/.NET. I could easily works as a BA or get my hands dirty on development with the latter offering good daily rates.

Has anyone been in my position?

What would you do?

I do read about the contracting market not being so hot but l work with contractors a plenty.

Sounds like you've got a pretty good, well paid permie job. £450 a day doesn't really measure up against a 70K permie job - by the time you've factored in holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions, healthcare etc, along with the fact that you're unlikely to be working continuously without down time you're unlikely to be better off. And you'd really miss those 360s and KPIs, wouldn't you?

Keep the permie job and dive into the general forum for the banter

[TheFaQQer]

3. More money (upto £450 should be attainable)

1. Salary (>£70K)

Those two statements do not match, IMHO.

[PerfectStorm]

I was in this position this time last year and I went into it and I'm so glad that I did.

As for 70k salary - you'll be making that on your take-home.

Ignore the nay sayers here that say it's never about the money. Success doesn't like company.

Get enough money together to live for 2 months or so if needed (as you'll need to be ready to START) and just go for it.

[TheFaQQer]

I was in this position this time last year and I went into it and I'm so glad that I did.

As for 70k salary - you'll be making that on your take-home.

Ignore the nay sayers here that say it's never about the money. Success doesn't like company.

Get enough money together to live for 2 months or so if needed (as you'll need to be ready to START) and just go for it.

Add in the benefits to the salary which is in excess of £70k, and you're going to struggle to beat that on £450 a day.

£450 a day means you're going to need to bill in excess of 200 days a year, every year to match what the OP already earns. Yes, it's possible to do it, but it's going to mean negligible downtime between or in contract.

I'm not saying don't do it - but if you think that you're going to earn a lot more by billing £450 a day compared with the £70+ plus benefits, then you need to consider the sums very, very carefully.

[permidom]

What l did was use the following calculator to work out what l could earn,

Contracting Calculator - Results (outside IR35)

That's what got me tempted. 220 days a year is assumed and l would guess probably not realistic.

[TykeMerc]

What l did was use the following calculator to work out what l could earn,

Contracting Calculator - Results (outside IR35)

That's what got me tempted. 220 days a year is assumed and l would guess probably not realistic.

Nope 200 is about it on average.

Please remember that not only do you have to earn it, but you have to get paid it in a reasonably tax efficient manner or the numbers are worse.

I can't decide if Perfect Storm is just deeply arrogant or trolling, oh and 2 months of warchest isn't at all sufficient if you're used to the income level you've described..

[SueEllen]

What l did was use the following calculator to work out what l could earn,

Contracting Calculator - Results (outside IR35)

That's what got me tempted. 220 days a year is assumed and l would guess probably not realistic.

Definitely not realistic. Life can't be guessed like that.

If you are bored with your role find another permie role that is more interesting.

[mrv]

if you're a permie at 40, you have developed a set of expensive habits that rely on constant cash inflow. One could call them "expected standards of living". A major part of being a contractor is always being ready for a dry spell ahead. Such uncertainty is not too easy to stomach, and could possibly wear you out fairly quickly. Your reasoning made me think getting a new hobby that would include a fair amount of socialising would be the best way for you.