.net contracting market

[cityben]

.net contracting market

I've recently gone into the .net dev market a month or so ago. I must admit, I thought it would be more buoyant that it has been. Although recruiters are saying this is rare, maybe election related but hard to tell whether that's their BS. I managed to land a 12 month contract which I actually hesitated as it wasn't 'exciting' but eventually took it and it's been fine. Since then, recruiters who I've spoken to have said it sounds great which makes me think how fortunate I was to get a 12 month one.
So in summary, there are gigs out there but not as much as people go on about.
I had an itch, I needed to scratch regarding contracting and as you, thought if it doesn't work then I'll be able to get a perm role. Now I'm doing it, I'm not sure how long it'll last. I'll earn more money this year than a perm role and hopefully demand will pick up when I'm finished here but I don't think it's a sure thing yet.
As a full stack dev, you'll do well - there are a few roles with node.js, knockout and a lot with Angular. I'd recommend getting into that specifically. I'm backend but have a niche with a particular CMS which hopefully will do me well.

[Gumbo Robot]

I managed to land a 12 million month contract

Hope you've got a decent notice period written into your contract

[cityben]

Hope you've got a decent notice period written into your contract

Doh! Corrected!

Don't reckon that's get past IR35

[diseasex]

I've recently gone into the .net dev market a month or so ago. I must admit, I thought it would be more buoyant that it has been. Although recruiters are saying this is rare, maybe election related but hard to tell whether that's their BS. I managed to land a 12 month contract which I actually hesitated as it wasn't 'exciting' but eventually took it and it's been fine. Since then, recruiters who I've spoken to have said it sounds great which makes me think how fortunate I was to get a 12 month one.
So in summary, there are gigs out there but not as much as people go on about.
I had an itch, I needed to scratch regarding contracting and as you, thought if it doesn't work then I'll be able to get a perm role. Now I'm doing it, I'm not sure how long it'll last. I'll earn more money this year than a perm role and hopefully demand will pick up when I'm finished here but I don't think it's a sure thing yet.
As a full stack dev, you'll do well - there are a few roles with node.js, knockout and a lot with Angular. I'd recommend getting into that specifically. I'm backend but have a niche with a particular CMS which hopefully will do me well.

How long did it take you to find the first one? what kind of rate you managed to negotiate?

Agents are like "because its your first contract I think you should ask 250-275" whereas other people tell me to ask for 300 because whatever is lower the agent will take for himself. Is that true?

Thanks

[cityben]

How long did it take you to find the first one? what kind of rate you managed to negotiate?

Agents are like "because its your first contract I think you should ask 250-275" whereas other people tell me to ask for 300 because whatever is lower the agent will take for himself. Is that true?

Thanks

I was applying during notice period from perm job although most recruiters say no point applying until 2 weeks before you're available.

I was out of work 1 week in between but that was while contracts were sorted so reckon it took about 2/3 weeks to get it.

I was prepared to lower my rate but didn't have to for this one. I probably could've got more as recruiter was fine with it straight away!

I won't say rate but I was prepared to go about 15% lower for first contract for 3 months or less.

For next one I'll probably be hoping for + 10% with my 1st contract under my belt but I do think I'll need to be flexible and have money to cover scenarios

[diseasex]

I was applying during notice period from perm job although most recruiters say no point applying until 2 weeks before you're available.

I was out of work 1 week in between but that was while contracts were sorted so reckon it took about 2/3 weeks to get it.

I was prepared to lower my rate but didn't have to for this one. I probably could've got more as recruiter was fine with it straight away!

I won't say rate but I was prepared to go about 15% lower for first contract for 3 months or less.

For next one I'll probably be hoping for + 10% with my 1st contract under my belt but I do think I'll need to be flexible and have money to cover scenarios

That sounds great. Which area are you in? Were you looking nationwide or just your commutable area?
Thanks again!

[cityben]

That sounds great. Which area are you in? Were you looking nationwide or just your commutable area?
Thanks again!

Based in North West. Was only looking within 1 hrs drive

[Willapp]

I don't know how representative it is, but I'm a .NET contractor in the East of England and have moved from perm -> contract twice in the past 3 years, both times finding a contract quite easily.

However, the first contract was direct with a company that I knew a lot of people at (including the CTO) so I pretty much walked into it no questions asked. The second one I found out about from an ex-colleague who'd recently started a contract there, and they put me in touch with the agent and I suspect also put in a good word for me which may or may not have made a difference.

Point is, without contacts you're "just another .net contractor" and with no contract experience it *may* be tough to break into. I don't know how much truth there is to it, but most people say that agents+clients would rather not risk someone with no contract experience against someone who's done it before, even if your tech skills are on paper better.

I'd been a dev for nearly 10 years in my local area and I guess it's a smaller market this way so luckily I know a lot of people in the industry here and even though I'm hoping to stay with my current client for the foreseeable future, I know of at least 2 clients with potential contract opportunities should I find myself on the bench.

If you know people at different companies in your area, my first suggestion would be to put some feelers out and see if you can get a contract through someone you know - in most cases a personal recommendation is worth infinitely more than your skills/experience are on paper, and usually is enough to get you in the door for the first contract. Then it's just a question of making a good impression to get extensions and/or networking to find out about new opportunities as they come up.

Good luck though, it's certainly worth a try!

[Hardgrafter]

Surely if you are a specialist as opposed to just a generic .NET guy then you are able to apply for niche contracts?

For example I am a WPF developer which requires skills specific to that technology which have a steep learning curve. It would be hard for a generic .NET developer to hit the ground running with XAML, MVVM etc.

On the flip side, the jack of all trades can apply for a wider range of roles whereas a specialist restricts himself to limited opportunities...

[Willapp]

...XAML...