Moving to UK from New Zealand to contract

[clearedforlanding]

But I'd imagine that a lot of this saturation would be people with a lot less experience say 3-5 years and people with paper certifications and no experience.
Even over here there is a lot of saturation and 100's of CV's are sent in for the same type of position. I've always managed to stand out in these situations.

You are imagining wrong. There are a lot of exceptionally talented people with as many years as you who are ****ed.

In any case, even if you were able to stand out, you wouldn't be awarded a higher rate. You would simply stand a better chance at getting a position with a miserable rate when compared to the other applicants.

[Pgtips]

You are imagining wrong. There are a lot of exceptionally talented people with as many years as you who are ****ed.

In any case, even if you were able to stand out, you wouldn't be awarded a higher rate. You would simply stand a better chance at getting a position with a miserable rate when compared to the other applicants.

Okay - How's things in the Permanent Role world?

[clearedforlanding]

Okay - How's things in the Permanent Role world?

Well, mostly full of ex-contractors on Fixed Term Contracts trying to pay the mortgage.

[Pgtips]

Well, mostly full of ex-contractors on Fixed Term Contracts trying to pay the mortgage.

Ah well that's pretty depressing. Was looking forward to making my mark in Her Majesty's land of opportunity!

[northernladuk]

Ah well that's pretty depressing. Was looking forward to making my mark in Her Majesty's land of opportunity!

He's talking about London. Move to Coventry. The streets are paved with gold.

[Pgtips]

He's talking about London. Move to Coventry. The streets are paved with gold.

Yeah I don't really care where in UK i will work. I will go where the good work is.

[Pgtips]

Operations has been outsourced to such an extent (if it is not already something-aaS) that is not viable to contract in operations in many, many places - least of all London.

Unless you fancy working for an Indian guy who rages at you all day long and bunking up with your work colleagues, living off dried noodles, I would advise remaining in paradise.

I don't mind bunking up with colleagues as long as they are attractive and of the opposite sex. Not sure about dried noodle though. I prefer to moisten mine

[SueEllen]

Yeah I don't really care where in UK i will work. I will go where the good work is.

Then you will be fine especially as you will be able to afford a room in of your own. Rents are ridiculous in London.

[AsISeeIt]

Hi Pgtips,

Having come from NZ also, with what sounds a similar background to you, I contracted in London for about 10 years.

I guess I marketed myself in the "3rd line server support" space pushing all the various projects and products I had experience in, luckily I got my first contract (in Citrix) with an Investment Bank and managed to stay in that area when the going was good. In NZ you have to be a jack of all trades and it gives great skills, albiet on a much smaller scale. I am sure you're used to having full admin rights and the ability to implement as you see fit (within reason) when rolling out and testing a project/solution for a NZ customer.

You will find that the contract roles in London etc will be rather compartmentalised or quite project specific. I am not saying a general support role won't exist (especially in smaller firms), but you will more likely find yourself being the Citrix guy, or the VMware guy or the exchange guy, the backup and restore guy etc and you may well be typecast in a specific technology depending on your first role. You also won't have anywhere near full admin rights and will need to work in a stricter change control environment with a lot more internal politics. Also, IB's etc tend to make use of a lot of add-on BS products sitting on top of Active Directory or various "profile/server/enterprise management software" etc which is a whole nightmare to work with in itself.

Don't go pointing out everything wrong with their systems (unless this is what you have been asked to do) and how with your kit bag of tools and scripts from NZ can do it do much better... Bring them out as appropriate to your actual tasks by all means, but don't try throwing your weight around too much . If you like what you end up doing, as a contractor, do what they want from you without rocking the boat and just "keep invoicing", learn who in actually in charge of contract renewals and ensure you are seen by the project manager as "invaluable" in implementing whatever the PM is tasked to deliver. As a contractor, it is about having work, networking with people, simply being professional (in doing the role expected of you) and invoicing. The social scene is also quite important. Join in the wed/thurs/fri drinks at the pub to be seen a team player - and ALWAYS buy them a round when your turn comes up! I know it seems expensive to buy 6 beers for everyone there when you only plan on drinking 2 the whole night.. but you have to do it and it evens out over the long-term. Also don't go counting pennies after the inevitable indian curry you all go to when the drunk, obnoxious twat of a colleague who ate everything off the menu simply exclaims "to just split the bill equally between everyone" - its quite common for food bills just to be split. If you do end up paying individually, don't be the last one to pay... just go with the flow. Get on with who you need to and keep invoicing!

I found the 3rd line support field quite good a few years back, as others have posted. Recently these roles have gone. Datacenters/servers are virtualised, Office 365 has taken over (making many Exchange Admins redundant) and everything is just becoming managed service. Everything is "ordered" and "processed", such as a new user account, a new server to be provisioned etc all via change control and there are teams for everything opposed to you "doing it all" in NZ.

But I got almost all of my contracts from jobserve over the years. Apply and if you are particularly interested in a role, ring them up 30 minutes later, speak to the recruiter and tell them you applied for the role - this will make them being up your CV and give you a chance to make your pitch. Rule of thumb used to be 10 application, 3 interviews, at least one offer. Don't be too concerned about rate when you first get there, obviously don't take a sub 200 a day tulip role, but even if its 250 or 300, take it for 3 months, learn how it works and move on

One thing not to forgot, your shiny new UK passport (from a parent originally born in UK?) lets you work in the EU also. Don't turn down a nice contract in Germany or elsewhere on the continent... there are many of them and its a great experience!

Good luck.

[Yonmons]

Probably a good appraisel of the state of play in the UK contract market reading the whole thread. HMS Happy Contractor ship sailed and crossed the horizon some years ago. I have been in contracting 15 yrs, its about at its lowest eb for me these days. Strangely my mate who is a network designer is off to NZ this year after years of contracting in the UK. Stay where you are mate, all that glisters is not gold.