Permie asking contracting questions

[woodyuk]

Hi

So I know I am about to get bashed for this - but hey ho, have read quite a few threads like this and never quite understood the various views.

I am a permie on £70k as a senior tech PM in a 500+ size company. Been here 7 years. Hate every day, since various changes in the last 2 years. My commute is 2 hours each way in solid traffic. Bonus each year is a joke - enough to have a meal out. I was thinking, and have been offered to go consulting on a couple of projects on a rate around £450-500 a day. These consulting gigs vs pure contracts via my book of contacts. I have previously run a small specialist consulting firm but 10 years ago, but ended up back perm in 2005.

The salaries in this thread (55k, 65k etc) seem to say that even at a rate of £350 a day that equals £5994 per month NET vs £4000 Net on £70k that it is not worth it?. Ok, so I have health cover (our policy is not worth the paper), holidays which I am bad at taking and a pension which is a valid concern. But even on £350 I am £2k better off a month, on £500 I am on £8424 i am almost double.

I understand the risk of a contract coming to end, sat on bench so need a war chest etc. Need an accountant, insurance etc. So not totally blind to additional costs, but really for all the hassle of a perm seems the being freelance has so many benefits with cost.

So dumb question time - what am I missing? Or is as described as above and risk + holidays, pension, Accotungn, insutances etc are the reason?

[ChimpMaster]

<snip>
So dumb question time - what am I missing? Or is as described as above and risk + holidays, pension, Accotungn, insutances etc are the reason?

Balls? Seriously - sometimes if everything else stacks up, that's all it takes.

You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

[PurpleGorilla]

Permanent Offer

Hi

So I know I am about to get bashed for this - but hey ho, have read quite a few threads like this and never quite understood the various views.

I am a permie on £70k as a senior tech PM in a 500+ size company. Been here 7 years. Hate every day, since various changes in the last 2 years. My commute is 2 hours each way in solid traffic. Bonus each year is a joke - enough to have a meal out. I was thinking, and have been offered to go consulting on a couple of projects on a rate around £450-500 a day. These consulting gigs vs pure contracts via my book of contacts. I have previously run a small specialist consulting firm but 10 years ago, but ended up back perm in 2005.

The salaries in this thread (55k, 65k etc) seem to say that even at a rate of £350 a day that equals £5994 per month NET vs £4000 Net on £70k that it is not worth it?. Ok, so I have health cover (our policy is not worth the paper), holidays which I am bad at taking and a pension which is a valid concern. But even on £350 I am £2k better off a month, on £500 I am on £8424 i am almost double.
I understand the risk of a contract coming to end, sat on bench so need a war chest etc. Need an accountant, insurance etc. So not totally blind to additional costs, but really for all the hassle of a perm seems the being freelance has so many benefits with cost.

So dumb question time - what am I missing? Or is as described as above and risk + holidays, pension, Accotungn, insutances etc are the reason?

Don't trust the calc. If you are on £70k you should be thinking £500 a day minimum.

[northernladuk]

Surely it would have been better to start a new thread rather than completely detail someone else's?

But before you do have a look at these threads. This doesn't get asked a lot so has been covered in great detail.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=co...obile&ie=UTF-8

[LondonManc]

I've never seen a job doing what I do (SQL) offering that kind of money (especially up North)

There will be a lot less difference in it next year too.

That's interesting. 85 - 90k for what I do, in London, is not very easy to come by. And I'm a £500 p/d contractor.

Market rate for my work are £300-£400 in the north west, £475-£600 in London. Varies by industry and what part of my skillset they want.

Hi

So I know I am about to get bashed for this - but hey ho, have read quite a few threads like this and never quite understood the various views.

I am a permie on £70k as a senior tech PM in a 500+ size company. Been here 7 years. Hate every day, since various changes in the last 2 years. My commute is 2 hours each way in solid traffic. Bonus each year is a joke - enough to have a meal out. I was thinking, and have been offered to go consulting on a couple of projects on a rate around £450-500 a day. These consulting gigs vs pure contracts via my book of contacts. I have previously run a small specialist consulting firm but 10 years ago, but ended up back perm in 2005.

The salaries in this thread (55k, 65k etc) seem to say that even at a rate of £350 a day that equals £5994 per month NET vs £4000 Net on £70k that it is not worth it?. Ok, so I have health cover (our policy is not worth the paper), holidays which I am bad at taking and a pension which is a valid concern. But even on £350 I am £2k better off a month, on £500 I am on £8424 i am almost double.

I understand the risk of a contract coming to end, sat on bench so need a war chest etc. Need an accountant, insurance etc. So not totally blind to additional costs, but really for all the hassle of a perm seems the being freelance has so many benefits with cost.

So dumb question time - what am I missing? Or is as described as above and risk + holidays, pension, Accotungn, insutances etc are the reason?

There are three routes - perm, consultant and contractor.

Perm you know about. Consultant for me is contracting with a safety net. You get the project variety but only a 10-20% better rate than a "normal" perm and not all jobs lend themselves to consulting. As a PM, yours obviously does.

The big difference is contracting.
Pros: Variety, Day rate, easier to walk immediately, sense of control of destiny.
Cons: no sick pay, no stability, no training, no career progression, no holiday pay, no redundancy, no other employment rights, potentially no notice period (as in you could be off site at any given moment), no notice period (your contract could be such that you cannot serve notice, even after a rate cut), accounting and insurance commitments, etc.

[cojak]

Surely it would have been better to start a new thread rather than completely detail someone else's?

But before you do have a look at these threads. This doesn't get asked a lot so has been covered in great detail.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=co...obile&ie=UTF-8

Done.

[SueEllen]

So dumb question time - what am I missing? Or is as described as above and risk + holidays, pension, Accotungn, insutances etc are the reason?

It's personal choice.

Some people need to be attached to a bigger structure to feel secure other people don't.

[clearedforlanding]

Market rate for my work are £300-£400 in the north west, £475-£600 in London. Varies by industry and what part of my skillset they want.



There are three routes - perm, consultant and contractor.

Perm you know about. Consultant for me is contracting with a safety net. You get the project variety but only a 10-20% better rate than a "normal" perm and not all jobs lend themselves to consulting. As a PM, yours obviously does.

The big difference is contracting.
Pros: Variety, Day rate, easier to walk immediately, sense of control of destiny.
Cons: no sick pay, no stability, no training, no career progression, no holiday pay, no redundancy, no other employment rights, potentially no notice period (as in you could be off site at any given moment), no notice period (your contract could be such that you cannot serve notice, even after a rate cut), accounting and insurance commitments, etc.

Mostly agree, apart from career progression. I believe contracting can put springs on your feet.

Would add holidays as a pro as well. Planned properly bench time = beach time.

[woodyuk]

Thanks for the comments, did not mean to hijack another thread, but was sort of related. Thanks to MOD for splitting out the thread, might be interesting for others in the future.

[fool]

Thanks for the comments, did not mean to hijack another thread, but was sort of related. Thanks to MOD for splitting out the thread, might be interesting for others in the future.

So there's some other obvious things that you should be aware of. If you can manage on about a ~£40k a year salary, deffering gives you a better retirement plan paying the tax upfront. You'll also now quickly have a warchest that allow you to deal with bench time. If on the other hand you spend your entire salary currently, you might not deal with bench time quite so well and I'd actually suggest you don't do it.

That said, your rate should be whatever you can get. There's a lot of folks on here that seem to assume that a lot of often fake ads at £400 p/d define the market rate. It does not, what defines your market rate is what clients are willing to pay for you. Your rate will vary based on people liking your face, personality, how you talk and how much you ask for whilst keeping a straight face. There's always going to be people out there who believe they're getting a better quality when they pay more, you can use that and get paid more, or you can listen to folks suggesting you permie rate, market or previous rates dictate your future rate.