State of the Market

[mmo0690]

As far as I am aware, the perm roles I keep seeing for my city are around 40-50K for senior devs and around 60k for lead roles. I could be wrong?

Well, I don't really have any hugely expensive needs, hmm had a baby 3 months ago though. And find myself on bench when there is ir35 and also looming brexit. So I may need to consider that.

[PCTNN]

It's expectations like this that make me consider topping myself. Aside from permie roles, who can survive on that kind of income? Am I just living in a different world?

It's fairly common for contractors, even the ones on an average rate, to get completely detached from reality.
A couple of years at £400 a day and they forget how real people live with a real salary.

[CompulsiveArsonist]

I started contracting as an ASP.NET web developer in 2011 at £300 per day after leaving a £40k job, when I got my first contract at an investment bank for £400p/d I thought I'd won the lottery. Gradually my rate has increased as I have more product knowledge and a number of successful projects under my belt - it also helps that I moved from C#/.NET to Python where there is less competition. A £90k a year salary at an Investment Bank is decent, you can usually get a modest (£8k-£10k) bonus as well as other benefits e.g. holiday pay and pension. I've secured a new contract at the same rate I am on at the moment, and I haven't really seen a reduction in rates for my skill set, but I interviewed at 7-8 places had a lot of discussions with the other contractors at those places and pretty much everyone is waiting to hear back on IR35 or are not worrying about it at the moment.

Outside of London living costs are lower so others may possibly have more disposable income at the end of the month compared to me, I work with a contractor from Northern Ireland who plans to work for a couple of years in London, buy a home freehold in Belfast and then take a relaxing lower paid job.

[mmo0690]

CompulsiveArsonist, your background from 2011 sounds like current me.

I have started contracting last year, leaving £40K job (52k including benefits). I am very much an average rate earner, compared to others on this board.

[hairymouse]

It's fairly common for contractors, even the ones on an average rate, to get completely detached from reality.
A couple of years at £400 a day and they forget how real people live with a real salary.

Wouldn't £400 a day be comparable to £50k according to the hourly rate x 100 rule of thumb?

[PCTNN]

I have started contracting last year, leaving £40K job (52k including benefits). I am very much an average rate earner, compared to others on this board.

so, you left a permanent job paying £40k last year and now you're looking for a £55k perm job. That'd be a pretty sweet pay rise in just 1 year. Fingers crossed, mate.

[CompulsiveArsonist]

If you're doing software development you can work with smaller companies (e.g. start-ups) and there is no IR35 due to no of employees/turnover, also it might be worth looking at widening your skills e.g. Python or Node.js roles are paying decent and I have seen a couple of Node roles that allow significant remote working, Typescript is quite a nice programming language and for someone with a C# background it's pretty easy to pick up.

*edit* just to be clear, I understand that you can still be in a role within IR35 if working at a smaller company

[simes]

Wouldn't £400 a day be comparable to £50k according to the hourly rate x 100 rule of thumb?

Not in my book.

If you presume 20 day average x 12 months, that is a £96k income. With a better tax rate than in perm, the day rate option would always be better.

(This takes into account four weeks' holiday as some months can offer More than the 20 working days)

What is the monthly take home for £50k pa? Incomparable to the day rate, I would submit.

[mmo0690]

Yes, definitely need to venture into other languages. Have been doing C# so long now. Node is something I need to add to my personal projects, as I really enjoy JS and angular these days. Always like contracts with JS component attached to it. Actually thinking about it, my last perm role was 45K, me being forgetful or my last perm pay is forgettable! this ir35 thing is pretty serious, as have been contacted by my last contract if i am interested in perm opportunities at their place!

[Paralytic]

If you're doing software development you can work with smaller companies (e.g. start-ups) and there is no IR35 due to no of employees/turnover <snip>

That's a VERY brave thing to say.