.NET developer - first contract in UK

[ekimpl]

Hi guys,
I am planning to come to UK from Poland in September and spend some time working as a contractor. I've sent my CV to a bunch of agencies, but all I get is permanent offers even tough I applied for contract.
I was told by one guy that .NET (MVC + angularjs) contractors market in London is full at the moment, but judging by the number of offers, I doubt it. I think that this is because I am out of UK and have no local experience.

Is it possible to get a contract without having previous experience in UK? Would it help if I were already living in London?

[northernladuk]

It's tough for newbies where ever they are. There will be plenty more experience contractors ahead of them who are less if a risk. You being abroad makes it even harder. You don't mention you business setup but it's very unlikely many agencies will deal with non UK companies as well. You really are starting at the bottom of the pile I'm afraid.

If you look around the forums you'll find even the experienced guys are finding it a bit tough as well.

[BrilloPad]

Hi guys,
I am planning to come to UK from Poland in September and spend some time working as a contractor. I've sent my CV to a bunch of agencies, but all I get is permanent offers even tough I applied for contract.
I was told by one guy that .NET (MVC + angularjs) contractors market in London is full at the moment, but judging by the number of offers, I doubt it. I think that this is because I am out of UK and have no local experience.

Is it possible to get a contract without having previous experience in UK? Would it help if I were already living in London?

It is possible. But unlikely.

[ekimpl]

It's tough for newbies where ever they are. There will be plenty more experience contractors ahead of them who are less if a risk. You being abroad makes it even harder. You don't mention you business setup but it's very unlikely many agencies will deal with non UK companies as well. You really are starting at the bottom of the pile I'm afraid.

I was planning to setup a LTD in UK and I have 8 years of experience, just not in UK.

In this case maybe I will focus on getting a good permanent job and think of a contract later.

Thanks guys. Good luck.

[mdhd]

I was planning to setup a LTD in UK and I have 8 years of experience, just not in UK.

In this case maybe I will focus on getting a good permanent job and think of a contract later.

Thanks guys. Good luck.

Find a perm position, start the 6 months probation. Keep looking for a contract. If you find one, give notice and move on (which will possibly be a week or something in probation). But before resigning, tell them you are becoming a contractor and they might offer you something if you have proven to be worthy enough. Good luck and welcome to UK.

[jmo21]

I was planning to setup a LTD in UK and I have 8 years of experience, just not in UK.

In this case maybe I will focus on getting a good permanent job and think of a contract later.

Thanks guys. Good luck.

If you are good, you will no doubt snap up a good permie role quickly.

If you are LUCKY, you could well get a contract, but to get past agents you will more than likely need to be in country, ready to start immediately.

Agents get so many CV's, anything that can rule you out will mean they will stick your CV in the bin. "This guy doesn't live here yet, NEXT!". Too many variables for them.

[ekimpl]

Thank you all for your replies.

I think I will accept a perm offer and then we'll see. You have a lot of interesting projects and companies here in UK :-)

Just one last question. Would it help if I set up the Ltd. right away and put that information in my CV or it doesn't really matter?

[northernladuk]

Just one last question. Would it help if I set up the Ltd. right away and put that information in my CV or it doesn't really matter?

If you are going to contract you need to know what you are doing and manage yourself. So, tell me, why do you think a LTD that's never traded and has nothing to offer is useful on your CV? If you were a hiring manager what value wouldn't you gain from seeing this information?

[ujjain]

I've worked 11 months in the United Kingdom before I switched to contracting.

You might need a specific mindset and character to be a successful contractor, but I feel being an IT contractor is fairly easy in London.

I think as a .NET developer you should be fine based on the amount of ads I've seen, although I'm more of a Linux/infrastructure guy, so can't be completely sure...

I would personally go contracting directly. If you decide now for a reason not to go contracting, you will always find reasons not to go contracting. I know a lot of people that have these strange false ideas about contracting or that always come up with new excuses why now is not the time.

Maybe accept a little less money. You will get some experience and you can start growing towards the higher paying contracts later.

[ShandyDrinker]

Good luck whether you find perm or contract. The .NET developer market has been well and truly saturated for a long with good contracts/rates becoming harder and harder to secure. You only have to look at stats on sites such as ITJobsWatch to see the falling demand for .NET and C# to understand why rates have been stagnant for a number of years.

I was told by one guy that .NET (MVC + angularjs) contractors market in London is full at the moment, but judging by the number of offers, I doubt it. I think that this is because I am out of UK and have no local experience.

Would it help if I were already living in London?

Not sure whether the MVC + angularjs contractor market is full as I'm sure with the right experience there will always be interest.

I've found that it can be a disadvantage living outside of London when going for London contracts but always tend to avoid putting anything on my CV which would indicate where I am based anyway.