Getting first IT Contractor gig

[ITF86]

Hi All, I have been trying to land my first IT contractor in a Desktop analyst/IT support role, I have 5 years of experience from previous permanent work. I have applied to a few roles but have not been successful. How do I get my first contractor role- are there any steps to follow or desired qualifications that can help me in my search.
Thanks in advance

[SueEllen]

Don't.

Get a permanent job in something with a well-paid future.

[eek]

Hi All, I have been trying to land my first IT contractor in a Desktop analyst/IT support role, I have 5 years of experience from previous permanent work. I have applied to a few roles but have not been successful. How do I get my first contractor role- are there any steps to follow or desired qualifications that can help me in my search.
Thanks in advance

WSES - you need to be a specialist to go into contracting - general IT support should be a permanent job with training attached.

[Lance]

Expect mostly inside IR35 roles for desktop support. There are roles but they are mostly going to be short term backfill (temps basically).

5 years as desktop support though???? If that's all you want to be then yeah stay permie.
If you want more then you'll need to learn more. And that is easier done as a keen permie. I'm surprised that any employer would keep you doing that for 5 years, unless you're sh1t.
Most employers would have you learning more and using your experience on more valuable areas.

And the brutal truth is that agents know all this. And so do clients. So why would they pay a premium price for a desktop jockey who hasn't progressed in half a decade.
Now that may not be you, but it's based on what you said.

[TheDude]

Contracting not a golden ticket to boosting your income by 50-100% - your skills have to be in demand first.

[northernladuk]

Don't.

Get a permanent job in something with a well-paid future.

This. There is no career progression in contracting. You'll just be a drone for the rest of your life, albeit slightly higher paid than the perms but have a month or two on the bench with no income and that will change.

First line support isn't really contracting either. It's temping.

[edison]

Expect mostly inside IR35 roles for desktop support. There are roles but they are mostly going to be short term backfill (temps basically).

5 years as desktop support though???? If that's all you want to be then yeah stay permie.
If you want more then you'll need to learn more. And that is easier done as a keen permie. I'm surprised that any employer would keep you doing that for 5 years, unless you're sh1t.
Most employers would have you learning more and using your experience on more valuable areas.

Desktop Support and Service Desk are typical entry level IT roles. Five years is a long time in desktop support, why have you been in it so long?

I did a lot of recruitment for a couple of clients in 2021 and 22 and it was a little bit disheartening to see so many people apply for roles who had been in these types of roles for 10 years or even longer, sometimes even with a degree in Computer Science. They were not attractive candidates unfortunately.

It's probably not a good role to be in for a long term sustainable period as a contractor. Are there no other IT roles you might be interested in? You don't state your age but if you can spend a few years in perm roles to develop new skills, you will have the opportunity to look at contracting again but at significantly higher rates.

[ITF86]

Thank you all for your insights. The company and client I worked for lacked integrity or any sort of moral decency- I would rather gamble as a contractor than work as a permanent employee ever again.

There was no progression at the company I worked for either and 3 years of the role was during the pandemic. I can not afford to place my trust in a permanent role again, I would not wish what I went through on my worst enemy - but that's another story.

[eek]

Thank you all for your insights. The company and client and worked for lacked integrity or any sort of moral decency- I would rather gamble as a contractor than work as a permanent employee ever again.

Meh - IT support is a dead end role unless you are getting training - at that level you are merely going to be a temp until the work is outsourced to someone even cheaper.

[rocktronAMP]

Thank you all for your insights. The company and client I worked for lacked integrity or any sort of moral decency- I would rather gamble as a contractor than work as a permanent employee ever again.

There was no progression at the company I worked for either and 3 years of the role was during the pandemic. I can not afford to place my trust in a permanent role again, I would not wish what I went through on my worst enemy - but that's another story.

Few routes out of your mess. You don't sound like a programmer / developer, rather like someone who has come to information technology from a sociological background non-tech. Am I right?

Retrain as a people person Business analyst and Quality assurance. https://resources.workable.com/busin...ob-description

Retrain as a Agile SCRUM master if you can bridge between management and engineering https://www.scrumalliance.org/what-is-a-scrum-master

Retrain as a DevOps and angle towards support manager using you desktop telephonics skills.
https://aws.amazon.com/devops/what-is-devops/

Either way, contracting is not going to get you there fast. You might be extremely lucky to land the above, but the way the competition and the market is for jobs, it wiil be really difficult. Ergo, you need a permanent role and retraining first on the job. Good luck