Becoming a contractor (Software Developer)

[TheDude]

Would you say the market is bad now for contract developers?

Some members of this forum haven't been skiing for years.

[YggdrasilMana]

Some members of this forum haven't been skiing for years.

HAHA! Honestly if I could pull in 30k a year contracting I would be absolutely fine. Wouldn't that be like 3-6 months work? at like 200-400. I am willing to put in what I need to put in to do this as I want the "freedom" that comes with contracting in a ltd company.

[TheDude]

HAHA! Honestly if I could pull in 30k a year contracting I would be absolutely fine. Wouldn't that be like 3-6 months work? at like 200-400. I am willing to put in what I need to put in to do this as I want the "freedom" that comes with contracting in a ltd company.

I think you need to research this a bit more.

IR35 means that there are far fewer clients who will engage contractors via a limited company.

[YggdrasilMana]

I think you need to research this a bit more.

IR35 means that there are far fewer clients who will engage contractors via a limited company.

From what I understand you can do IR35 Inside and Outside from a LTD company, just have to pay tax inside? Would just use an umbrella if needed for inside IR35.

I do seem to see a lot of outside IR35 for dev contracts.

[Fraidycat]

Would you say the market is bad now for contract developers?

It looks quite weak to me. Just a quick look on the job boards shows it is much weaker than compared to this time last year.

Some on here say there may be a bump in demand in April due to the new tax year, we will find out soon enough..

[YggdrasilMana]

It looks quite weak to me. Just a quick look on the job boards shows it is much weaker than compared to this time last year.

Some on here say there may be a bump in demand in April due to the new tax year, we will find out soon enough..

Yea my research seems to be similar.

[oliverson]

HAHA! Honestly if I could pull in 30k a year contracting I would be absolutely fine. Wouldn't that be like 3-6 months work? at like 200-400. I am willing to put in what I need to put in to do this as I want the "freedom" that comes with contracting in a ltd company.

This is the problem right here. I don't mean to be rude and don't take this the wrong way, but you don't sound business savvy or worldly-wise, hungry or greedy enough to be a contractor. You still have a junior permie attitude, which won't stand you in good stead running your own business. My advice would be as others have suggested. Land yourself another permie role on at least £ 50k, gain more experience and ride out the current market slump. As a measure, I have a mate who has all the skills you have and over 20 years contracting with an impressive array of clients. He's currently sat in an inside IR35 role, paying over 50% in tax and won't be getting renewed in a few weeks.

[northernladuk]

I would definitely get out of Public sector for a good number of reasons. Firstly PS experience can be very different to Private. Their budgets, focus, process, priorities can be vastly different. I wouldn't be suggesting anyone with pure public sector for my client as they just won't last. You need experience with different clients to know what is important to them, some clients it's about meeting regulation, some it's the bottom line etc. The difference between a investment company, public sector, budget retailer, pharma can be vast even if it's just code. You need to understand why you are delivering to a client, not just what.

The systems can be very different, culture, pay, process etc is very different and this is where a good contractor excels and less experienced floater will struggle.

Finding a contract while you are sitting pretty in a role is easy, anyone can do it. You just wait and wait. You cannot do this for your second one. You have to dovetail it with your first one. You won't be able to do this if you are public sector bod testing the water in private. Getting a lucky first contract does not make you a viable contractor.

You've certainly started off well. Many contractors just fall in to it without a clue and even years after don't understand the basics but IMO you are vastly unprepared due to your previous industry experience.

My advice would be to get out of the public sector pronto. I've a feeling this won't be as easy as you think because you pigeon holed as PS not private. If this is a problem with perm imagine how hard it's going to be as a contractor.

Get in with some big industry client and work on some systems common across the big boys and THEN when you've got the client experience as well as skills then jump.

[YggdrasilMana]

I would definitely get out of Public sector for a good number of reasons. Firstly PS experience can be very different to Private. Their budgets, focus, process, priorities can be vastly different. I wouldn't be suggesting anyone with pure public sector for my client as they just won't last. You need experience with different clients to know what is important to them, some clients it's about meeting regulation, some it's the bottom line etc. The difference between a investment company, public sector, budget retailer, pharma can be vast even if it's just code. You need to understand why you are delivering to a client, not just what.

The systems can be very different, culture, pay, process etc is very different and this is where a good contractor excels and less experienced floater will struggle.

Finding a contract while you are sitting pretty in a role is easy, anyone can do it. You just wait and wait. You cannot do this for your second one. You have to dovetail it with your first one. You won't be able to do this if you are public sector bod testing the water in private. Getting a lucky first contract does not make you a viable contractor.

You've certainly started off well. Many contractors just fall in to it without a clue and even years after don't understand the basics but IMO you are vastly unprepared due to your previous industry experience.

My advice would be to get out of the public sector pronto. I've a feeling this won't be as easy as you think because you pigeon holed as PS not private. If this is a problem with perm imagine how hard it's going to be as a contractor.

Get in with some big industry client and work on some systems common across the big boys and THEN when you've got the client experience as well as skills then jump.

Sorry I should clarify, I have 2 years private sector experience coding in the football industry. So I do have both private and public sector experience split 2 years and 2 years at the moment for a total of 4.

[YggdrasilMana]

This is the problem right here. I don't mean to be rude and don't take this the wrong way, but you don't sound business savvy or worldly-wise, hungry or greedy enough to be a contractor. You still have a junior permie attitude, which won't stand you in good stead running your own business. My advice would be as others have suggested. Land yourself another permie role on at least £ 50k, gain more experience and ride out the current market slump. As a measure, I have a mate who has all the skills you have and over 20 years contracting with an impressive array of clients. He's currently sat in an inside IR35 role, paying over 50% in tax and won't be getting renewed in a few weeks.

I would expect knowing what you need to make rather than what you want to make is a good place to start. I would be happy using 30k a year for my base. My personal aim would be to work as much as I could for as much as I can get with a goal of between 30-100k a year. But I do understand what you are saying about the market not being good so I do take your advice. But disagree that I am not hungry for this or underestimate the work I would be putting in to achieve my goals.