Support Contractor Wanted Urgently!

[oraclesmith]

this is laughable. its an insult.

Maybe, but then I've seen IT support contracts (albeit helpdesk based and not hardware) for less than £10 an hour - in the South East.

[lukemg]

Do keep up with events, 20/hr is a good rate these days for a desktop support guy - 2nd line, out and about, bit of humping about (of kit)
Most of these jobs are mid teens with helpdesk 8-12/hour.
30/hr was the year 2000 rate and things have fallen off a cliff since then. Support has become routine box shifting, if you are in it, get out now.

[Diestl]

I'm thankful im a programmer (.NET too).

[marcus2704]

Agreed, Im in a support role currently at 25ph which Im sure is nothing to a lot of you guys but for someone like myself who has been contracting just over a year after escaping from a dead-end permie job within a large organisation where you end up being pigeonholed with no career development its a breath of fresh air.

I do see the need to get out of support roles, the rates are dropping and the pool is growing by the day. Knowing what, and how, to get out and into something else isn't easy though.. >_<

[lukemg]

Marcus, I can help you with that. Often, people who are any good in support have personality and diplomacy (if only to reduce grief). They are used to pressure, can deal with everyone in the company and don't go missing when the bullets start flying.
Most of these skills are a good match for a number of jobs in service management/CRM, for which a background in development is not a great foundation. This is an expanding area and even embraces outsourcing since Companies need people to manage the outsourced area/escalations and outsourcers need people to manage the client relationship !
Get yourself on an ITIL foundation course, consider doing a specialism as well such as Service Continuity/security/Service Level Management. This will cost a couple of grand but will be well worth it.
With a bit of CV tweaking and the ITIL badge, you should find things open up mostly permie but also contract wise.
I was in a similar boat 4 years ago, ended up permie and they sent me on the course, I got a lot more interest from agents after that and have pushed on from there.
Feel free to PM me if you want.
HTH

[freakydancer]

Agreed, Im in a support role currently at 25ph which Im sure is nothing to a lot of you guys but for someone like myself who has been contracting just over a year after escaping from a dead-end permie job within a large organisation where you end up being pigeonholed with no career development its a breath of fresh air.

I do see the need to get out of support roles, the rates are dropping and the pool is growing by the day. Knowing what, and how, to get out and into something else isn't easy though.. >_<

What kind of support do you do mate? is it Network?

[marcus2704]

Cheers Luke, will look into that

My current role is working for a small(ish) company (300 or so users), its a support technician role but being such a small place (3 of us in IT inc the manager) I get my hands dirty with for example, server work, AD+GPO, exchange and currently Im working on a Vista deployment project.

Since Ive been here Ive only done everyday NW troubleshooting, in terms of architecture the infrastructure remains rock solid (as it should) so exposure to anything more indepth is minimal. I was gutted when the manager chose to bring 3rd party people in to build and configure SAN\DR equipment rather that us do it ourselves :/

For now its great, I like the job and the people are fine, Im earning more than I did as a permie too, but Im not too shortsighted to notice the support role position is a diminishing one.

[chillyhippo]

Also agree that the 20 / 30 per hour is definately the market rate at the mo for that sort of role - outside of london there are circumstances where the rate may be higher if for example the role is based at an investment bank / offshore oil rig ! or requires security clearance but thats pretty much it

I have been working as a contractor in these sorts of roles for the last few years finished finished a contract towards the end of last year -signed a contract with computer people which went up in smoke and really struggled to get a contract since (and was looking anywhere in the UK no family ties etc) - I ended up taking one at 15 per hour in the midlands to keep a foot in the door. But also agree that the market for these types of roles is decreasing in size / rates offered and am also looking to go down a different path so will also look at your suggestions - thanks lukemg

[lukemg]

Sounds like you are fairly settled there Marcus and 25/hour still adds up to a fair amount so I would definately milk it. I didn't bother looking to the future and everything I knew was worthless when I came out of a 2-year contract. I decided to try the management lark and scored a team-leader role but a 60% pay cut from the 2000 rates sobered me up a bit !
I am basically lazy and was lucky to get sent on the ITIL course and they were introducing it at the company so with some hefty CV tweaking I could shift tracks. Back on contract now but not ruling out a cosy perm job. I just think the infrastructure skills are being devalued because they are much easier to support now - witness Novell v2.15 vs MS server 2003. Kit is cheaper and more reliable (so you just swap boxes) AND there are no barriers to entry so everyone has jumped on board.
I am paying for some prince2 training when this contract finishes in May because some roles are mentioning it, got to stay ahead now after being given a second chance.
If you have the personal skills - ditch the technical stuff (you still need a grounding to do Service Mgmt anyway so they are still some use)

[NetwkSupport]

I've been in 2nd/3rd line for 7 years now and have noticed the rates have started to bottom out. Im also getting bored of the desktops role and am going to go on the project management route

Im thinking about doing a Prince2 course - can anyone recommend a supplier (in london) and also whether to just do foundation, then practitioner another time, or both in one hit???