Newbie...Any Help Much Appreciated

[elmo]

Hi folks I'm brand new here so I am hoping there might be some advise etc on offer.

I have just found out in work that I am being relocated and I don't want to so thinking of going down the VR route. This means I have some decisions to make about what I want to do.

I am currently working in credit risk in a very large consumer credit organisation. This has meant that I have spent the last 4 years coding in SAS until recently this was mainly analysing data, creating reporting and insight etc and automating reports with experience in Basel2, IAS39 provisioing and other consumer credit risk related areas. However in the last 6 months or so I have created a new data warehouse.

So where I am at the moment is trying to decide whether to take my skills on the road and see what contracting has to offer or look for another permie job. The key info I am looking for is:

- where are the best places to look for contracts, I cannot see much out there but am I missing something?
- where do any SAS contractors do most of their work?
- are most of you registered as companies etc?
- is there a demand for the sort of skills I have detailed, and where is it mainly?
- any other useful info you can provide?

I am based in Glasgow but obviously willing to travel. I suppose the other info that might be useful is that I have the security that my other half can support me, cover all household bills and live, if I was not in a contract. I think the biggest thing is I do not want to make a big mistake.

Thanks a million in advance for the help.

[oracleslave]

So where I am at the moment is trying to decide whether to take my skills on the road and see what contracting has to offer or look for another permie job. The key info I am looking for is:

- where are the best places to look for contracts, I cannot see much out there but am I missing something?
- where do any SAS contractors do most of their work?
- are most of you registered as companies etc?
- is there a demand for the sort of skills I have detailed, and where is it mainly?
- any other useful info you can provide?

I am based in Glasgow but obviously willing to travel. I suppose the other info that might be useful is that I have the security that my other half can support me, cover all household bills and live, if I was not in a contract. I think the biggest thing is I do not want to make a big mistake.

Thanks a million in advance for the help.

Disclaimer - I know nothing re SAS so have no idea how good your skillset is or if it's in demand

- When you say you cannot see much out there where have you been looking? Is that nothing at all or nothing that is offering the money you are hoping for?

- I would guess most of it would be IB, Telco's etc but not sure. The largest volume and usually but not always the best rates are to be found down south so I would guess there are loads of SAS people in London.

- Can't speak for SAS people specifically but I presume most on here use Ltd companies. Certainly if you are going to look to contract for any significant length of time it is generally regarded as the best way to go about it.

- What do jobserv, itjobswatch and other sites say?

Only other useful tip is that although there is someone on here called sasguru the name is a misnomer.

Good luck.

[Bagpuss]

I work with SAS but not in credit risk, a simple search on cwjobs results in the following:

If you are willing to work in the city London, you can probably get £500 a day with your skillset and experience, although rates do seem to be dropping in that sector, due to the credit crunch I would expect.

[perfectlblue]

Elmo,

Just do a search on jobserve, cwjobs, monster etc...I don't know SAS but it looks like there's nothing much up here contract-wise (although there are loads of Permie SAS jobs in Edinburgh)

This looks right up your street though (based on my limited knowledge of your skills) - plus it's in the north of England, which might be a benefit if you're travelling.

http://www.jobserve.com/WC0F13E4BE5E363D4.jsjob

A good idea is to set up an email alert from jobserve etc just with "SAS" and "contract", I'm sure the other sites have a similar feature, and that will let you build up a picture of what's out there over a while, that way you find out who the main clients are and get to know the market a bit better.

Cheers,
PerfectBlue

[elmo]

Guys can I say a big thanks to you all. I am sure I will have a million more questions.

[Bagpuss]

Elmo, this just hit my Inbox, Finance role in Edinburgh



My client requires a SAS contractor with solid MI experience. The successful applicant will become part of an MI team bolstering reporting capabilities and ideally bringing excellent data management skills to the team.

6 months, Edinburgh, URGENT, Good rates.

Please reply to this email or call on the number below with interest.

Kind Regards,


Chris Parker
Pathway
Phone: 0113 243 9888
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.pathwayresourcing.com

[cstirling]

any luck?

Hi there, I have just started contracting this month after leaving a permament job (well was made redundant!) and was interested to see how you have managed to get on as I have the same kind of skill set but more on the marketing analysis side than credit risk and am based in Glasgow - I've managed to make contact with a few companies but only have a short term project set up for next month so hoping things pick up after December.