How long after uni did you start contracting?

[TykeMerc]

Pros and cons? Its something I would be thinking of after around four years of permie, as a business analyst, are these skills likely to stay in demand?

Business Analysis is in fair demand, recently been involved in hiring half a dozen. BUT inexperienced BA's who don't actually understand how companies work and how to sort a real requirement from a wishlist item or how to optimise business and technical processes stand out like a sore thumb.
Had a very good, but very inexperienced BA on one of my recent projects and while his ability to produce top notch documentation was excellent he struggled like mad with the Business side of stuff. Fortunately he was a good listener and was working with a team of very experienced people and he learned fast, but there's no substitute for experience.

Purely my opinion, but a couple of years of working for somewhere decent is necessary to be effective as a contract BA.

Oh and to answer the original question I went to contract with some rather high demand technical skills 3.5 years after uni.

[VectraMan]

13 years for me. I did have a chance of a contract job 3 years in, but it didn't happen and I didn't pursue the idea. Doh!

[Ravello]

10 years for me, but had some decent permie jobs and a desire to build up some experience.

As a general rule companies are happier to employ you as a permie on potential & qualifications and let you gain experience, contractors are expected to have the experience, know all the answers (usually before they're asked) and carry the can in the event that someone senior screws up.

[TheBigYinJames]

contractors...carry the can

Not in my world

[Diver]

What's Uni?

[Charles Foster Kane]

What's Uni?

The yardie way of saying 'honey'. Waa' gwaan uni?

[Cowboy Bob]

About 4.5 years as a permie for me after Uni. Now been a contractor for just over 5.

[SallyAnne]

I went contracting 8 years after failing a politics degree.

HTH.

Edit: p.s. - I think you're probably more suited to consultancy (Accenture, EDS etc) than contracting. Just a hunch.

[Gonzo]

I went contracting 8 years after failing a politics degree.

HTH.

Well, I went contracting 12 years after passing my politics degree.

To the OP, get settled into your job, after you have started as a BA you might start to think that you can move yourself up the food chain a bit before you branch out into contracting.

[BrilloPad]

What's Uni?

Where you go if you can't get a job.