Am I mad?

[scotmal]

Hi All. I'm after a bit of advice. My husband's job is being relocated to Inverness. I've done some researching and have found that my job sector doesn't exist up there. I'm a clinical database developer, but even if I just look at general oracle database developer roles, I can't find any in the Inverness area. I've been advised to start contracting, but I'm a little nervous about this. I've found a potential contract (after only three days of looking). They are offering £20 an hour (which doesn't sound that much to me), but would be willing for me to work from home. Thing is, if we move to Inverness and I take this contract, what do I do when it finishes, as we need two incomes for our mortgage. I've got a one-year old son, which makes working away from home a big No-No. Does anyone have experience of trying to contract whilst being based so far from potential clients?, or am I just mad thinking that such a thing is possible?
Our mortgage is another issue. We'll be moving house, and therefore changing our mortgage at the same time as I'm moving from being a perm to a contractor. Has anyone else experience of this?
Thanks!

[PerlOfWisdom]

we need two incomes for our mortgage. I've got a one-year old son, which makes working away from home a big No-No

Am I mad?

Yes


Hope this helps.

[tim123]

Re:Yes

I'm inclined to agree. The phrase "cut your cloth according to what you can afford" applies. House prices in Inverness do not seem to be excessive and unless you are in a very depressed part of the UK it should be possible to trade down (in price) with the move and cut your mortgage to something managable - perhaps you are setting your sights too high in the type of house you require? Alternatively, as a full time contractor you could probably command 80-100K pa so you might like to consider a role-reversal.

And yes, 20ph for Oracle skills does seem exceedingly low (even with the work from home advantage)

tim

[Vetran]

Re: Re:Yes

have a look at www.Jobstats.co.uk and of course jobserve.co.uk to get an idea of rates try the contract search on this site.

Normally it was same hourly rate as gross salary so £35K permie = £35 per hour.
However experience and location will make this vary wildly, Oracle development should be the better side of £30 per hour even working from home.

I was getting a lot more than that for UNIX support with a little Oracle thrown in, on a very cushy number 1 year contract (Yes AtW I may look to you like a disguised employee but I wasn't according to my lawyers) last year. DBA & Developers were getting £40 an hour.

However I agree with tim if you can't afford to live on one salary (or the second being down Tesco's) you can't afford to contract, especially in remote areas.

[Mark Snowdon]

mad

Finding contracts which will allow you to work from home is extremely difficult. Almost impossible unless you are already known to the client.

Unless you have a specific very rare/in demand skill ? Will your current employer continue to use you by remote link ?

Inverness is a bit remote and I cannot see that there will be much work in the area. All the scots can castigate me for being a biggoted sassenact(sic) at this point.

Working from home with small children doesnt work. I have done it with support contracts (they call me when financials dies, I dial in and fix it) But that only worked because of the intermittant nature of the work. I wouldnt expect to be able to do any meaningful development.

Contracting is not always reliable work - you are unlikely to be able to get a mortgage without a number of years accounts showing sensible income and money management.

Interest rates may not go much higher, but are you planing a second child ? I would say it would be very foolish to make financial commitments like a mortgage that you cannot afford on a single salary, in your position.

[IsItOver]

Re: mad

Increasingly there are companies who will allow you to work from home if you have a good Internet connection. I know many Oracle Admins who do this and, of late, I tend to try and only work for companies who allow me to do this.

The Scottish permie and contractor market is apparently booming at the moment. I know Glasgow and Edinburgh cannot get enough workers and I would strongly urge you consider applying for jobs located there as you might be surprised that some of them will have no qualms with you working from Inverness. You might have to go into the office once a week but I imagine that is better than 5 days a week.

Best of luck.

Royal Bank of Scotland is building a huge new centre just outside Edinburgh and I believe, although could be wrong, that they are looking for IT people.

[partimer]

Re: mad

Eh, isn't that like saying how long before the idiot Dilbert managers wakes up to the fact that if you're working at home, why can't they have an employee in Bangalore, China, etc. ?

I know you're not advocating Outsourcing but think about the difference between you working at home on a good connection and a body in another part of the globe doing the same but at half the price.

[IsItOver]

Re: mad

More and more companies are allowing IT workers to work from home - in fact, all sorts of workers.

I have put in big VPN secure systems for loads of blue chips in recent times.

[partimer]

Re: mad

>allowing IT workers to work from home - in fact, all sorts of workers

You've answered my point:

MD walking around empty office. Looks like the VPN is working. Since I never see my employees any more and it looks like everything is going smoothly, let's cut costs by changing our employees to cheaper countries. So long as the work is done you can't distinguish between them. (The employees in the UK are now faceless and "out of sight, out of mind" - ready for the chop.)

Not cynical, just pointing out what IS happening.

[scotmal]

Cheers guys. I've spent a lot of time thinking over the weekend. We're going to look into what housing we can afford with one income - think it's the only way we'll stay sane.
As for VPN, well we've got it too. It works great - I quite often work from home just now. And yes, increasingly our company is outsourcing to India and South Africa. So far my group has survived as we are highly skilled and it's a specialist industry, but who knows for how long it will be before they decide to 're-structure' us too.
Thanks for the tip about the Royal Bank - I drive past the thing everyday, and it hadn't occurred to me that they'd be recruiting! Think I've got a lot to learn about contracting!