Did I make a mistake?

[TFour]

You thought the permie job was a good deal when you were offered it, otherwise you would not have accepted it. You got a decent payrise out of it. Don't forget, when times get tough, the contractors will be first to go, you will be much harder for the company to get rid of. Forget any notions of dishonouring your permie contract - this will not work and will put you in a very negative light, in my opinion.

Concentrate on what you are doing and not on what others are/aren't getting - you've accepted your position so what other people get is irrelevant.

My advice would be - do the job for a minumum of 18 months/2 years then think about resigning and applying for contract roles (assuming your notice period is months rather than weeks). Talk to the contractors you are working with and get their advice on securing roles in your industry and on the state of the market.

If you are good and leave on good terms you can do what I did - leave, contract elswhere then return to your permie place as a contractor. Then you will be in the position you want to be in!

Good luck!

[d000hg]

You are either naive or a troll I can't decide which

It's hardly a crime to not understand the world of contracting as a permie.

Krav it sounds like you're onto a good thing how you are... decent pay, surrounded by more experienced people you can learn from (both technically and about contracting), gaining experience in a field that's well-paid. Why rush to change it? You could wait a year, save as much of the salary as possible, and then think about contracting based on the economy and how restless you feel.
As long as you're still learning in a role, it's not a bad place to be.

[BrilloPad]

Hi All,

Just looking for some advice.

I recently joined an investment bank as a permie and found that everyone in my team are contractors apart from the manager. They are looking for another guy who will most likely be a contractor. So that will be 3 contractors vs. 1 permie.

I have of course thought many times about contracting and have been scratching my head for a while about it. My original plan was to get more experience and then move to a contract. Part of me regrets not joining as a contractor here (they wouldn't have minded at the time I reckon, and another guy at my last place with the same sort of experience interviewed for a contract in the same team but pulled out after being offered leadership role). I did also interview for a contractor role at the same bank and did very well and scored 8/10 but never got the role, but they passed on positive feedback to my current team. I think this was due to lack of experience as I have not done enough greenfield development work despite working for another bank. I have just under 6 years experience, with 2.5 in a bank and the rest in a software house. I accepted the permie as I got a good payrise (30% inc 10% more than I wanted when they knew I was talking to a rival).

Admittedly, the contractors are much older (late 30's, 40's) seasoned professionals whereas I am still in my twenties gracefully gaining experience etc. We get on very well given I have only been here for a few weeks.

I wonder if it is too late to begin discussions on changing my contract? My fear is that having too many contractors makes the team unstable as they will be coming and going (based on my last place), although I appreciate their knowledge.

The interview process was tough and I heard that many contractors had failed it with 2-3 times my experience, so I was glad I got in.

I am on good terms with my manager and his manager too, but do not want to risk screwing up my relationship by opening discussions at the wrong moment having just joined, ruining any chance for future development (employee not settled and does not want to remain here etc).

What should I do?

There is alot more trouble coming for the banks. Sit tight and bide your time.

[vetran]

Sit tight, take the money its cold out there!

[Gary_Jones]

I'd add to this that whilst I encourage everyone in I.T to keep motivated, and keep a challenge, contracting is not quite the pot of gold that a lot of I.T permies think it is.

The point I'm trying to make is a lot of permies have very generic skills (such as IT admin jobs on wintel servers) and think that because a contractor has arrived in their team, he's doing the same work. A sucessful contractor over say 5 or 10 years, needs to have some pretty unique selling points.

I'm not trying to discourage, but rather than looking in terms of daily rates, research this fully before going in, more from a business perspective than a daily work routine.

Contractors have risks too - e.g insurances, taxation, skill sets and development (no ones going to pay for your development other than you, in both time and money). We are also much more dispensable than permies when times get tight.

Permies do have advantages, e.g you just have to go to work and do your time. Seriously, especially in the past 18 months where I've had to go to the southern hemisphere for work - this is appealing at a certain level.

If you're up for the risk, then go for it.