2.5 year career gap.. thinking of contracting.. any tips

[tommyc]

Hey there,

I left uni with an undergrad in maths + computing and then a masters in applied maths in 2003. (Plus 1 years experience in 2000 in a placement doing VBA and C/C++ work in finance)
Then I landed a job at a hedge fund as a developer / code monkey in their quant team in november 2003.
Worked mostly in VBA / Excel, Matalb, and S-Plus but I also have some experience in C++ and OO coding, plus vbscript and asp from setting up an intranet site at the firm.
Quit in march 2007 since I was bored there but wasn't sure what to do instead so I went travelling.
Spent 2.5 years bumming around on beaches and so on.. did manage a 3 month contract in australia working with VBA (in late 07 early 08) but other work was just bar work and sales stuff. Basically I did sod all to keep my skills up to date, I was too busy having fun.

Now I'm back in the UK. I'm tempted to go into contracting, I like the idea of the variety that can be offered since I got bored in my old role having to work on the same projects all the time and looking at the job websites there seem to be roles being offered relevant to my experience and skill set.

But is it worth me trying since my experience is 2 years old?? Or will I stand a chance if I offer myself up at a lower rate?
At least as a contractor my long term commitment and motivation is not going to be called into question like it would be in a permanent role, or is it?
Should I be looking for a contract now or trying to give myself some experience by finding some sort of project to work on (I don't have Office or VBA on my system though, but I guess I could try and do something in C# or java I guess)..

I've still got left over savings, plus some inheritance money, but obviously I'd rather not fritter it away and want to get back into work ASAP, and rent in london isn't cheap.

What do you guys think?
Cheers

[Scary]

You've got time on your hands, doesn't cost anything to put the CV about and see what bites you get.

[BrilloPad]

Have you kept in touch with those you used to work with? Do they have anything?

[northernladuk]

You are most definately on the back foot, a very large back foot. As you can see in posts on here there are a lot of people that are very skilled and anything between 1 month and a year on the bench. Unless you have have something very special on your side you b*ggered.

It isn't like you have a huge amount of experience before you left either to be honest. They guys I mentioned in point one have got 10's of years experience. The queue you are at the back of is getting longer.

By all means put your CV together, band it about but this should be a last ditch plan B not anything you are banking on.

You need to get experience back on your CV so apply for anything and everything, temp, contract, perm. When you have some skill's/experience to sell then you can start looking seriously at contracting.

[rootsnall]

Have you kept in touch with those you used to work with? Do they have anything?

WHS. Plus pitch yourself at a peanuts rate.

The peanuts approach was my method after backpacking in the past but in the current climate it might not be quite as effective. You could even volunteer to do a free trial !?

[BlasterBates]

Apply for everything and anything i.e. both contracting and permie.
I think you'd be better off going permie again and spend a year or two before trying contracting.

[tommyc]

Thanks guys,

Have you kept in touch with those you used to work with? Do they have anything?

Meeting for lunch next week. Not sure if there will be anything at my old firm, but they will possibly know of others that are recruiting. They've also given me the names of the agencies they use to find contractors.

Yeah I think I am going to have to apply for anything and everything. I want to try and do something in my spare time to improve my skills too.. I'm teaching myself c# since many of the jobs I'm looking at need it, but I feel like I need to get my teeth into something more substantial to impress recruiters.
Am also happy to work for peanuts for a bit if someone is willing to take a chance on me.

The trouble doesn't seem to be lack of jobs, there seem to be lots advertised, its the competition I'm up against for them

[Jeebo72]

I suspect permie is the best route. Explain that you've got the travel bug out of your system, and pretend that you are settling down (explain your "up and coming marriage and planning a family" ...well you get the idea) ... get the experience, then contract!

[tommyc]

Apply for everything and anything i.e. both contracting and permie.
I think you'd be better off going permie again and spend a year or two before trying contracting.

Thanks, my worry with permie stuff is convincing interviewers of how much I especially want the job with their firm and find finance so interesting and so on.
No reason to stop me applying though. I guess after 2 or 3 failed interviews I will have had enough practice to try and blag my way through that section of questioning that I will get.

[Not So Wise]

Always worth "trying" but unless you get lucky doubt you will even get past the pimps in most cases

As others have said, apply for both permie (even that will be hard in current climate) and contracts, that way you cover all angles