Looking to go contracting..........again!

[ShadyMarkus]

Hey all. Joined this site 18 months ago as a resource to help learn the ins and outs of contracting. I set up a Ltd. company etc. (still running now) but ended up landing a permie role and never really looked back (current cliamte being rough and all). However there are several aspects of my job that I'm not happy with. To name the biggest one (and I'm sure lots of us are in this position right now) my job currently has lots of stress (no problem) with little financial gain (big problem). I'm paid about £8-10k less than the average salary for my field (project management) and am not seeing any of the promises being put forward by the company.

So anyway, just looking to see what you lot thought. I know you don't pull your punches and say things how they are. So is it worth me considering the contracting route with only 4 years PM experience (Prince2 Practitioner + Working Agile experience) or should i just bite the bullet and sit tight for a bit longer grateful for the fact that I at least have a job?

[pmeswani]

Hey all. Joined this site 18 months ago as a resource to help learn the ins and outs of contracting. I set up a Ltd. company etc. (still running now) but ended up landing a permie role and never really looked back (current cliamte being rough and all). However there are several aspects of my job that I'm not happy with. To name the biggest one (and I'm sure lots of us are in this position right now) my job currently has lots of stress (no problem) with little financial gain (big problem). I'm paid about £8-10k less than the average salary for my field (project management) and am not seeing any of the promises being put forward by the company.

So anyway, just looking to see what you lot thought. I know you don't pull your punches and say things how they are. So is it worth me considering the contracting route with only 4 years PM experience (Prince2 Practitioner + Working Agile experience) or should i just bite the bullet and sit tight for a bit longer grateful for the fact that I at least have a job?

The answers from different posters will vary. So here's my take. Don't take (m)any holidays, and make sure you can take 2 to 3 weeks holiday when you hand in your notice. Apply for jobs as and when you see them.

From where I am, the market is generally improving (Especially in the IT Security area). I don't know what your market speciality is (i.e. a PM in what?), so it is difficult to guage whether you will be successful as a contractor or not.

Best thing to do is to sit tight and keep on applying until somethings comes up. When it comes to interviews, obviously take the time off, and be honest in terms of your notice period and that you may be able to start sooner rather than later, depending on when you can time off.

As I am not you, I don't know what your tolerance levels are, or if you have sufficient funds in your bank account to last for at least a year, so I would leave it to your best judgement on whether you should leave or not.

[ShadyMarkus]

The answers from different posters will vary. So here's my take. Don't take (m)any holidays, and make sure you can take 2 to 3 weeks holiday when you hand in your notice. Apply for jobs as and when you see them.

From where I am, the market is generally improving (Especially in the IT Security area). I don't know what your market speciality is (i.e. a PM in what?), so it is difficult to guage whether you will be successful as a contractor or not.

Best thing to do is to sit tight and keep on applying until somethings comes up. When it comes to interviews, obviously take the time off, and be honest in terms of your notice period and that you may be able to start sooner rather than later, depending on when you can time off.

As I am not you, I don't know what your tolerance levels are, or if you have sufficient funds in your bank account to last for at least a year, so I would leave it to your best judgement on whether you should leave or not.

Appreciate you taking the time to reply. Some good points there too. In terms of what I do I should probably elaborate. Main speciality is software project management. I've worked on various stuff over the years from PS3/X360 games to to financial projects (all software based).

Wouldn't be able to sustain too long out of work at present though as I have just bought a house (my logic here is that better to get one now than have to pay rent for the next 2-3 years while proving my accounts in order to get a mortgage).

The risk is big I agree, hence me trying to calculate it the best I can before deciding either way

[pmeswani]

Appreciate you taking the time to reply. Some good points there too. In terms of what I do I should probably elaborate. Main speciality is software project management. I've worked on various stuff over the years from PS3/X360 games to to financial projects (all software based).

Wouldn't be able to sustain too long out of work at present though as I have just bought a house (my logic here is that better to get one now than have to pay rent for the next 2-3 years while proving my accounts in order to get a mortgage).

The risk is big I agree, hence me trying to calculate it the best I can before deciding either way

Generally speaking, Software Engineer / Development is a huge area, and would be surprised if there is no PM work out there within this marketspace. I know I am drilling a bit more, but I am guessing that there are PM's who deal with particular software languages than in general, but I don't really know the market well enough. (I do have a basic understanding of Project Management, but no commercial experience, so I can't clarify on my point much further). I would say, put your CV out there and hope for the best. However, just like how Contrators are asked why they want to go Perm, I would have an answer as to why you want to go from Perm to Contracting. (And don't use loadsa wangas as an answer. ).

Sadly, as a contractor, you may have to suffer long periods of un-contractableness (Ok, the word probably doesn't exist, but it beats saying unemployable). So be warned.... luckily, we are getting out of a resession, so the future should be looking a bit brighter than this time last year or the year before.

[Sockpuppet]

Ahem ....