Newbie Question

[Ketchup]

Hello,

I am new to these boards, I am a .net developer. I took the plunge from permie to contractor in april and have yet to regret it. My current contract isnt at a great rate (290pd) but they waited 6 weeks for me to leave my permie role. I have just been offered a 12-month extension, but am un sure whether to take it. Being a newbie, i have not spent time on the bench and dont know what the market is like in London, and if i turn down the role, i may live to regret it.

I spoke to agents, who obviously werent very helpful, the one who placed me told me the market is dead and i should take the extension. All other agents told me they will have not trouble placing me (have 8 years dev experience, a 1st class honors degree and have worked as lead dev for a number of well known companies).

The questions i have are:#

1) Is the market as dead as my agent has alluded to?

2) Will it reflect badly on me for turning down an extension?

3) Would it be better to have my first contract on my cv to show an extension?

I appreciate these have probably been asked before, but i couldnt find any recent answers.

Thank you

[The Agents View]

1) Is the market as dead as my agent has alluded to?

Can't directly answer this - but it comes down to whether you are prepared to take the risk....I would say your best bet is to stick with something which is as assured as contracting gets.

2) Will it reflect badly on me for turning down an extension?

In theory, no - you're a professional, so you'll deal with it professionally etc. You might find that the agent gets shirty about it, which could then impact your reputation with the end client. That end client could come back to bite you in the future, but if you're in control of the communication with the client then make sure you leave a professional impression and you should be ok. The only thing I'd say, is that yes, you might be able to secure £350 pd, but that might take 2 months, by which time, you could have earned the difference, and some. It's like anything in business, Risk Vs. Reward. In my personal opinion, the risk is too high, and the reward not great enough for it to be worth it.

3) Would it be better to have my first contract on my cv to show an extension?

Can't see that it would matter - length of service is going to be more visible on your CV I suspect - so as long as that shows a good few months, you should be able to blag it if anyone asks.

Purely from my point of view, I'd suggest taking the business that has been handed to you on a plate, and seek another contract at the same time if you're that desperate to get out.

[kingcook]

My current contract isnt at a great rate (290pd)

My first contract was worse than that (£250/pd) and i stayed for just over 12 months (had a few 3 monther renewals). It's horrible being stuck on a crap rate in a gig and seeing new gigs come on jobserve/etc for much more £££.

It's up to you, really. How much of a warchest do you have? Have you thought about increasing your rate for the 12 month renewal? (Be prepared for the agent/client to say no and maybe you call their bluff). But try to think about it from their POV -- will they really say NO and mean NO (which would have them looking for another contractor, possibly paying more money).

If you're sure there are no other gigs out there right now (do your own checks - don't believe the agent) then consider taking a shorter extension, say 3 months, or whatever.

[Ketchup]

Thank you for the advice. I was hired initially for one project for a large retail client which was a 3 month contract, they were impressed with my work. They were looking for a number of FTC's and a junior dev to rewrite the internal MIS, but the quality of applicants was dire so have decided to increase the budget and use contractors. I will try for a higher rate, but when they offered me a 12 month extension, they asked if i would consider a rate-cut as it was 12 months of relative security.

My war-chest is minimal, only what i have earnt in thsi contract circa 16k after tax, but my current outgoings are only £1k per month (if i live hand-to-mouth). The other point i forgot to mention is that the MIS project would be using MVC, which i have only had a few months exposure to, so could make me much more employable once the contract has ended as it appears to be a requirment for the majority of contracts.

That is a great idea about taking a shorter extension, if i take a 3 month extension, build up a larger warchest, boost my CV, the extension would look good when applying for next role.

Thank you for the clarity

[The Agents View]

Thank you for the advice. I was hired initially for one project for a large retail client which was a 3 month contract, they were impressed with my work. They were looking for a number of FTC's and a junior dev to rewrite the internal MIS, but the quality of applicants was dire so have decided to increase the budget and use contractors. I will try for a higher rate, but when they offered me a 12 month extension, they asked if i would consider a rate-cut as it was 12 months of relative security.

My war-chest is minimal, only what i have earnt in thsi contract circa 16k after tax, but my current outgoings are only £1k per month (if i live hand-to-mouth). The other point i forgot to mention is that the MIS project would be using MVC, which i have only had a few months exposure to, so could make me much more employable once the contract has ended as it appears to be a requirment for the majority of contracts.

That is a great idea about taking a shorter extension, if i take a 3 month extension, build up a larger warchest, boost my CV, the extension would look good when applying for next role.

Thank you for the clarity

£1k outgoings?? You lucky beast!!

Take the extension, stop looking at Jobserve, as those are all just contracts you might get if you're very lucky - you're talking about 12 months of earning much more money than you actually need, building up your warchest, and preparing you to be alot more picky in the future!

[The Agents View]

That is a great idea about taking a shorter extension, if i take a 3 month extension, build up a larger warchest, boost my CV, the extension would look good when applying for next role.

Not much point in this IMO - the contract will have the same notice period in it - assuming that's 1 week, effectively you're only on a one week rolling contract anyway. Taking 3 months is just going to put the clients nose out of joint - Take 12 months, then if you want to get out in 3 months, just give your notice!

[Ketchup]

Not much point in this IMO - the contract will have the same notice period in it - assuming that's 1 week, effectively you're only on a one week rolling contract anyway. Taking 3 months is just going to put the clients nose out of joint - Take 12 months, then if you want to get out in 3 months, just give your notice!

Would this not put the agents (and the clients) nose further out of joint? Committing to 12 months and leaving after 3?

[kingcook]

Not much point in this IMO - the contract will have the same notice period in it - assuming that's 1 week, effectively you're only on a one week rolling contract anyway. Taking 3 months is just going to put the clients nose out of joint - Take 12 months, then if you want to get out in 3 months, just give your notice!

And what if OP's notice period is 4 weeks? It would be hard to find a client who would wait for this amount of time (hard, not impossible though).

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Take the 12 months dude. I found that it is difficult to find a 2nd contract after doing a 3 month one but once you have a couple of extensions it becomes easier. Then start jumping regularly to get your name out there and become easier to hire..... To start off with you definitely need that warchest to be quite big (20k+ in savings ideally).

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

And what if OP's notice period is 4 weeks? It would be hard to find a client who would wait for this amount of time (hard, not impossible though).

Get 2 weeks notice (if you can), that is very workable.