Newbie Looking For Advice

[pespro]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice really and hopefully can enjoy a successful contract career.
I went to uni and did a degree in computer networks. Had a year placement for the NHS in IT Support, really enjoyed helping people. After the degree i did a permanent job for a small IT company in Doncaster doing 1st line support for two years. I then did a 6 month 2nd line role for the NHS which i really liked. I then had a 6 month work gap and recently finished a 8 week support contract for a charity.

Although i have only had two permanent jobs, the 2 year role really put me off them being low pay and too much work.
When i did the contract role for the NHS and charity the pay was double, for less work and then you have expenses etc and the freedom of not being tied down if you didn't like the job.
When i say less or more work i don't mean sitting around doing nothing, that's boring. In terms of value i guess.

However i live in Sheffield and have found decent paying contract roles hard to find for IT support. I also have this 'entitlement' idea that once i earn a certain wage, if i then accept a lower paid job, i am taking a step back in my career and should not do it. This created the 6 month gap between roles. I eventually gave myself a kick up the arse looking at the job gap on my CV.
I am looking get to another IT support role starting from January in the South/West Yorkshire area.

In regards to this:

1. Has anyone here got experience doing a similar role in the South Yorkshire area? What are the standard rates you expect?
2. I'm looking at possibly setting up a Limited Company. Only been on umbrella so far, is it worth waiting until i get my next contract? Brookson who are my current umbrella are willing to sort this out but charge over £100 a month so would be over £1000 a year in fees. The fee with continue when i am out of work. Other option is my getting accountant.
3. Inside/Outside IR35. I have read a thread on here, sorry cant remember the link where a contractor did the same role as myself and was deemed outside. Im still nervous about it with my support roles and would probably have to get each contract looked over.
4. Looking for roles. I have my CV on the major job websites. Im thinking putting them on Technojobs and Jobserve to broaden the search. I have been advised by old work colleagues to sign up to linkedin. Has anyone got a job via Linkedin?
5.With my limited IT experience would you suggest permie roles until i gain more experience?

I have a 99 page guide to freelancing from PCG which i will read over and over and hopefully it will help me.
Anyway sorry for the long message and i hope to contribute to these forums eventually myself.

[jmo21]

Support roles usually have the lowest rates, are the most easily replaced (or rather, most likely to be replaced) by outsourcing.

You have little experience, and a recent gap that will raise a red flag.

I have a feeling working or a charity might rightly or wrongly be viewed with some suspicion by agents as well - was it volunteering, could you no get a paying job? etc - like I said THEY might think that, not me.

I don't know your area at all, but you already are finding there aren't many roles. So either I'm right with the above and agencies are avoiding you, or there just aren't that many contract roles there. Or a mix of both.

While many folks have started contracting with little experience, I'd say in your case you need a few solid years under your belt to get rid of some of those weaknesses your cv has.

[pespro]

Support roles usually have the lowest rates, are the most easily replaced (or rather, most likely to be replaced) by outsourcing.

You have little experience, and a recent gap that will raise a red flag.

I have a feeling working or a charity might rightly or wrongly be viewed with some suspicion by agents as well - was it volunteering, could you no get a paying job? etc - like I said THEY might think that, not me.

I don't know your area at all, but you already are finding there aren't many roles. So either I'm right with the above and agencies are avoiding you, or there just aren't that many contract roles there. Or a mix of both.

While many folks have started contracting with little experience, I'd say in your case you need a few solid years under your belt to get rid of some of those weaknesses your cv has.

Thank you for your reply jmo21.

Sorry, the charity work was paid, and the highest rate i have received, at £130 daily. That ended in December.
I also have a supermarket job i have had for 6 years at weekends, so i have not been technically out of work since then but as it is not an IT job then i cant see agencies being interested in that at all.

I have minor interest in networking as i did a degree it in. I have looked and that is more well paid than a general support engineer, but i dont think i would find that interesting enough to persue a career in. However i find wages one of the highest priorities when looking for a job.

Saying that, i am 25 now and thought i would have been working longer and had more experience than i have currently got.

If you started as a IT support engineer have you moved on from there to other roles?

[SpontaneousOrder]

+1 with regards to linkedIn. I guess it depends on the work you do, but when I'm in job finding mode my linkedIn goes mental. My brother has been an agent / hr guy for about ten years now and he kicked my arse a while back - he reckoned at the time that at least 40% of the placements were initiated via linkedIn.
Make sure you get a photo on there.

[unemployed]

6 month gap ?

try having a 2 year gap getting on for 3 years.

give up on "IT support" it`s a dead end job with no future , i genuinely contemplated suicide because of my past lack of success in the working world.
since being made redundant in 2006 i have been unemployed for 5 years in total.

[Antman]

Hi,

I'd think about what you want to be doing in 10 years and work backwards from there. If you have a big step say owner of Sheff Weds and before that 7 years IT support, you might like to look at that step in a bit more detail.

Not knowing your situation, I'd need more useful marketable experience before I start freelancing. If there's no opportunities around South Yorks then consider moving to where the action is to get that experience. Most freelancers are not that lucky to have jobs on their doorsteps (some will tell you otherwise) and will have to travel considerable distances staying away during the week and missing family time.

All the best in what you decide.

[Support Monkey]

Support roles usually have the lowest rates, are the most easily replaced (or rather, most likely to be replaced) by outsourcing.

You have little experience, and a recent gap that will raise a red flag.

I have a feeling working or a charity might rightly or wrongly be viewed with some suspicion by agents as well - was it volunteering, could you no get a paying job? etc - like I said THEY might think that, not me.

I don't know your area at all, but you already are finding there aren't many roles. So either I'm right with the above and agencies are avoiding you, or there just aren't that many contract roles there. Or a mix of both.

While many folks have started contracting with little experience, I'd say in your case you need a few solid years under your belt to get rid of some of those weaknesses your cv has.

I don't agree, you can still make good money doing support, ok your not going to get £500 a day but some support jobs especially with security clearance can pay reasonable money for a support skillset.

When i was doing support I found they let go other more skilled people before me because they were a bigger overhead and I was the person doing the work making the biggest impact on the support call Q and good support staff are hard to find, as you say the pay is less so it attracts the lesser members of the IT community who are not that bothered so anyone who is any good can make a big impact in a department full of loafers

Having said that, desktop is dead, VM - Thin Client - Cloud - Tablets, its all erroding the need for desktop staff you need to be looking at changing your skillset into more technical desktop areas like SCCM, App packaging or servers

[GazCol]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice really and hopefully can enjoy a successful contract career.
I went to uni and did a degree in computer networks. Had a year placement for the NHS in IT Support, really enjoyed helping people. After the degree i did a permanent job for a small IT company in Doncaster doing 1st line support for two years. I then did a 6 month 2nd line role for the NHS which i really liked. I then had a 6 month work gap and recently finished a 8 week support contract for a charity.

Although i have only had two permanent jobs, the 2 year role really put me off them being low pay and too much work.
When i did the contract role for the NHS and charity the pay was double, for less work and then you have expenses etc and the freedom of not being tied down if you didn't like the job.
When i say less or more work i don't mean sitting around doing nothing, that's boring. In terms of value i guess.

However i live in Sheffield and have found decent paying contract roles hard to find for IT support. I also have this 'entitlement' idea that once i earn a certain wage, if i then accept a lower paid job, i am taking a step back in my career and should not do it. This created the 6 month gap between roles. I eventually gave myself a kick up the arse looking at the job gap on my CV.
I am looking get to another IT support role starting from January in the South/West Yorkshire area.

In regards to this:

1. Has anyone here got experience doing a similar role in the South Yorkshire area? What are the standard rates you expect?
2. I'm looking at possibly setting up a Limited Company. Only been on umbrella so far, is it worth waiting until i get my next contract? Brookson who are my current umbrella are willing to sort this out but charge over £100 a month so would be over £1000 a year in fees. The fee with continue when i am out of work. Other option is my getting accountant.
3. Inside/Outside IR35. I have read a thread on here, sorry cant remember the link where a contractor did the same role as myself and was deemed outside. Im still nervous about it with my support roles and would probably have to get each contract looked over.
4. Looking for roles. I have my CV on the major job websites. Im thinking putting them on Technojobs and Jobserve to broaden the search. I have been advised by old work colleagues to sign up to linkedin. Has anyone got a job via Linkedin?
5.With my limited IT experience would you suggest permie roles until i gain more experience?

I have a 99 page guide to freelancing from PCG which i will read over and over and hopefully it will help me.
Anyway sorry for the long message and i hope to contribute to these forums eventually myself.

1 - Why are you restricting yourself to South Yorkshire if you live in Sheffield? Look at where the train can take you within 90 minutes and you've got a much larger catchment area.

2 - You'll probably find a local accountant who would do SA/Company accounts/VAT returns, etc for less than £70 a month - however it's unlikely they'll have much, if any, experience with contractors. Is it worth £30 a month to you to have that specialist advice when you need it? Do they save you that amount?

3 - I can't see how helpdesk, first line at least, work would be outside of IR35 as you've got no control and have to accept plenty of direction when working in that environment.

4 - Linkedin is, compared to a couple of years ago, brilliant for finding contracts; in my experience at least.

5 - It's impossible to answer this - if you don't find a permanent role you're unlikely to progress your skill set whilst working; however if contract you've got the potential down-time, and warchest, to persue higher level education or technical qualifications. Neither of which are guaranteed.

All the best.

[jmo21]

I don't agree, you can still make good money doing support, ok your not going to get £500 a day but some support jobs especially with security clearance can pay reasonable money for a support skillset.

that's why I said "usually".

If you have niche support skillset, banking exp, security etc, then yes, there will be exceptions.

[jmo21]

Thank you for your reply jmo21.

Sorry, the charity work was paid, and the highest rate i have received, at £130 daily. That ended in December.
I also have a supermarket job i have had for 6 years at weekends, so i have not been technically out of work since then but as it is not an IT job then i cant see agencies being interested in that at all.

I have minor interest in networking as i did a degree it in. I have looked and that is more well paid than a general support engineer, but i dont think i would find that interesting enough to persue a career in. However i find wages one of the highest priorities when looking for a job.

Saying that, i am 25 now and thought i would have been working longer and had more experience than i have currently got.

If you started as a IT support engineer have you moved on from there to other roles?

You seem like an honest chap but it's all rather wishy washy to me. You don't seem sure what type of IT role you want to do (or try), so how you can expect to be a contractor is beyond me.

Good on you for supplementing your income with the weekend job, but don't mention that to agents, they will probably not take you seriously.

My advice hasn't changed. Get some solid experience under your belt. A few years at a good company, they maybe move on to another to for a couple of years, then have a look at contracting again in the future.

For what it's worth, I'm a developer, worked permanent jobs for 8 years before I started contracting, still doing development. Not everyone needs to put in X years permanent work before they start contracting, but I feel you do need that.