Contacting Newbie

[TK421]

the ability to work a contract then maybe travel for a month or two between contracts is appealing to me, as I am not originally from the UK.

When I made the move from permie to contractor this year, a friend of mine advised to work for a year or so to build up cash in the business, and then after that take time off. His main advice was to make the holiday / break plans and then stick to it - if the market is bouyant then it's difficult to turn down work when agents keep ringing you...

His other advice was not to think about non-work things in terms of a billable day - if you think "this holiday is costing me £4000 in missed work" or "I can buy that Plasma screen TV, it's only three days work" then you're going to have problems!

[weemster]

Thats good advice

Only just managing this approach now although its taken me a little while come round to this way of thinking.

[Fleetwood]

if the market is bouyant

buoyant

[boredsenseless]

I am a c#.net/vb.net developer with almost exactly 3.5 years experience working mainly in the legal industry, after much research I have come to the conclusion that contracting is where I should be, and I've started put the wheels in motion to make the move.

Flipping heck does no one actually spend any time learning the trade and getting real experience nowadays before holding themselves up as experts.

[boredsenseless]

His other advice was not to think about non-work things in terms of a billable day - if you think "this holiday is costing me £4000 in missed work" or "I can buy that Plasma screen TV, it's only three days work" then you're going to have problems!

Probably the best bit of advice you'll ever get for free. Downtime is a necessary to keep you sane, and after a while you'll realise you can't actually put a price on it

[Fleetwood]

Probably the best bit of advice you'll ever get for free.

I would add :
a) never drive a better car than the boss
b) don't talk to permies

[Toasta]

Flipping heck does no one actually spend any time learning the trade and getting real experience nowadays before holding themselves up as experts.

What?

I never held myself up as an expert, 80% of the jobs i've been looking at on JobServe have asked for 3.5 years experience. Check. And I would say I have a pretty good handle on the trade, I've led projects, managed people under me and worked in my trade in three different countries.

How much experience would you suggest I need before moving into contracting?

[Toasta]

When I made the move from permie to contractor this year, a friend of mine advised to work for a year or so to build up cash in the business, and then after that take time off. His main advice was to make the holiday / break plans and then stick to it - if the market is bouyant then it's difficult to turn down work when agents keep ringing you...

His other advice was not to think about non-work things in terms of a billable day - if you think "this holiday is costing me £4000 in missed work" or "I can buy that Plasma screen TV, it's only three days work" then you're going to have problems!

HTH,

Matt

Good advice, cheers.

[Diestl]

Flipping heck does no one actually spend any time learning the trade and getting real experience nowadays before holding themselves up as experts.

Crap, I've seen folks with a few years experience wipe the floor with guys with 15 years, depends on how good they are.

[malvolio]

What?

I never held myself up as an expert, 80% of the jobs i've been looking at on JobServe have asked for 3.5 years experience. Check. And I would say I have a pretty good handle on the trade, I've led projects, managed people under me and worked in my trade in three different countries.

How much experience would you suggest I need before moving into contracting?

Proof of delivery as a contractor - otherwise you're at the end of the line, no matter how good your technical skills.

Anyway, that's not really the problem. The exam question is "How much do you know about contracting in the 21st century under this government?"....My guess is "Sod all", but I'm happy to be proved wrong