Too Picky?

[reddog]

Hi,
I'm new to contracting and have been looking around for about a 4 weeks for my first contract. Apart from agents calling me about roles I'm not interested in, I'm finding it difficult to get the right contract to get me started. I think one of problems may be that I am being too picky. When deciding to go contracting I decided on the following critera for my first contract:

1) I plan to start with a six months contract.

2) I would like my first contract to be close-ish to home. I live in Birmingham and would happily travel as far South as Oxford and as far North as Nottingham - obviously I know the really money is in London / South East but would like my 1st contract to not involve living away from home.

3) Rate of £40 p/h or £300 per day - any thing less than this would'nt really make contracting worthwhile for me.

4) My official notice is 3 months. Obviously I would negotiate this down but the lowest I could offer without leaving my current company under a cloud is 4 weeks. So this is the notice I have been telling agents.

My skills are Unix Systems Admin with knowledge of SAN and middleware.

Should I lower my expectations or just hold out to get the right contract? Was I right to draw up a list of critera for a first contract? I guess it could just be that it is holiday season?

Cheers

[DimPrawn]

I think you are dreaming.

1 to 3 months notice, min of £40 p/h, not willing to travel far, not located in the SE, 1st contract (no history of delivering as a contractor), not willing to accept a contract under 6 months (most start newbies at 3 months), admin skills etc

Not a chance in hell.

Good luck.

PS Every thought of staying permie?

[Cowboy Bob]

Hi,
I'm new to contracting and have been looking around for about a 4 weeks for my first contract. Apart from agents calling me about roles I'm not interested in, I'm finding it difficult to get the right contract to get me started. I think one of problems may be that I am being too picky. When deciding to go contracting I decided on the following critera for my first contract:

1) I plan to start with a six months contract.

2) I would like my first contract to be close-ish to home. I live in Birmingham and would happily travel as far South as Oxford and as far North as Nottingham - obviously I know the really money is in London / South East but would like my 1st contract to not involve living away from home.

3) Rate of £40 p/h or £300 per day - any thing less than this would'nt really make contracting worthwhile for me.

4) My official notice is 3 months. Obviously I would negotiate this down but the lowest I could offer without leaving my current company under a cloud is 4 weeks. So this is the notice I have been telling agents.

My skills are Unix Systems Admin with knowledge of SAN and middleware.

Should I lower my expectations or just hold out to get the right contract? Was I right to draw up a list of critera for a first contract? I guess it could just be that it is holiday season?

Cheers

Lower your rate for three reasons:-

1) It's your first contract
2) You need to give the client a reason to wait anything more than a week
3) SysAdmins are not regarded as valuable as Devs by PHBs (whether that is a correct view is neither here nor there)

[reddog]

I could compromise on moving to South East and going for a 3 month contract. With regard to rate I could maybe go a bit lower - but when you start looking at getting down to the £250 per day mark I think I would be better of staying permie. Any thoughts on notice? Is 4 weeks notice far too long?

[Cowboy Bob]

I could compromise on moving to South East and going for a 3 month contract. With regard to rate I could maybe go a bit lower - but when you start looking at getting down to the £250 per day mark I think I would be better of staying permie. Any thoughts on notice? Is 4 weeks notice far too long?

Yeah, 4 weeks is far too long. 10 days is about the max. The whole point of getting a contractor is that you're getting someone to fix a problem right now.

BTW, for info, my first contract was £235 a day.

[oraclesmith]

Hi,
I'm new to contracting and have been looking around for about a 4 weeks for my first contract. Apart from agents calling me about roles I'm not interested in, I'm finding it difficult to get the right contract to get me started. I think one of problems may be that I am being too picky. When deciding to go contracting I decided on the following critera for my first contract:

1) I plan to start with a six months contract.

Why ? Won't 3 months do, with the possibility of renewing from then ? Otherwise you cut out a lot of short term contracts - and short term requirements is what contractors are there to do, or they would get permies in, wouldn't they ?

2) I would like my first contract to be close-ish to home. I live in Birmingham and would happily travel as far South as Oxford and as far North as Nottingham - obviously I know the really money is in London / South East but would like my 1st contract to not involve living away from home.

Fair enough, but I searched the board just now for UNIX systems administrators and I got maybe three that were in or near the Midlands.

3) Rate of £40 p/h or £300 per day - any thing less than this would'nt really make contracting worthwhile for me.

You must be on a pretty high salary then. As a contractor (limited co.) you have access to a number of ways of maximising your effective usable income.

4) My official notice is 3 months. Obviously I would negotiate this down but the lowest I could offer without leaving my current company under a cloud is 4 weeks. So this is the notice I have been telling agents.

Ooooh ! All the contracts I've seen are for starting asap. It's not just the clients that need people ASAP, the agents want their money too, so often they will prefer someone available immediately even if they aren't as good. Contract UNIX systems admins must surely major in backfilling for permies who have left the firm rather than being part of some measured project plan, which means they're more likely to be needed asap than, say, application designers.

My skills are Unix Systems Admin with knowledge of SAN and middleware.

Should I lower my expectations or just hold out to get the right contract? Was I right to draw up a list of critera for a first contract? I guess it could just be that it is holiday season?

Cheers

If you're not that bothered going contracting and you're prepared to wait (you have got a permanent job after all) then I guess you could hold out for the silver-lined contract you need, but it might never come.

[reddog]

Thanks for you input guys - I'd be interested in knowing the circumstances people left their last permie job to get into contracting? I'm kind of thinking that if I give my current employer 10 days notice they won't be too happy. Obviously there are ways around this, such as just not turning up to work one day etc. (one question that arises from this is how important are references from your last employer?), but I would really prefer not to go down this avenue if possible.

[oraclesmith]

but when you start looking at getting down to the £250 per day mark I think I would be better of staying permie.

Yes, maybe in the short term on a like for like basis. But don't forget that with one or two 3 monthers behind you and the resulting minimal notice requirement, you will soon be able to up your rate.

[oraclesmith]

Thanks for you input guys - I'd be interested in knowing the circumstances people left their last permie job to get into contracting?

Well I took voluntary redundancy.... Keeerching !!! So I'm not much use to you. However, there is another thread somewhere that might be of help.

[oraclesmith]

If you're confident there are a good selection of contracts out there for you (once you've adjusted your criteria that is) and you have the finances and support of family/friends, then you could hand in your notice anyway and get on with it.

If contracting is a long term desire rather than something you need to do this year, then I guess you could take up another permie job for a year or so - one that has a one month notice or less.

How about if you pay them in lieu of notice ? And maybe help them get in a replacement. It all helps.

If you're boss is reasonable, then you could let him/her into your long term plans (make sure they know it's for aspirational reasons and the like and not just to dump them in the poo). Some bosses are OK with this sort of thing if they don't think you're angling for more cash. You could then talk about a skills transfer plan and a timescale.