Contracting, a mistake anyone?

[XLMonkey]

40 is about when you get made redundant as a permie & start contracting...

HTH.

you only say that because 40 is 25 in lizard years.....

I have no regrets - but then, if something permanent comes up that I go for in a couple of years time - I won't have any regrets about doing that, either. Regrets usually happen if you don't understand that staying where you are often carries as much risk as going somewhere else.

[lilelvis2000]

40 is about when you get made redundant as a permie & start contracting...

HTH.

Its a double blow - you become more expensive than an Indian programmer and so you're sacked. And, you're an "over-experienced" contractor who will have to work on peanuts rates - until they find a Indian contractor - then you're terminated.


Wonder what the BCS says about this?...yup...there's a skills shortage... and that's all they say.

[wendigo100]

Its the way to go if you are a young programmer. by "young" I mean under 40. When you get to 40 even permanent jobs become hard to find - just read the letters in Computing - and so it may be best to switch to perm by then.

I'm not so sure about that. It's only my personal opinion, but IT people over 40 are more attractive in the market as contractors than permies. More so for the over 50s. And especially more so with the new age discrimination legislation.

[swamp]

I don't regret going contracting in the slightest. In fact I don't really think I could have a decent career as a permie because I'm just not a 'big company' person.

Right now I wouldn't go perm, even for the same money. But I know alot of contractors who would.

[VectraMan]

I'm not so sure about that. It's only my personal opinion, but IT people over 40 are more attractive in the market as contractors than permies. More so for the over 50s. And especially more so with the new age discrimination legislation.

I agree. If you follow a permie career path, then by the time you're in your 40s you should be in some senior management role, and anyone who isn't looks crap and/or lazy to employers and is seen as more of a risk than a cheaper 25 year old. And anyone who is has a problem as there aren't as many senior roles available.

Contractors don't have the risk element attached, and experience is valuable.

[VectraMan]

I don't regret going contracting in the slightest. In fact I don't really think I could have a decent career as a permie because I'm just not a 'big company' person.

Me neither. All my career as a permie I worked for small companies. The first time I've ever worked for a big company is now as a contractor. A lot of the people I work with are very bright and very good at what they do, but it seems they've sold their souls to this big corporation, and I could never do that. It's not a bad job I'm doing now, but the whole corporate culture just winds me up and I could never stand it if I couldn't tell myself I'm only there temporarily.

At this point I'd only want to do permiedom if I got to be a director and significant shareholder of the company.

[lilelvis2000]

Time for plan B I suppose...

[unixmerc]

Thrown into contracting from an early start. I never did a permie IT role. At 19 sent my CV to an agency recruiting field engineers for a london corp. I convinced a friend who worked in 3rd line support to lie saying I was desktop support for his co for two years and he gave me good ref. Got thrown into IT hardware. Thats when I first encountered servers and huge printers. Didnt have a clue but being the cowboy I went allong with it. Apart from making a lot of people mad, by my inability to distinguish between a tape drive and a scsi hd, I did quiet well. Earned 30k or so that year.
Did loads of contracts doing field repairs. It was funny how every company that was recruiting advertised as wanting someone to go perm with them for only £5 a day less than temp. Then you meet their perm staff on occassion and they do twice the number of calls u do and get paid less.
Took on a long haul pc install contract for siemens and vosa for over a year, low pay, but great staff and easy as hell work. Almost every cordinator sounded like a hot female, friendly as hell, even met a few and tech support were less technical than a cisco guy serving ice creams at wimbledon. Three months of being on standby. Better tan than you could get in spain and paid for every day.
That was the life. If I could go permie for a lower wage, I problably would, just to get my life and skills in order. Am I the only contractor that never had a perm role?

[bobhope]

I wish I had gone permie sooner too. Strangely, the only problems I ever had job-wise were as a permie. The only time I've had to sue (or threaten to sue) a client/employer was as a permie. I would more than a bit reluctant to go back. The offer would have to be significantly above what I'm currently making.

[mcquiggd]

I tend to dip in and out of permie roles - for example Ive been permanent for 5 months now, but am sorely tempted to go back to contracting. Im 38 next april, and as mentioned earlier, everyone wants me to be a manager (which I have tried, and it doesn't suit me).

At least with contracting you can be 'just a techie', which is all I want. You can also 'forget' to update your age on your CV and nobody minds.

But, as we all know, ageism is rampant in IT. I'm not sure if its best to contract, take the money and then try to set yoursekf up outside IT, or try to stick it out as a permie and wait for the redundancy...