Contracting straight out of uni. Is it doable?

[I just need to test it]

An undergraduate joined the company I was at in the 1990s as part of his sandwich course and was placed in the SAP development team.

He had the following attributes: hardworking, very clever, very very confident.

In the course of his sandwich course placement he left to go contracting on 700 quid a day (he returned to university as planned the following September). Upon graduating he returned to contracting.

Things to note: the confidence that helped him make the leap into contracting was the same confidence that caused him to wind up a lot of the guys in the office. It took him a good deal of pain to make the adjustment from student knocking about with students to being in a professional environment.

But yes, it's possible. It just won't be easy and with the greatest of respect to both you and your lecturers I'd expect that you'll have yawning gaps in your business experience that no amount of exceptional qualifications will mask.

But good luck, mate. I admire your bottle.

[pr1]

I'm a C# developer with a pretty high first class degree in computer science from a very good uni (also 94+ in all modules related to software engineering). I have worked for 3 IT companies already (roughly 2 years in total now, all .NET related experience). Rather than going for a permie job after graduating - is it feasible to attempt to swim the contractor waters? I have a bit of money saved up so could potentially survive upto 6 months of no pay/set up costs etc. If this is possible - what kind of challenges should I expect/research? Thanks!

+1 to permie experience first

I know it feels like you're the dogs b****cks with your top of the class first, and amongst your peer group you probably are - but in the real world your exam scores don't really matter as if you're going straight into contracting you'll likely be competing with people with +5 +10 +15 years experience on you (for anything other than the lowest rates) - they'll know how to talk the talk better than you and will have evidence of delivered projects

I was in a similar situation to you (though I'm an engineer) - I worked with engineering consultancies in my uni holidays and then had 3 years of full time perm experience and now I'm contracting on the same rates as people with +15/20 years on me, but there's no way I could have done it straight from uni, there's a lot you don't know you don't know until you start working properly (i.e. not just holiday jobs)

Good luck, it sounds like you have really good foundations for a great career

[LondonManc]

Welcome to the world of degree-laden IT people. Yours is just the latest year to receive that special piece of paper.

Get a permie job, climb as high as you can, as quickly as you can, most importantly with all your training and learning paid for by someone else. Why settle for a £200/day code monkey job now when you could command £500/day as an SME in ten years?

PurpleGorilla will be along shortly to discuss the Entitled Generation.

[Unix]

I don't really agree.

Obviously, you have never worked with a really smart graduate, say, with a 1st in Maths, from Cambridge, for example.
I have, although they need to be carefully managed, I was surprised, with a little guidance, what they could achieve, in a short space of time.

This, actually, reinforces the point that contracting is not suitable for graduates straight out of uni, in its purest form, as they cannot, usually, manage themselves.

A first in Maths from Cambridge means nothing if they have no experience in software development. It might mean they learn in half the time but that's still going to take years. As with any skill the only way you become good at programming is by doing it day in day out for years.

[MrMarkyMark]

A first in Maths from Cambridge means nothing if they have no experience in software development. It might mean they learn in half the time but that's still going to take years. As with any skill the only way you become good at programming is by doing it 9-5 for years.

True, but this guy had plenty of programming too, he didn't do pure maths.

Some people don't have to do it for years, please stop generalising.
You have to accept there are plenty of people smarter than you, on this planet, we all do.

[diseasex]

As with any skill the only way you become good at programming is by doing it day in day out for years.

Amen to that
It took me years to get "attention to details" , "strong selftesting practices" etc. Not an easy cake

[d000hg]

You certainly can get a non-permie job but I would doubt it will be a typical contractor role like most of us are on either. More likely you might get freelance work with small local companies for (maybe) £20-25/hr (which is not to be sniffed at).

Lots of people work this way as their 'job', especially in web-dev, and it can be pretty fun. I did some bits and pieces, and know some recent graduates who are going this direction as traditional employment is not what they're really after.

You CAN also look on sites like rentacoder/freelancer/uwork but this can be hard work to find anything that pays well enough.

Good luck.

[vadhert]

In The summer of 98 I left college and was sue to start a university degree at Sussex. During the summer I spoke to an agent about a junior contract gig at a big telco just at the begining of the broadband boom.

Needless to say junior gig turned into senior gig and coming towards the end of summer and I decided not to bother with university as I would be contracting after anyway.

16+ years later still contracting. You could say I got lucky at the right time.

[cannon999]

A first in Maths from Cambridge means nothing if they have no experience in software development. It might mean they learn in half the time but that's still going to take years. As with any skill the only way you become good at programming is by doing it day in day out for years.

I don't think you fully realize what a Mathematics degree is. Or for that matter what it means getting a first in that degree from Cambridge. Those people will be in the top percentile of the planet in terms of brain power and methodical thinking. Not all of them will have the best social skills of course but again we can't generalise.

[Unix]

True, but this guy had plenty of programming too, he didn't do pure maths.

Some people don't have to do it for years, please stop generalising.
You have to accept there are plenty of people smarter than you, on this planet, we all do.

There is more to it than the writing of code, there is all the tricks, tools, libraries etc that just take time. I accept there are people smarter than me but non of them can become an experienced programmer without working in the business for a few years.