General advice about switching

[SueEllen]

Hi all,

I've read the first timers guide and plenty of other sources about switching from perm to contract. I'll give my current situation, then I have a few questions.

I'm currently a 25 year old Systems Engineer in Oxfordshire, earning circa £35k before tax, I mainly work with Linux, general Sys Admin tasks, etc, some networking skills. Due to the nature of my employers work (a massive estate, we're an ISP with lots of services), I'm not much of an expert in one thing, but fairly skilled in many things. I have a Uni degree (BSc) and this year, I'll be coming up to 4 years experience.

blah blah

blah blah

The rest of my concerns are largely ones I need to make personally. For example although my job is mundane and not the best pay, it's extremely easy (a bad thing too, as there's no challenge), it's right next to my house which means I can spend lunch at home walking my dog and I can turn up whenever I want (flexi-time) in jeans and a t-shirt. Contracting means much longer hours, commuting and lots of challenges (and wearing a suit, my pet hate), but it seems the only way to start earning real money.

Cheers,
SysEng.

Get another permanent job.

There are decently paid permanent jobs out there but you have to be willing to commute to do them. This means you won't be able to go home and walk your dog at lunch time.

Once you have done that job for a year and can cope with not going home being able to go home at lunch time then look into contracting.

In London good permanent linux systems admins can earn 70K and that's the roles that are advertised on job boards.

And I only wear a suit to interviews - but then I'm female. Most people in IT don't wear suits unless they are management and client facing.

[DallasDad]

OP
If I read your self description correctly the type of work you currently do, which in turn is I hope, what you are most experienced in doing and hence is the type of work you should be looking to do as a contractor, will involve a fair amount of SDC and hence will most likely be inside IR35.

I have yet to work with a Systems Admin/Engineer who is/was not subject to often considerable process, documentation, supervision and direction even if not immediately obvious.

So when playing with the calculators use the ones based on Umbrella incomes which now T&S is no longer available should simply calculate full PAYE based on hourly or day rate.
That is your comparison to use against your permie rate minus potential bench time between contracts, loss of paid sick pay, paid holidays, employers pension etc.

It is then an entirely separate exercise to decide if running a LTD still while still paying full Paye is worth while, there are still benefits to be had going Ltd. such as the VAT FRS scheme even inside IR35.