Do not jump into contracting now!!!

[miffy]

The choice is even easier for me seeing as in my location .Net permie seems to pays up to £35k and contract rates up to £40/hour, according to figures available on jobserve. Strangely the advertised permie salaries down south don't seem much better, but an extra tenner a hour for contracting is achievable.

If permie was £45k there might have been more for me to think about.

I haven't seen much above 35-40k in the midlands for permie work in my field either.

I've found (for me), anything above 35k is usually working for a reseller/consultancy and I've been there. Doing 30-40,000 miles a year and living out of a suitcase is just a mugs game, you're working twice as hard for a little more money after the 40% tax bracket has taken the lions share.

[MarillionFan]

Back in 2002 I went from a 14k permy role to a 40k 12 month contract in my first year of venturing into this IT lark, sometimes you have nothing to lose!

On the bench now though.

Snigger.

I went from 28k to 100k

[VectraMan]

I haven't seen much above 35-40k in the midlands for permie work in my field either..

I think I'd be looking at £40-45K, which is a bit poor considering I was on £44K 5 years ago.

And for that I'd probably have to work fairly hard and show dedication to somebody else's company. I can't help feeling that if I can't make at least that much out of my own business one way or another, then I ought to give up on IT and do something brainless instead.

[Shimano105]

Personally I think that the key to whether contracting is for you or not is how many debts you have to service.

If you are mortgage free with a bit of a savings fund then you won't have the cold sweats at 3am when you haven't worked for a month.

With this kind of lifestyle you realise that you can still get by with a shelf-stacking job at Tesco if it came to it.

Still, I've reckoned that if I pay my credit cards with my new credit card...

[Turion]

Personally I think that the key to whether contracting is for you or not is how many debts you have to service.

If you are mortgage free with a bit of a savings fund then you won't have the cold sweats at 3am when you haven't worked for a month.

For many potential cons it's a chicken and egg situation. They have large debts and figure that by going contract thay can pay them off quickly. In most cases this strategy will work if you get steady contracts, pay off the debt with this extra income rather than spending it. The key is to not think that any increase in earning is permanent and maintain spending at permie levels. This allows to pay off debts and build up cash and investments in the good times, and live comfortably in bad. Some contractors have increased their borrowings based on their current earnings. These are the ones that could come unstuck, same as permies servicing large debts.

[HRH]

As long as people are aware that at 40+ you are pretty much unemployable and make hay while the sun shines they will be ok.

[Francko]

As long as people are aware that at 40+ you are pretty much unemployable and make hay while the sun shines they will be ok.

That's not true in UK. Plenty of jobs in Tesco and Sainsbury for the over 40.

[Turion]

As long as people are aware that at 40+ you are pretty much unemployable and make hay while the sun shines they will be ok.

Can you explain in detail with evidence and research (links) to back up this statement. I'm sure many 'members the board' would be interested to know?

[BrilloPad]

Can you explain in detail with evidence and research (links) to back up this statement. I'm sure many 'members the board' would be interested to know?

are you joking or trolling?

clients seem to think that IT workers should be aged under 35. or Indian. or both.

having said that I am 45 and contract in an IB. But I doubt I will last much longer. Amazed I have lasted the 19.5 years in city contracting which I have.

[SueEllen]

Can you explain in detail with evidence and research (links) to back up this statement. I'm sure many 'members the board' would be interested to know?

Concrete statistics on agism like with all "isms" is actually hard to find.
When you discriminate against people unless you are stupid, you don't tell them you are discriminating against them - you tell them that they won't fit into the team or company structure.