Is Contracting worth it? - What do you thinK?

[bren586]

Rebecca in "working this weekend and netting as much there as many permie gross in a month" mode!

Damm that is good to hear - contracting is not dead !

[cojak]

Accountants are not free, they typically average £1000 p.a

Then you're using the wrong accountant mate - mine saves me much more than that per year

Accountant joke: divide by 90, multiply by 100 = ker-ching....

[Francko]

Rebecca in "working this weekend and netting as much there as many permie gross in a month" mode!

Could that be because your net is almost the same as your gross?

[Denny]

Yes.

There is no such thing as job security - unless you are some sort of civil servant but I value my brain too much to do that.

Financially, I'm not a big earning consultant, but I'm still better off.

The big plus is the broader experience. Like most contractors, I've worked at many different firms and places, and with loads of different people.

There are downsides. I don't take as many holidays as I should, and looking around for new work at the end of a contract can be a pain.

That probably sums up contracting from my experience. More flexibility to work in different organisations, no office politics (although hardly true at senior level), don't have to commute everyday of the working year. It's a lifestyle choice. It doesn't mean you will earn more overall, when you take a longer term view. Pro rata daily rates multiplied by the number of weeks a permy would work may seem attractive financially, but you have to account for downturns in the market, searching between contracts and so on. These are all harsh realities contractors face every couple of years or so.

[Fungus]

Nice to hear this! The one thing i do not understand is that some people state that NI and IR35 are avoidable. How is this possible?

IR35 IS avoidable, but you need to get good advice. The IR don't mess about and I know people who have been hit by them.

Leif

[messiah]

yes it is .

I reckon overall contracting IS worth it. Contracting 4 months I've been able to save up 3 times as much as I could have done in my old permie job.

What I am doing now is almost the same as what I was doing back at my permie job but I am earning 3 times more.

I was doing exactly the same job for 2 and half years in my old permie job then they recruit this French t*at manager who starts getting rid of all the Brits and undesirable non French Speaking workers and replacing them with French / French Canadian guys and this is in their central London office.

I approached the head of IT about this and he just told me 'its just part of the business, new managers come into new organisations and they have increased expectations'. At that point I knew that I no one really cared, this new French boss was a racist nightmare who kept claiming that I wasn't productive enough yet I had worked at the same pace that I did when I started, achieved results and delivered on time.

I mentioned the French invasion to the cow HR woman at the exit interview and she didn't even bother replying.

In the last few weeks I made sure that my work tailed off and that deadlines were not met after I got a contract job for 3 times the pay.
I just didn't tell him where I was going and slacked.

If you want to be stuck in a rut for year after year seeing people coming in getting promoted through nepotism, with no bonus, little or no pay increases, grade 'C' (in with the rest of the animals medical insurance), crap pension that will be worthless when u are an old fart at 50, masses of politics, endless boring de-skilling meetings and general abuse from an arsey IT manager and no training then you stay in your permie job.

On the otherhand if you want a true incentive based career in IT where you will push yourself to suceed, deliver and learn then go contracting.


* They will sell you, your family and your home down the river on a whim.

[Rebecca Loos]

Could that be because your net is almost the same as your gross?

Aye Franco - isn't the point of contracting aiming to minimise the gross - net?

No income tax, no VAT
No money back, no guarantee

Rebecca in Del Boy mode

[Francko]

[...]
If you want to be stuck in a rut for year after year seeing people coming in getting promoted through nepotism, with no bonus, little or no pay increases, grade 'C' (in with the rest of the animals medical insurance), crap pension that will be worthless when u are an old fart at 50, masses of politics, endless boring de-skilling meetings and general abuse from an arsey IT manager and no training then you stay in your permie job.

On the otherhand if you want a true incentive based career in IT where you will push yourself to suceed, deliver and learn then go contracting.
[..]

Why? You think you have become immune to nepotism and politics now that you are a contractor? How about the new [put a nationality you dislike here] IT manager who starts replacing the existing contractors with [put a nationality you dislike here] contractors? Or when they drag you to boring meetings all day long when they ask you to deliver on-time too? You think you can refuse just because you are a contractor? There is only 1 thing that you mentioned that makes contracting more appealing. Money. And it's hard to find a contract that pays 3 times more (or even 2 - if I could find it I will quit tomorrow) those days. The rest is crap, for all of us.

[Rebecca Loos]

Franco you are quite sexy when you get agitated like that (I had to read your piece with an Italian accent.... whooooo) but you are wrong.

The point is not that we may or may not be victim of nepotism / nationality preference. This can happen. However, this is par for the course for contractors: we might get removed for reasons that are nothing to do with our contribution to the project. We know that. All we ever rely on is what's on our contract, and do not extrapolate further. My current extension ends at the end of October, and I am not expecting anything after that, even if I know that an extnesion is likely - I am not taking it for granted and if it doesn't happen, I won't throw my toys out of the pram or become upset that they are getting rid of me because I am a girl / not good enough / not english / don't wear enough short skirts / don't fit in / am lazy / spend too much time on this board / charge too much / am not black / whatever.

From a project point of view, we distance ourselves from the 'why' to simply focus on the 'how much'. That's enough.

And btw, how much is usually more than 3 times the permie rate. Maybe not when you start contracting, but after a few years, no problem.

[voron]

And btw, how much is usually more than 3 times the permie rate. Maybe not when you start contracting, but after a few years, no problem.

Then there's hope for me yet. So glad I didn't sell that kidney.