if you had opportunity to start again what mistakes would you avoid ?

[geoffreywhereveryoumaybe]

Agreed Scraggy

Some enlightening but also quite depressing responses to this thread.

As a freelancer, your are hired for your technical skills and can be bypassed when the permies are making decisions even ill-advised ones. As a contractor, I relish that I can opt out of all the office politics and concentrate on delivering and when I leave at the end of the day the work doesn't come home with me.

But for some of yesterday's posters to compare a contactor's woe with the experiene of somebody just starting out is very far of the mark.

[GreenLabel]

They are fooked, basically. Best just to explain to them that the UK has tanked economically and all the jobs have gone to India (etc.) Oh, and they have no chance of ever being able to afford a house. Best hope for them is to pack up and emmigrate.

FTFY.

[VirtualMonkey]

I really like and enjoy my life.

Definitely no regrets having gone contracting, still enjoy coding and giving users what they want, then there is Hawaii, New York, Vegas etc.... made possible by contracting £££

Contracting is a facilitator, it is not your life, it enables your life.

My whole reason for being in contracting as well.
When I think back I should have made the change a couple of years before I did but because I was worried about not having money coming in I didn't. Looking back at my looking back I realise that if I had gone contracting earlier I wouldn't be where I am now because I needed the extra few years to mature into more 'senior' roles that have added the extra value to many of my contracts.

Contracting allows myself, my wife and our two kids the freedom to not worry about the mortgage (which I still have), run a holiday caravan which we use often and have usually 2 expensive holidays a year.
Sure it's a complete b***ache that I have to be away for a number of nights a week but even that is down to 1 most weeks now and wfh the rest of the time. I'm not keen on IT anymore but it's what I'm good at and I'm making hay while the sun shines. When the idea for plan B hits me...or when the next recession comes around (a time when I should have money to take advantage of it) I should be able to go and do something less boring instead