Reply to: Should I take a new contract at a substantially lower rate for experience?

[Peter Loew]

It is possible

Noone said it's impossible to skill up or sideways as a contractor. What we are trying to tell you is that you can almost never get both - good rate and opportunity to skill up. And in your case it's not a matter of skilling up but rather a different role, yet you expect to get paid the same as an experienced PM... Good luck.

You can skill up and get a better rate, but in order to do so you have to be experienced. I'm in the position where I went for an interview for a PM role, but they found I met their programme manager requirement much better. So, new gig as a Programme Manager, plus higher rate (to be fair I am not unfamiliar with the role or with 'acting' in the role previously). And the bonus: I now have two clients till around Nov. time - mixed with WfH and p/t agreements, but it means I have more than 5 days per week of billing :-)

[TheFaQQer]

I did the same once. Made the mistake of telling agent my rate when looking for a new gig - told me I couldnt get £2 per day now, because my current gig was only £1 per day and it was too big of a jump. Even though current gig had only been 3 months and the previous 3-4 years I'd been on £3-4 per day.

So now I just tell them it's £72.40 a week

FTFY

[psychocandy]

I once took on a contract at a truly terrible rate for the experience. Even my dad felt sorry for me! I took the opportunity to absorb as much as I could along the way, learning from colleagues and so beefing up my offering to future clients. The gig after that my pay went up X3. I had the exact experience the client was looking for, and beat off a field of other better paid people along the way. NLUK is perfectly right about you needing to hit the ground running as a contractor, but the fact is that you learn/increase your skillset at every single gig so that your level of expertise increases with each gig. All clients are not the same; there's always something new to learn.

And btw; I did get agencies asking how much I had earned in my poorly paid role and my answer was always 'not enough'!

I did the same once. Made the mistake of telling agent my rate when looking for a new gig - told me I couldnt get £2 per day now, because my current gig was only £1 per day and it was too big of a jump. Even though current gig had only been 3 months and the previous 3-4 years I'd been on £3-4 per day.

So now I just lie about my rate.

[sal]

Thanks Elliegirl. Your experience proves that it isn't impossible to skill up, change roles and increase your pay if you're driven enough and prepared to make some sacrifices on the way. After all, if that wasn't possible, surely a contractor would be pretty much doomed to doing pretty much the same role from day one to eternity. My contracting 'career' has just begun and I'm certainly not ready to throw in the towel yet.

Noone said it's impossible to skill up or sideways as a contractor. What we are trying to tell you is that you can almost never get both - good rate and opportunity to skill up. And in your case it's not a matter of skilling up but rather a different role, yet you expect to get paid the same as an experienced PM... Good luck.

[ziggystardust]

I once took on a contract at a truly terrible rate for the experience. Even my dad felt sorry for me! I took the opportunity to absorb as much as I could along the way, learning from colleagues and so beefing up my offering to future clients. The gig after that my pay went up X3. I had the exact experience the client was looking for, and beat off a field of other better paid people along the way. NLUK is perfectly right about you needing to hit the ground running as a contractor, but the fact is that you learn/increase your skillset at every single gig so that your level of expertise increases with each gig. All clients are not the same; there's always something new to learn.

And btw; I did get agencies asking how much I had earned in my poorly paid role and my answer was always 'not enough'!

Thanks Elliegirl. Your experience proves that it isn't impossible to skill up, change roles and increase your pay if you're driven enough and prepared to make some sacrifices on the way. After all, if that wasn't possible, surely a contractor would be pretty much doomed to doing pretty much the same role from day one to eternity. My contracting 'career' has just begun and I'm certainly not ready to throw in the towel yet.

[Elliegirl]

I once took on a contract at a truly terrible rate for the experience. Even my dad felt sorry for me! I took the opportunity to absorb as much as I could along the way, learning from colleagues and so beefing up my offering to future clients. The gig after that my pay went up X3. I had the exact experience the client was looking for, and beat off a field of other better paid people along the way. NLUK is perfectly right about you needing to hit the ground running as a contractor, but the fact is that you learn/increase your skillset at every single gig so that your level of expertise increases with each gig. All clients are not the same; there's always something new to learn.

And btw; I did get agencies asking how much I had earned in my poorly paid role and my answer was always 'not enough'!

[sal]

If you'd struggle to live on a PM permie salary it might also be worth doing a comprehensive budget.

And if you can't do a comprehensive budget for yourself i would very much doubt your project management skills...

[d000hg]

If you'd struggle to live on a PM permie salary it might also be worth doing a comprehensive budget.

[sal]

2) get a permanent job for a year to upskill (which presently I could just about do but financially I would be struggling).

I'm not up-to-date with the pay for PMO/PM but i will go out on a limb and say that 12 month Junior PM salary > take home pay for 8.5 month of PMO contractor.

[TheFaQQer]

2) get a permanent job for a year to upskill (which presently I could just about do but financially I would be struggling).

I'm not a project manager, so I may be wrong, but one year's experience as a PM seems unlikely to me to get you far in the contract world.

Also, if you are struggling on a permanent salary, then you might need to really consider whether contracting is for you - you've already had 3.5 months off in each year, so what happens if that gets worse?

I will be committed to stay?

You will be committed to either fulfilling the contract, terminating the contract in line with the terms therein, or breaching the contract. All of those are valid choices, and only you can really decide on them.

Will taking a contract that might be more junior and not specifically related to what I have done for the sake of keeping the money coming in look bad on my CV when viewed by clients/agencies?

It depends on the mindset of the agent and the client - some won't even notice, some will ignore it, and it will put some off.

[ziggystardust]

I appreciate everyone's advice, all slightly different but good and has made one thing very clear. Basically I have two choices: I either 1)need to bite the bullet and take the first role that is vaguely related to what I have done before, even if it is at a substantially lower rate (above £0 per day) and then continue to chug along doing what I have been skilled in as a PMO Analyst in the security that I can get regular decent paid contracts. Or 2) get a permanent job for a year to upskill (which presently I could just about do but financially I would be struggling).

My concern is that with option 1, I could take on a very low paid, perhaps more junior skilled contract compared to my skills and experience for 6 months and then shortly after something much better comes along. I will be committed to stay? Will taking a contract that might be more junior and not specifically related to what I have done for the sake of keeping the money coming in look bad on my CV when viewed by clients/agencies?

[d000hg]

I made a bit of a schoolboy error on a day rate, last year. I had 1 contract at my usual rate. That ended just as a new contract came up in the same department (slightly different remit). I was basically asked if I wanted it and I said yes, assuming it was on the same terms as the current.

It turned out the new one was paying £15 per day less than the old one.

Now, it was only £15 a day and it was my stupid fault for not checking, but I spent the whole 6 months of that contract kicking myself for that error. It cost me just short of £2k.

Huh? When they showed you the contract why didn't you just kick up a fuss? For that little surely they would've played ball?

[psychocandy]

The $64K question all the time....

Experience or money, location or money etc.

Currently in a bit of a crap gig myself with ok rate, local, but a bit low tech (OK its windoze). If I stay here much longer then Im going to struggle to get back into my main thing (unix).

But of course, not renewing a local gig with ok rate is a tough decision to go on the bench and hope something comes up that you want. Meant to it last time but looked at warchest and thought 'one more extension'.

Can guarantee come xmas I'll be thinking 'oh could do with a bit more in warchest'.

Always a difficult decision things like this.

[TykeMerc]

My thinking is that this looks like you've been handed an opportunity to make a change that you want on a plate and you're just not happy with the colour of the plate.

As the others have pointed out, changing role as a contractor isn't the easiest thing to achieve, clients look to contract in an experienced specialist so a junior role to gain that experience is a must and not that common if truth be told.

As DiscoStu pointed out your day rate today is 0 so taking a role that after expenses gets more than that is a plus, with it carrying important experience that you need it's a big plus.

If you're worried about the day rate and the future, then I think you will find most of us don't put our rates on our CV's and when asked by agents we discuss the rates we want, not what we accepted in the past.

[sal]

So long story short, you had 2 contracts as PMO Analyst and 7 months on the bench in the past 2 years and now you are looking for someone to offer you a PM contract, just because you feel you are ready for the big bucks.... Do you have any PM experience as a perm before that? Because the last 2 years of your CV are not instilling confidence at all.

Newsflash - The clients are paying premium for contractors for a reason and that reason is not the privilege of training and advancing their careers.

Like other already suggested - go perm or low paid tulip contract that no one else wants if you want to skill up. And any rate is better than the £0/day you get on the bench.