Reply to: Would you move into contracting in my situation? And some advice about consulting?

[northernladuk]

he is though. how can you know if you are if you haven't? if you do and you still do then there you are - you must be.

Whoooaaa dude, that's deeeeep!

[DS23]

WHHAAAAATT!!!

I thought you were born a contractor.. OMG I'm broken.

he is though. how can you know if you are if you haven't? if you do and you still do then there you are - you must be.

[clearedforlanding]

Hi,

I am in a very lucrative market right now where contractors get paid somewhere between £250-£350 a day.

I have IT certifications for the relevant softwares companies demand.

And I also have ton of technical coding knowledge from mentoring people.

However, I lack consulting experience. People with less English language skills can do it and I wonder why I can't.

For me consulting feels like an under pressure job where I have to deliver whatever client asks for and be able to handle whatever issues come my way in a very short period of time.

In reality this is negotiated but I feel very anxious when I think about consulting like this. But I wonder why I feel so nervous because I am one of the most knowledgeable people around.

What's your advice on being able to handle the two things? What should I do?

I am looking for really sound advice so please help

Outside the UK, that could be one hell of a good rate. Wouldn't be bad in Delhi, or Hungary for that matter.

But anyway, good rate or not: MTFU +1

[SueEllen]

You've clearly not visited General, have you.

Not everyone is like PC and Suity.

[northernladuk]

I write as someone who three years into contracting couldn't find a contract for over seven months.

WHHAAAAATT!!!

I thought you were born a contractor.. OMG I'm broken.

[nomadd]

To be a successful contractor you need:

3: Strong people & communication skills.

You've clearly not visited General, have you.

[LondonManc]

<snip - not responding to that bit>
When you look at experienced contractors who cannot get a contract for a year, do you honestly think that they haven't considered a move back into a permanent job in that time?

I'd consider awesome perm from the start - by that I mean jobs that are a promotion (head of department) and offer further opportunities for progress. So, yes, I'd turn my back on a contractor's lifestyle for the carrot of a higher level perm with a view to a further step up the ladder in the short to medium term. Why? Mainly because two steps up would bring my overall package in line with my contracting income as well as lead on to other "top table" opportunities, directorships, etc. I'm in this for my family and if they're better served by me being a CIO closer to home then so be it.

As for taking a perm role of the level at which I'd been contracting, then I'd say after six months or two months before my warchest runs out. Each to their own though.

[TheFaQQer]

Maybe time will tell, I don't think the idea I could go back tomorrow (18months later) is laughable - I'm still in touch with my old employer and people who work there, they're always asking.

So it must be true for everyone? My former employer moved from Oracle to SAP between the time when I left them and when I might have considered being desperate enough to move back. Just because your employer would welcome you back with open arms, that doesn't extrapolate to "if you're struggling to find a contract for a few months you can always go back to a perm job"

You sound like you're talking about someone who's been contracting for years by which point you don't have an excuse not to have a reasonable warchest and by which point, yes, I can appreciate those problems could arise - but they're not the reason not to start out contracting in the first place - by the time it happens you might have paid off your mortgage

I write as someone who three years into contracting couldn't find a contract for over seven months. Warchest (which was set up at that stage to last about 8-9 months) pretty much depleted. Mortgage still very much in existence. Bills to pay. No extravagant lifestyle to feed.

But that's OK, because I could have just walked into a permanent job, right?

When you look at experienced contractors who cannot get a contract for a year, do you honestly think that they haven't considered a move back into a permanent job in that time?

[uk contractor]

If you have to ask for advice on here then quite clearly your not suited to being a contractor are you! To be a successful contractor you need:

1: Balls of steel.
2: Nerves of steel.
3: Strong people & communication skills.
4: Supreme confidence in your own abilities.
5: Supreme confidence in your CV landing you roles above the excessive competition.

Ask yourself what on earth do you possess which is going to make someone chose you above the competition who already have everything you have as well as contracting experience?

[vadhert]

Hi,

I am in a very lucrative market right now where contractors get paid somewhere between £250-£350 a day.

I have IT certifications for the relevant softwares companies demand.

And I also have ton of technical coding knowledge from mentoring people.

However, I lack consulting experience. People with less English language skills can do it and I wonder why I can't.

For me consulting feels like an under pressure job where I have to deliver whatever client asks for and be able to handle whatever issues come my way in a very short period of time.

In reality this is negotiated but I feel very anxious when I think about consulting like this. But I wonder why I feel so nervous because I am one of the most knowledgeable people around.

What's your advice on being able to handle the two things? What should I do?

I am looking for really sound advice so please help

MTFU + 1

[wantacontract]

I used to think the same. You do, until it happens to you.

When you're without a contract for a long time, at what point do you stop looking for contracts and start looking for permanent work? Is it after 6 weeks, or 6 months? Or do you just keep thinking "I'm better than this, I'll get a new contract soon enough" and keep plugging away at the contract market in the hope that by being flexible about where you work and being well-regarded and skilled you'll find something? When there's no local work within your skill set for permanent work, where do you go after that? Or do you just double-up the applications and apply for any contract that you could do, regardless of rate or location? And when you do that and get knocked back for having too much experience, where do you look for work? If you eventually find a permanent job that you can do, how do you deal with the "you're going to leave us as soon as the market picks up" questions? Assuming you even get that far, of course. And then when you talk to an agent and they ask you what you've been doing for the past six months, what do you tell them? That you've been applying for jobs but can't find one, for whatever reason. Or do you lie and say "oh, I've been travelling" and hope that you don't get asked about where you went...

Until you have experienced it, the idea that you just walk back into a permanent job when the contract market turns bad is laughable.

totally this.....

I've been lucky throughout my contracting career, never had it really tough, probably due to the the fact that I have a huge war chest (helps with not sounding desperate) but have met a few contractors that turned permie as it went pretty grim!! Especially during 2008-2011, those three years were suppose to be pretty hard.....just read Richard craniums bench post....man thats some sombre reading....

To the OP - I have to say you don't sound like you're cut out for contracting......stay permie...it's less stressful and less dangerous...

[pr1]

I used to think the same. You do, until it happens to you.

When you're without a contract for a long time, at what point do you stop looking for contracts and start looking for permanent work? Is it after 6 weeks, or 6 months? Or do you just keep thinking "I'm better than this, I'll get a new contract soon enough" and keep plugging away at the contract market in the hope that by being flexible about where you work and being well-regarded and skilled you'll find something? When there's no local work within your skill set for permanent work, where do you go after that? Or do you just double-up the applications and apply for any contract that you could do, regardless of rate or location? And when you do that and get knocked back for having too much experience, where do you look for work? If you eventually find a permanent job that you can do, how do you deal with the "you're going to leave us as soon as the market picks up" questions? Assuming you even get that far, of course. And then when you talk to an agent and they ask you what you've been doing for the past six months, what do you tell them? That you've been applying for jobs but can't find one, for whatever reason. Or do you lie and say "oh, I've been travelling" and hope that you don't get asked about where you went...

Until you have experienced it, the idea that you just walk back into a permanent job when the contract market turns bad is laughable.

Maybe time will tell, I don't think the idea I could go back tomorrow (18months later) is laughable - I'm still in touch with my old employer and people who work there, they're always asking.

You sound like you're talking about someone who's been contracting for years by which point you don't have an excuse not to have a reasonable warchest and by which point, yes, I can appreciate those problems could arise - but they're not the reason not to start out contracting in the first place - by the time it happens you might have paid off your mortgage

If he gets a 250-350 gig he's going to know in the first couple of months whether he's made a mistake or not (confidence/ability/knowledge wise) - if he has, go back perm, if not, he'll be glad he went for it imo

(I've assumed he, replace for she if appropriate)

[TheFaQQer]

There's a lot of scare mongering of "what if you're on the bench for two years" - this is usually from the "contract or die" fraternity, in the real world if you're struggling to find a contract for a few months you can always go back to a perm job - as long as you don't stretch your lifestyle to become dependant on the "full time" contracting income you'll be fine

I used to think the same. You do, until it happens to you.

When you're without a contract for a long time, at what point do you stop looking for contracts and start looking for permanent work? Is it after 6 weeks, or 6 months? Or do you just keep thinking "I'm better than this, I'll get a new contract soon enough" and keep plugging away at the contract market in the hope that by being flexible about where you work and being well-regarded and skilled you'll find something? When there's no local work within your skill set for permanent work, where do you go after that? Or do you just double-up the applications and apply for any contract that you could do, regardless of rate or location? And when you do that and get knocked back for having too much experience, where do you look for work? If you eventually find a permanent job that you can do, how do you deal with the "you're going to leave us as soon as the market picks up" questions? Assuming you even get that far, of course. And then when you talk to an agent and they ask you what you've been doing for the past six months, what do you tell them? That you've been applying for jobs but can't find one, for whatever reason. Or do you lie and say "oh, I've been travelling" and hope that you don't get asked about where you went...

Until you have experienced it, the idea that you just walk back into a permanent job when the contract market turns bad is laughable.

[LondonManc]

Not fair. I've got too many infractions to be so direct

[northernladuk]

Simply beat NLUK to the ball, both going for the same shot. NLUK did well to recover and destroy line by line after the MTFU initiative. We're a job offer (sic) away from a "have you asked your accountant" gambit tbh.

Not fair. I've got too many infractions to be so direct