Reply to: Thinking about contracting

[SueEllen]

LOL Sorry

Yes is my second language

This crap happen when I don't have time to review. I hope you can read this one better.

"When you opposed to a poster that is coincident with my opinion and probably work in UK, your point became irrelevant."

No it's just as bad.

[Bee]

Is English your second language? Your first sentence reads like a google translate job

LOL Sorry

Yes is my second language

This crap happen when I don't have time to review. I hope you can read this one better.

"When you opposed to a poster that is coincident with my opinion and probably work in UK, your point became irrelevant."

[tomtomagain]

Thanks for the replies.

Let me clear up something and try to explain...

I worked full time for 23 years and got to an IT Architect level. Started off as Desktop Support, Server Network Support, Manager and then IT Architect.
I left my full time job to work on small to medium sized companies supporting computers, Office 365, networks, etc
6 Months in, I have a number of customers. The work is mega easy, but people expect me to charge the same per hour as someone who has left school. This makes it cheap labour
People also want me to support user machines after ours so they keep working during the day. I am finding my evenings are busy and my family time is important to me.

I am wondering if I should stop and move over to contracting. I have the ability to quickly learn pretty much anything. I always have my head in a book picking up new skills. My home lab is pretty impressive.

First. Congratulations on being entrepreneurial and leaving the relative safety of a corporate environment to start up on your own. Its really good that you've picked up a number of customers in your first six months. Proves you've got a bit of skill in marketing and can close a deal.

I think considering quitting after only six months to go contracting would be a bad move.

If you're making money today and can pay your bills and feed your kids then I'd suggest giving it at least a year. You will find the freedom of running your own company outweighs the negatives.

I've been running my own company for 3 years full-time after 20 years in a corporate environment. I haven't been to a meeting in 3 years or wasted time listening to HR or had to deal with agents and feel for the first time in a long time that my life is my own. I'm in charge of what gets done, when it gets done, how it gets done and if it gets done.

The mistake you are probably making is focusing exclusively on the running your new business. You need to put aside some time to think about how you want to grow it. For example, how are you going to market more efficiently? How can you get higher-value work from your existing customers? How can you make what you do super-efficient so that it does not take up all your evenings? Can you get a body to do some of the low-level work for you?

If you are active inside companies, delivering a service that they value ( even if they aren't paying top dollar ) then you are in a position to exploit opportunities that arise.

For example you mentioned Office 365. Can you become an Office365 reseller? If you can then there's an opportunity to run migration projects and provide on-going support ( for which you receive on-going revenue ).


If you go contracting you'll be back in the same-old corporate environment that you left. It might be more comfortable but you wont get the same satisfaction from creating a company from scratch.

Good luck.

[blackeye]

You are insisting in one point that is irrelevant, when you answer the poster the opposite that is coincident with my opinion, and probably work in UK.

I know how the Consultants firms delivery oriented works, they can hire several external for several reasons but it's not because they don't tend to have permanent staff. You can believe it or not it's up to you.

Is English your second language? Your first sentence reads like a google translate job

[Bee]

Since I'm talking from my own experience I think not.

You don't actually work in the UK so you don't know the market.

When you opposed to a poster that is coincident with my opinion and probably work in UK, your point became irrelevant.

I know how the Consultants firms delivery oriented works, they can hire several external for several reasons but it's not because they don't tend to have permanent staff. You can believe it or not it's up to you.

[Bee]

Something important to understand is that in Banking, specifically within the change/transformation business-focused teams (where most consultancies do business), the contractors do the exact same jobs as the consultants. There is absolutely no difference between the deliverables of a contractor and consultant working in the same capacity.

On site consultancies generally have a team structure that have a few exceptional people with SME skills and the rest that support or learn from them to enable them to deliver. When they don't have these SMEs available they take on contractors with the same niche skills as their SMEs.

I don't know much about how it works within the more technical areas and even less in other sectors. The intrinsic problem with this forum is that we all work in vastly different roles and industries, so silly advice to 'STAY AWAY FROM CONTRACTING BECAUSE ITS FINISHED, OVER, DONE' just isn't true.

It wasn't me.

[SussexSeagull]

Something important to understand is that in Banking, specifically within the change/transformation business-focused teams (where most consultancies do business), the contractors do the exact same jobs as the consultants. There is absolutely no difference between the deliverables of a contractor and consultant working in the same capacity.

On site consultancies generally have a team structure that have a few exceptional people with SME skills and the rest that support or learn from them to enable them to deliver. When they don't have these SMEs available they take on contractors with the same niche skills as their SMEs.

I don't know much about how it works within the more technical areas and even less in other sectors. The intrinsic problem with this forum is that we all work in vastly different roles and industries, so silly advice to 'STAY AWAY FROM CONTRACTING BECAUSE ITS FINISHED, OVER, DONE' just isn't true.

I wouldn't tell anyone not to go contracting but I would seriously suggest they consider if their skills will be in demand.

[SueEllen]

Why you are saying the opposite? You are generalizing and showing your ignorance regarding this matter.

A Consulting without internal expertise is not a Consultant, and it's not true that they don't tend to have permanent staff. You opinion is based only in your experience without a sense of critic.

Like Big Blue, I also know clients that use the same IT Consulting firms for ages, using permanent staff and occasionally subcontractors to fulfill the lack of resources.

A consultant contractor is not the same as a contractor, they have different skills.

Since I'm talking from my own experience I think not.

You don't actually work in the UK so you don't know the market.

[blackeye]

Why you are saying the opposite? You are generalizing and showing your ignorance regarding this matter.

A Consulting without internal expertise is not a Consultant, and it's not true that they don't tend to have permanent staff. You opinion is based only in your experience without a sense of critic.

Like Big Blue, I also know clients that use the same IT Consulting firms for ages, using permanent staff and occasionally subcontractors to fulfill the lack of resources.

A consultant contractor is not the same as a contractor, they have different skills.

Something important to understand is that in Banking, specifically within the change/transformation business-focused teams (where most consultancies do business), the contractors do the exact same jobs as the consultants. There is absolutely no difference between the deliverables of a contractor and consultant working in the same capacity.

On site consultancies generally have a team structure that have a few exceptional people with SME skills and the rest that support or learn from them to enable them to deliver. When they don't have these SMEs available they take on contractors with the same niche skills as their SMEs.

I don't know much about how it works within the more technical areas and even less in other sectors. The intrinsic problem with this forum is that we all work in vastly different roles and industries, so silly advice to 'STAY AWAY FROM CONTRACTING BECAUSE ITS FINISHED, OVER, DONE' just isn't true.

[Bee]

Is there anyone on this forum you haven't called ignorant so far?

You are manipulating and creating noise as usual. If you have a list please show it.
Ignorance like I said before is not an insult is lack of knowledge and it doesn't mean to be stupid.

Now who's generalising? Contractor being a generic term for all of us regardless of what we do so both of them will have the same skills.

More noise. Why I'm generalizing? You don't know the difference.

The ability to run a small company, have an accountant and understand IR35.

Ask your accountant.

[northernladuk]

Why you are saying the opposite? You are generalizing and showing your ignorance regarding this matter.

Is there anyone on this forum you haven't called ignorant so far?

A consultant contractor is not the same as a contractor, they have different skills.

Now who's generalising? Contractor being a generic term for all of us regardless of what we do so both of them will have the same skills. The ability to run a small company, have an accountant and understand IR35.

[Bee]

I've had repeat business from several large companies over the years. These were working in the insurance and utilities sectors.

All of them now use consultancies and have no contractors on their books. Doesn't mean to say it's going to stay that way but for the time being it means that they and others who follow the same model are off limits.

That's a lot of contracts.

The consultancies use contractors though as they don't tend to have the permanent staff with the expertise. However you only want to work with the niche ones.

Why you are saying the opposite? You are generalizing and showing your ignorance regarding this matter.

A Consulting without internal expertise is not a Consultant, and it's not true that they don't tend to have permanent staff. You opinion is based only in your experience without a sense of critic.

Like Big Blue, I also know clients that use the same IT Consulting firms for ages, using permanent staff and occasionally subcontractors to fulfill the lack of resources.

A consultant contractor is not the same as a contractor, they have different skills.

[freelancelife]

Depends on what you do and whether you have a choice of industry sectors.
When you start you have to be truly flexible as this allows you to build up the war chest etc.

Good comment, but soft skills are very valuable too. This is often what will differentiate the need for an onshore role, rather than an offshore role.
Having worked with a lot of offshore teams, I recognise what works and what doesn't. To have a chance of making it work you need people onshore to do the management, IMO.

Yes very much agree regarding soft skills. Without soft skills you won't survive long in the corporate world. Certifications like ITIL & Prince 2 are also worth securing if you can.

[SueEllen]

I've had repeat business from several large companies over the years. These were working in the insurance and utilities sectors.

All of them now use consultancies and have no contractors on their books. Doesn't mean to say it's going to stay that way but for the time being it means that they and others who follow the same model are off limits.

That's a lot of contracts.

The consultancies use contractors though as they don't tend to have the permanent staff with the expertise. However you only want to work with the niche ones.

[MrMarkyMark]

I moved from permanent to contract and would recommend the move. Despite there being less contract roles on the market than perm the rates are still significantly better.

To secure a new contract role however you can't be picky and focus on one area (like Central London). You need to be willing to work 2,3,4 hours plus from your current location. This is a lesson I learnt from several contractors who had been in the business for over 20 years. Flexibility is key. You may be working in Bristol one year and Reading the next.

You need to be willing to rent accommodation away from home as well as allocating time to paperwork for your ltd company every month.

You also need to overhaul your CV so you target a specific niche area. That is a specific application or operating system in the world of IT. You don't want to come across as a jack of all trades.

Depends on what you do and whether you have a choice of industry sectors.
When you start you have to be truly flexible as this allows you to build up the war chest etc.

Good comment, but soft skills are very valuable too. This is often what will differentiate the need for an onshore role, rather than an offshore role.
Having worked with a lot of offshore teams, I recognise what works and what doesn't. To have a chance of making it work you need people onshore to do the management, IMO.