(Reposetd from General forum)
Dear experienced contractors,
after 10 years as a wage-slave I'm now considering this contracting malarkey for the future. However, I want to be sure it'll prove the answer to my dreams and I'm not just being a romantic fool. Maybe you could provide me with benefit of your experience on the following matters:
First and most important is the market: Is there lots of work for an AP with a skill-set of J2EE, Weblogic, Ant, UML, bit of team leading, minor TA roles and so forth? I see lots of contracts on the search sites, but have no idea of how many people are applying for them: 100 jobs and 1000 applicants is not a healthy position from an applicant POV!
I'd like to live somewhere better than a Berkshire dormitory town;. Cornwall seems nice. But is it realistic to expect to get contracts where the large majority of my time is spent in tele-working from home?
I'd like to free up some time to be a bit more entrepreneurial, for example taking in some b&b guests, or do something a bit more self-fulfilling, like taking on an allotment. In the permie world having time gaps in your CV is bad. Does the same apply in the contract world, or can I safely plan to contract 6 months of the year and do something else for the other 6 months?
I have loads of other questions, but I think those three will do for now!
Cheers,
Wannabe.
