Northern Ireland

Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

You are not logged in or you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

You are not logged in. If you are already registered, fill in the form below to log in, or follow the "Sign Up" link to register a new account.
You may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

The_Equalizer replied

5 December 2012, 20:28
Originally posted by nicontractor View Post

Hi Folks,

Anyone else here from Northern Ireland? Been here for a number of years now contracting, work has been thin on the ground but seem to get by until the end of last year.

Getting towards the end of the warchest now & work seeming to be thin on the ground, cant travel away due to family & would probably kill myself after a day in a permie gig. Plan B is but a twinkle...

Anyone else know how all these people get the cushty contracts here? I'd love to know....ideas?

As pointed out already, there aren't a huge number of employers and a quite a number of well qualified workers. Basically Belfast is the size of a London Borough and Northern Ireland only has 1.6 million people, but has the best state education in the UK. To avoid big bench periods (for most skill-sets) you have to visit either London (shudder) or Dublin. In fact you could just about commute Dublin for a couple of days a week using the Enterprise and have a couple of nights down there. The train is surprisingly inexpensive considering it's a shade over a 100 miles between the two cities.

That said, I would have thought you could have got away with contracting it if you were a Java (or similar) for the last decade, but not too sure now as I've not looked in a while.
Leave a comment:
eek replied

3 December 2012, 09:32
Originally posted by cojak View Post

The only contractor I know who lives near Belfast come over to London Mon-Fri.

I spent a while looking at moving over there. Apart from Citibank and 1 other company (I can't remember) I didn't find any firms using contractors enough to make it worthwhile.

And those companies that are over there seem to pay peanuts for permanent staff. But I suppose if you can get them on a low salary and they stay why would you pay them more.

Good luck but unless you widen your locations I don't think things are going to improve in the near future.
Leave a comment:
cojak replied

3 December 2012, 09:10
The only contractor I know who lives near Belfast come over to London Mon-Fri.
Leave a comment:
nicontractor started a topic Northern Ireland

30 November 2012, 21:47
Northern Ireland

Hi Folks,

Anyone else here from Northern Ireland? Been here for a number of years now contracting, work has been thin on the ground but seem to get by until the end of last year.

Getting towards the end of the warchest now & work seeming to be thin on the ground, cant travel away due to family & would probably kill myself after a day in a permie gig. Plan B is but a twinkle...

Anyone else know how all these people get the cushty contracts here? I'd love to know....ideas?
Tags: None