Reply to: Does a 12 month IT developer contract exist anymore?

[edison]

Does it really take 12 months to develop something nowadays? Are you expecting to be taken on as a developer to spend 12 months working on different projects?

and why is a 12 month contract more lucrative that 3 4 month renewals?

... and WSS.

One company I know is in the middle of completely re-platforming all their customer facing transactional websites and replacing most of the back office applications. They are approaching the 5th year of the programme and their main website still pretty much looks the same as several years ago...

So yes, it seems like it can still take >12 months to develop something!

[kingcook]

Does it really take 12 months to develop something nowadays? Are you expecting to be taken on as a developer to spend 12 months working on different projects?

I've recently started a 12 month development project - all the same project, with a likely extension of another 6 months.

I admit it's pretty rare though.

[edison]

'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' can seriously backfire on the client.

A few of the contractors I know and have met have turned down extensions because the client left it too late - and too late can even be a month before hand. Plus contracts often have notice periods on both sides.

I was being slightly sarcastic....

[SueEllen]

Possibly there is also an element of 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' so that contractors don't get too settled and start taking their foot off the pedal if they have the security of a 12 month contract

'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' can seriously backfire on the client.

A few of the contractors I know and have met have turned down extensions because the client left it too late - and too late can even be a month before hand. Plus contracts often have notice periods on both sides.

[edison]

I only moved from permie world in June when I first started to look for contracts. Although I'm not a techie, my gut feeling is that things can change so fast these days, it is difficult to predict resourcing that far out unless perhaps it is a huge well defined dev project. 12 month contracts might be more suitable for interim/management roles. One of the IT Leadership team where I am now has come in on a 12 month contract. I saw one or two 12 month contracts for my area of expertise with some major companies but ended up with a 6 month contract.

Also from a budgeting point of view, in the last say 5 years, most organisations can have several IT budget reviews during the year (i.e. reductions). With that downward budget pressure it is surely easier to manage if the resource mix is based on shorter contracts, typically 3-6 months.

Possibly there is also an element of 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' so that contractors don't get too settled and start taking their foot off the pedal if they have the security of a 12 month contract

[MyUserName]

Right. Did you have three months a beginning? Was it all first month contracts?

Started with a six monther and then all three month renewals.

Assume that you are not working like dog, or may you are one of those unusual contractor who work every single working day of the year possible: did you take time off in the first six months? Like one week to take care of kids with the spouse at half term school break?

I can't remember. I do not take much time off, though. I think a week is the most I have ever taken off in one block apart from Christmas.

[rocktronAMP]

I am in the process of negotiating another 3 month renewal which will take me up to two years. I know another contractor who has been at the same place for 7 (or maybe 8 now). I did 6 months in London and was offered a renewal for 6 more months etc.

Right. Did you have three months a beginning? Was it all first month contracts?

Assume that you are not working like dog, or may you are one of those unusual contractor who work every single working day of the year possible: did you take time off in the first six months? Like one week to take care of kids with the spouse at half term school break?

[rocktronAMP]

To be honest even if the client is well and truely ****ed you need to be good, lucky, liked or a combination of all three. If not they will still chuck you and find someone else....

This is probably the point beyond the redundancies and restructuring that are about to go on at my current client. I have not yet been blessed with being liked or luck.

It's good to know that renewals are going on ... it would be interesting to know how folk achieve being *liked*. Being good is a technical thing that is always fixable with training, practice and time.

[Power Mortgages Ltd]

I think short contracts (even when they consistently get renewed) could affect your ability to get a mortgage as a contractor. I checked one of the contractor mortgage Web sites I've seen in these forums (can't remember which one) and it stated that you needed at least six months left on your current contract to apply for a mortgage through them.

This worries me because although my contracts have lasted more than six months, I only had a six month contract on paper once, so really I've never had at least six months left to run on paper.

There are lenders able to assist no matter what the contract term remaining is. They normally ask for confirmation it will extend if you are within 1 month of the end/renewal date but any longer than this it is never normally an issue. Lenders are becoming more and more aware that 3 month rolling contracts are a lot more common nowadays and it is really only Virgin Money who haven't yet grasped this (they are a lender who insists the contract must be a 6 month contract with 3 months remaining or 12 a month contract with 6 months remaining and wont typically budge on this.

I think you may have been looking at fixed term contractors who are obviously employed with tax and NI paid by the employer. Generally mortgage lenders like to see there is 6 months left on these guys' contracts but day/hourly rate contractors who contract through a Limited Company are treated differently to the fixed term contractors and shorter term contracts are not an issue. I have assisted many contractors on 3 month contracts before.

Having short contracts or no current contract makes no difference to getting a mortgage if you have a minimum of 3 years accounts with a decent rate.

Correct SueEllen. If you have 2 or 3 years finalized year end accounts (or even just 1 year with 1 or 2 lenders) and the salary and dividends you have taken as an average over the years is deemed sufficient it wont matter if you are in a contract or not as the lenders wont be assessing you as a contractor but much rather Limited Company Director.

Obviously if the accounts have been kept efficient for tax purposes and therefore the salary and dividends are not deemed sufficient to support the level of borrowing you require, your contract rate has increased and therefore the accounts are based upon a lower income and therefore don't support the level of borrowing you require, you have just opened up a new Limited Company (which can be for multiple reasons) and don't have 2-3 years accounts or have just started contracting and again don't have the 2-3 years accounts then you would have to go down the contract rate route.

I'll always ensure we exhaust the Company Director route for sourcing mortgage funding before resorting to contract rate funding because there is more choice available when we source based upon income from accounts but it is handy to have the contractor option there if the other route is not available for whatever reason.

[sirja]

Been on current gig since mid 2011. There are 'long term' gigs out there but as others have said they tend to consist of multiple 3/6 month renewals. Getting a 12 month contract right from start is quite rare, unless it's a greenfield or major transformation project(like a Multinational deployment).

[darmstadt]

He doesn't live in the uk

Correct but there actually rules here that are similar to the 24 month ruling. A primary one is working for only one client for more than a certain period of time. Luckily I do various projects which change constantly so I, kind of, get around that plus I try to get secondary and tertiary projects just to kill that ruling otherwise I'd be liable for more tax...

[SueEllen]

Having short contracts or no current contract makes no difference to getting a mortgage if you have a minimum of 3 years accounts with a decent rate.

[russell]

Hello All

It's been a long time since I have been here. The last post I think was late June 2013, I think.

I have been reading the utterly "Depressing" thread and it is a bit upsetting. All the advice, which I read over there, is bloody relevant. I will just add that if you stop "looking" then you will never find what you are looking for.

Is there anyone out there who has or knows somebody with a long It developer contract? I mean genuine 12 months long or so.

For what I have witnessed, I signed a 6 months contract at the beginning of year, but it was stopped by the client at just under 4 months. My current 3 months contract was suddenly whittled down to end of December. I started in the middle of October. Is it just me or is everybody feeling the sob story "Your contract has been stopped due to commercial pressures beyond my control. Sorry"

Yes. I know contracting is gambling and that is how it goes. However, is there some body out there who can gives a light at the end of tunnel, who can give up hope? There is person is doing it and doing it well and successfully. Is there anybody, who can say that contracting is really working for them and they either have had four 3 month contracts renewals in succession or 2 renewals of a 6 months contract or even had that lucrative rare one year contract deal? Is there that person out there who is rosy dandy? (I am being satirical, but you know what I mean)

Been at my current place since last Feb, initially was a 3 monther then another 3 monther etc, you get the picture. I also think I will be there till next summer as there is lots of work to do. Which thread is the depressing thread BTW?

[MyUserName]

He doesn't live in the uk

Ah, I see.

[eek]

Why doesn't the 24 month rule affect you? I thought it kicked in once you were going to be at a client site (or a client site in a 'similar' area) for 24 months?

He doesn't live in the uk