Reply to: Taking the plunge

[Eirikur]

Was made redundant with a nice bag of money about 6 years ago.
Applied for both permie and contract positions, contract was the first that came up, accepted it and stayed in contracting ever since.
Note: once you're in contracting you will find that employers and especially agencies are reluctant to take you on for perm jobs in case you would want to return to the dark side.

[stek]

I drifted into it, sort of temping, not really realising I was actually contracting, on a whacking £18.85/hr in early 90's. Never really took it seriously, it was easy to permie-tract then, 6 years here, 4 years there. Pisssed all the money away on cars and guitars, then depression, death of both parents, divorce, destitution....

Spent the naughties starting again, this time taking it a lot more seriously, hopefully....

[PerfectStorm]

I think one of the things I feared was getting it wrong.

As long as you're happy to use google or ask if you need help, it's been my experience that people are ready to give it.

Pretending that you know stuff and trying to cover it up = permie!

[vwdan]

I'm just (by days) over 12 months in now! I'd mooted the idea before, but didn't feel it was right for me - but I'd gone as far as I was going to go in the boutique consultancy I was working at. Didn't really know what to do next - I was enjoying the work, I just wanted more (Challenges, money, freedom, technology, etc) but doing the same fundamental type of consultancy. We'd got 50% of a house deposit saved, so after careful talks with the wife we turned that into my warchest.

Spent months reading up and got my CV out there. I was getting lots of calls, but I couldn't find anyone who was willing to wait the 4 weeks. I decided to tell my boss what I was planning to do and we set a mutually agreeable end date.

Two weeks before, I managed to land my first contract starting on the Monday.

Best thing I ever did, but you've got to be realistic. Proper sums, proper calculations, proper worst-case scenarios.

[PerfectStorm]

Was in a job that was making me very unhappy but I'd been there for a few years - classic case of dissatisfaction combined with a fear of change - like a classic abusive relationship!

Offered voluntarily redundancy on an offer I couldn't refuse. Took it as I wanted to leave anyway.

Spent a month or so casually trying out for new permanent jobs and not getting anywhere. Interview technique was rusty etc.

One day an agent rang me and asked if I'd like to try contracting on a lot more money. I said OK, knew I wouldn't get the gig but thought it would be good interview experience at least. With free time to spare, I'd attend any interview that would have me just to try out new ideas while waiting for the big one.

Still there now

Without that agent sticking their neck out and the redundancy money I probably wouldn't have done it, but I'm very glad I did. So glad to leave behind a lot of the hassle that comes with permanent work, the 'new' hassle (legal and accounting) is quite interesting (at least at the start), isn't that difficult after your first month or two of doing it, and obviously the general terms are a lot better. It's contributed positively to my mental health and I haven't had to worry about where money's coming from for a year.

[worzelGummidge]

Researched on Jobserve (Jobswerve) in 1999 against my skill set and handed in my notice.

It's easy
Keeping contracting is the difficult part. Be prepared to Skill up constantly.

[SueEllen]

I've had plenty of interviews giving a 4 week notice period to the agency. If I was in a contract, they were rolling contracts that got renewed and I always felt that 4 weeks gave enough time to finish off what I was doing, to avoid simply buggering off two days before the end of the contract, or not renew and then look.

That's not to say the situation doesn't exist, but I don't agree with the argument that you don't get contracts until you resign and can start straight away, and you can certainly avoid bench time by applying for new contracts well before your current contract is finished.

It may depend on the type of contractor, but I was interviewed by quite a few banks as a developer based on a 4 week "availability".

I resigned from my permie job after I got my first contract

Notice I stated find out from the client when they want you to start.

Too many agents tell fibs to get you on site asap even though the client isn't ready for you and/or are happy to wait 3-4 weeks.

[BlasterBates]

What he's said isn't strictly true.

I've had plenty of interviews giving a 4 week notice period to the agency. If I was in a contract, they were rolling contracts that got renewed and I always felt that 4 weeks gave enough time to finish off what I was doing, to avoid simply buggering off two days before the end of the contract, or not renew and then look.

That's not to say the situation doesn't exist, but I don't agree with the argument that you don't get contracts until you resign and can start straight away, and you can certainly avoid bench time by applying for new contracts well before your current contract is finished.

It may depend on the type of contractor. I'm a developer and often companies want developers for long term contracts.

I resigned from my permie job after I got my first contract

[darmstadt]

I resigned from my permie job (my first ever job) with not much of a warchest. After a couple of weeks lounging around I rang up about a contract and started that day on the grand sum of GBP5.50 an hour, mind you that was 1986!

[SueEllen]

Thank you this is really great advice !!

My current commute is 100 miles a day for a perm job, this is getting me down a little and i do agree if i'm working the otherside of the UK i want to be in a nice hotel rather than someones front room !!!

Thanks for the advice about staying within the Permie job as well as there is opportunities for contracting whilst on a notice period !

What he's said isn't strictly true.

I've had contracts that have started 24-48 hours after me being interviewed. The delay is due to the contract being reviewed for IR35 and other legal terms. I've also had a contract that I've started 8 months after the initial contact. My actual average is 2 weeks.

The trick is, is to ask the client not the agency when they want you to start at interview/ initial meeting. The agency will not put you forward if you say your availability is over a couple of weeks even though the client can wait 4 weeks for you.

In regards to looking at the rate - if you can earn a decent permie salary by moving to a different company then do that instead. Even if you have to make 2 job moves in 18 months. If you are a contractor due to not being guaranteed work then if you work more than 7 months in a year it's a bonus.

Also while you think you and your partner would be happy with you working away Monday-Friday if circumstances change e.g. children, ill health or even after a couple of years, one or both of you will not want that anymore.

You also won't want to stay in hotels. B&Bs are fine and so are Monday-Friday lodgings if you find the right people as there are lots of people now who want Monday-Friday lodgers. Some of them work away in the week themselves or work nights, or rent you their granny annexe so you never really see them.

[VectraMan]

I took out a third credit card to ensure I had plenty of credit available, then resigned from my permie job and hoped. It didn't actually take that long, though getting the second contract was more of a struggle, and ultimately with long gaps through the recession I probably didn't earn a great deal more than if I'd stuck out a decent permie job. Now I am a permie again, mainly because all the contracts seemed to be a) dull as dishwater, and b) bloody miles away. So it depends what's most important to you really. I spent several years doing 200 miles a day; don't really want to have to do that again.

[DimPrawn]

First of all, the LibLabCon govt despise us and tighten this punitive legislation at every opportunity:

https://www.gov.uk/ir35-find-out-if-it-applies

Failure to get this right means lengthy court cases with HMR&C and likely bankruptcy.

Next, LibLabCon govt despise us a ensure there a tens of thousands of work permits handed out to their buddies at InfoSyst, Tata and other India body shopping companies. Results are your rate is likely to be 1/2 what you think it will be.

Finally you will have no sick pay, holiday pay, pension, private medical, share scheme, or any other benefit you have come to rely on, work may have long gaps.

If all this appeals, go ahead and enjoy the freedom!

[eddie1507]

Thank you this is really great advice !!

My current commute is 100 miles a day for a perm job, this is getting me down a little and i do agree if i'm working the otherside of the UK i want to be in a nice hotel rather than someones front room !!!

Thanks for the advice about staying within the Permie job as well as there is opportunities for contracting whilst on a notice period !

The contract market isn't what it was. Yes there are opportunities out there but it's competitive.

You can look on jobserve, which is as good any portal and see whethere there are suitable contracts. If there are a lot no harm in applying. In a bouyant market permies are welcome, after all, all contractors were permie at the beginning.

Don't resign....just don't. At least wait until you are getting interviews, tell them you can start in 4 weeks. What ever anyone says my experience has been that 4 weeks is fine for many contracts. Yes there are contracts where they want to start on Monday but I wouldn't resign just so you're available for the additional 10% of contracts that demand this.

One thing to bear in mind is, if you are on a low rate and travelling, paying for hotels not to mention the time you spend travelling, then it will cost, and might not be worth it. Subtract a grand a month in your calculations, after all you don't want to spend your life in sh*t holes and travelling in "cattle" class.

In my view a good permie job round the corner is better than a low paying contract in the back of beyond. I spent 14 years contracting most of which was spent long term commuting, and some of that time, after subtracting travelling expenses, I might as well have had a permie job.

If you're in London and you have finance experience then it's possible to get contract work round the corner more or less indefinitely, though when the inevitable financial crunches come you can expect to spend months on the bench.

[BlasterBates]

The contract market isn't what it was. Yes there are opportunities out there but it's competitive.

You can look on jobserve, which is as good any portal and see whethere there are suitable contracts. If there are a lot no harm in applying. In a bouyant market permies are welcome, after all, all contractors were permie at the beginning.

Don't resign....just don't. At least wait until you are getting interviews, tell them you can start in 4 weeks. What ever anyone says my experience has been that 4 weeks is fine for many contracts. Yes there are contracts where they want to start on Monday but I wouldn't resign just so you're available for the additional 10% of contracts that demand this.

One thing to bear in mind is, if you are on a low rate and travelling, paying for hotels not to mention the time you spend travelling, then it will cost, and might not be worth it. Subtract a grand a month in your calculations, after all you don't want to spend your life in sh*t holes and travelling in "cattle" class.

In my view a good permie job round the corner is better than a low paying contract in the back of beyond. I spent 14 years contracting most of which was spent long term commuting, and some of that time, after subtracting travelling expenses, I might as well have had a permie job.

If you're in London and you have finance experience then it's possible to get contract work round the corner more or less indefinitely, though when the inevitable financial crunches come you can expect to spend months on the bench.

[mudskipper]

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