2010 in the midst of a recession, many at the time said I was taking a gamble with first kid on the way and leaving the "security" of permiedom.
Fook that "security". I left 27k job for £250/day which was a massive relief at the time. I was depressed and fed up in permiedom and that £250/day has steadily risen to a much healthier figure.
Have more security now than I ever did as permie, that's cos contracts suite me a hell of a lot more and I know to play the game (so far).
- 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!
Reply to: Your first contract
Collapse
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.
Logging in...
Previously on "Your first contract"
Collapse
-
Spent a-g-e-s getting knocked back for gigs (like just now), then in 1990 I got my first direct contract on £25 p.h. doing unix sysadmin. Became a P.M. swiftly thereafter. on the same moolah. The banks were on a cyclical dip in their recruitment, and I tried to hire a Sybase DBA for my team, and he told me he would work for me as a favour (because we knew him) for an absolute minimum of £50 p.h. - which was well under what he was getting in the City.
First 10 years without a single day out, and then everything downhill slowly thereafter......
Originally posted by expat View PostHa, kids today!
My first contract was in 1977 on a rate of £120 per week. A big jump from a salary of £3600 a year.
Leave a comment:
-
Well I was a shop assistant for 5 years heard a lot about the contracting lark from my buddies. So they said just do this basic 2 week hardware/ms dos course. Knocked up a very creative and then the interview at a global telecoms giant in 1997 the guy asked me "what would you do if a user said PC not working on the end of a phone" my response "ah well are you sure everything is pluged in correctly and take it from there" he loved my answer and followed by tons of BS I got the gig. Boy did I tulip myself when I discovered email. But learned very quickly how to survive in this fical world. £15 pH. Not bad for a shop assistant.
Leave a comment:
-
1997 - Project Manager for Ericsson working on Mobile Phone Networks in Guernsey and the Isle of Man. A paltry £25 per hour but it was worth it to get away from the permie hell I was enduring prior to that.
Lots of expensed trips to both places too although being based out of Burgess Hill was a bit of a trial.
My next contract was for a sh*tload more cash for doing a fraction of the work. Swings and roundabouts and all that.
Leave a comment:
-
2003 oracle apps functional analyst 350 per day in Amsterdam
don't recall the salary i was on in my last permanent job - probably 35k
i couldn't believe that were paying so much per day and i was right to be incredulous 'cos they weren't for very long as the agency went bankrupt after 6 months. i was too trusting and nearly went bankrupt myself. bastard learning curve.
Leave a comment:
-
Originally posted by SimonMac View Post28th Feb 2011 - £330 a day
End of 2010 I had a breakdown, tried to kill myself gave up my permie civil service job and moved back home, applied for permie and contract jobs at the same time, got offered a permie job then a contract, walked out of the permie job after a few weeks into the contract.
Had a clear focus from contracting to be debt free, am now debt free so don't care if I go back to permie with the latest set of changes from the budged, it was a means to an end
sounds like contracting has been kind to you.
Leave a comment:
-
28th Feb 2011 - £330 a day
End of 2010 I had a breakdown, tried to kill myself gave up my permie civil service job and moved back home, applied for permie and contract jobs at the same time, got offered a permie job then a contract, walked out of the permie job after a few weeks into the contract.
Had a clear focus from contracting to be debt free, am now debt free so don't care if I go back to permie with the latest set of changes from the budged, it was a means to an end
Leave a comment:
-
14th April 1993, left my perm job for the bright lights of BASS in brum, yes it was a brewery. I was on a days notice for 2 weeks as they hated the chap before me and didnt want to risk it again.
He turned up to ask for the job back same day I did and since they had told him it was budget cuts rather than that he was a t**t, they had to keep me out of the way till they got shot of him.
From 17k/year to 675/week (seemed like a lot when my monthly expenses were about half this)...
Leave a comment:
-
2000, best rate £450 a day from my ex employer. Teach them to hack me off.
Combined with a little bit less from 3 other clients. I did well until New Lie imported ICTs by the plane load.
Leave a comment:
-
2001 I think, went from £55K permie to £80/hr
My first rate and my best rate! Downhill ever since.
Leave a comment:
-
1987. Went from £7200 per year to £600 per week working in Hemel Hempstead at Honeywell Bull. Down the pub every lunchtime, V12 Jag, first BTL on the go; those were the days.
Leave a comment:
-
1997. £35 an hour. Left permie job £22K plus nice company car.
Actually picked up spanking new car at mdnight march 1st and drove to new contract next day.
Did contract for year. Mgr was a complete arse - worse person I've ever worked for. Bullying etc.
Ended up making me ill (long story) - never do that again.
Leave a comment:
-
I lent Billy 50p. He would not pay it back. So I gave Fred 5p to get it back for me.
Leave a comment:
-
1997. 28k with a company car as a technical account manager.
Had a spat with my boss the day I came back from holiday. I'd been so stressed before, was about to lose my driving license for drink driving (2 pints of Stella FFS!), had been arrested for getting in a punch up in a bar the week before that and life was unravelling.
Threw my car keys across the room, told him to **** it and walked out to nothing. Most liberating experience ever.
A few weeks later they had to call me back. One of my clients insisted I finish a project they were in the middle of and my former company had to rehire me as a contractor as only I knew how to do it. I hit them for 500 quid a day, including travelling and meeting times and at th beginning of the summer I had paid off my student loans and had 10k savings. I took off the summer, best summer of my life and at the end I got my first proper contract at post office for 225. Never looked back.
Leave a comment:
-
1997. I went from a perm 33K to 500 + expenses in Bavaria.
The expenses included as much German beer as I could quaff. And after lunch each day the extremely affable project manager would demand to know how much I'd spent then press a few Deutschmarks into my hand. It was a good life.
Leave a comment:
- Home
- News & Features
- First Timers
- IR35 / S660 / BN66
- Employee Benefit Trusts
- Agency Workers Regulations
- MSC Legislation
- Limited Companies
- Dividends
- Umbrella Company
- VAT / Flat Rate VAT
- Job News & Guides
- Money News & Guides
- Guide to Contracts
- Successful Contracting
- Contracting Overseas
- Contractor Calculators
- MVL
- Contractor Expenses
Advertisers
Contractor Services
CUK News
- Streamline Your Retirement with iSIPP: A Solution for Contractor Pensions Sep 1 09:13
- Making the most of pension lump sums: overview for contractors Sep 1 08:36
- Umbrella company tribunal cases are opening up; are your wages subject to unlawful deductions, too? Aug 31 08:38
- Contractors, relabelling 'labour' as 'services' to appear 'fully contracted out' won't dupe IR35 inspectors Aug 31 08:30
- How often does HMRC check tax returns? Aug 30 08:27
- Work-life balance as an IT contractor: 5 top tips from a tech recruiter Aug 30 08:20
- Autumn Statement 2023 tipped to prioritise mental health, in a boost for UK workplaces Aug 29 08:33
- Final reminder for contractors to respond to the umbrella consultation (closing today) Aug 29 08:09
- Top 5 most in demand cyber security contract roles Aug 25 08:38
- Changes to the right to request flexible working are incoming, but how will contractors be affected? Aug 24 08:25
Leave a comment: