Thinking of taking the leap into contracting

[malvolio]

Can't vouch for any other industry but this is simply not true for IT. You can get pretty good in a couple of years and go off on 500-600/d which is not a bad starting rate.

Funny that. 20 years experience as a freelance and all in senior strategic roles and my average was about £550, as were most of my peers.

You can get silly money in some sectors in some locations for comparatively low level skills. But the Venn overlap is quite small, plus you have to be able to get into those sectors in the first place. Far better to work on £350 and if you get more you will be pleasantly surprised.

And three years perm experience is about 3 month's worth to someone hiring a contractor unless you are an absolutely perfect fit to their specific requirement.

[cannon999]

Generally is, just in any other industry. We have endless threads on here about how people get junior PM and other similar level roles and the advice is usually the same. It's just not worth it. Stay perm and come back in as a senior/experience PM or whatever.

How do you know anyway? You've just started your first gig.

My experience is based on talking to people my age for the past 3-4 years who are in a similar profession.

[northernladuk]

My experience is based on talking to people my age for the past 3-4 years who are in a similar profession.

Stick around here awhile then.. You'll learn something.

[cannon999]

And three years perm experience is about 3 month's worth to someone hiring a contractor unless you are an absolutely perfect fit to their specific requirement.

That's a very generic statement. Some JavaScript frameworks are not even 3 years old.

[northernladuk]

That's a very generic statement. Some JavaScript frameworks are not even 3 years old.

There is more to contracting and delivering value than knowing the script.. something you don't get with less experienced contractors which is why it's not easy to get in.

[cannon999]

There is more to contracting and delivering value than knowing the script.. something you don't get with less experienced contractors which is why it's not easy to get in.

My tea making skills are not too bad either..

[northernladuk]

My tea making skills are not too bad either..

Oddly enough you technically have more experience doing this than you have contracting.

[cannon999]

Oddly enough you technically have more experience doing this than you have contracting.

Looks like I'm all set

[malvolio]

That's a very generic statement. Some JavaScript frameworks are not even 3 years old.

Gosh. I didn't know that...

[mbolton]

Hi All,

I am sort of in a similar situation to the original post on this. Thought I would save starting a new thread when my questions follow along a similar line.

I am another fairly young professional looking to get into the world of contracting. For what it matters I have about 4 years worth of experience, but have worked across multiple companies and roles covering small business right up to a FTSE top 10 company. Currently working in Telecoms in billing/finance

I would like to eventually become a business analyst in a similar field but appreciate I may need to work up to this.

Happy to provide any and all information which would help you tailor advice. But my question is basically what I need to in order to be in a situation to quit permanent work and move into contracting? Second question is how long is sensible to expect to wait to be in the situation to be ready to take the plunge?