What next? A year contracting...

[charliew]

So a year or so ago I managed to fulfill one of my dreams of becoming a contractor. Now I am at a bit of loss what next...

I am UK citizen based in Czech Republic rate in 250 gbp per day with plenty of offers around 300. Tax situation is pretty nice here 60% write off of revenue off revenue giving a practical tax rate of around 9%.

So disclaimer here I am a Scrum Master which I would guess a lot of you old hand programmers despise. Sorry about that. I just try to not be a total douche and make things as good as they can be for the team/s in whatever complex environment it is. And actually make the thing work i.e. predictable constant delivery and constant self directed improvement. Anyways needs must tried my hand technical things and quickly found myself limited.

So I don't really know what to aim for next? I am a contractor now doing at least for my location putting me in the top 5% of earners easily. I should gain an EU pass soonish which would open up the EU market again. I had a dabble as a permie in Austria.

I am not really sure what to do. It is irks me that the Western rate is more like 500 gbp and would like to get it.

As some of you might know Scrum Master can mean pretty much anything from people manager, project manager, new age guru coach, stakeholder manager, business analyst. Or as I have found in recent times team secretary, I don't really care I do as I am told. I am flexible .

So what next, I would quite like Czech Republic to be my centre of operations if possible. I wouldn't mind going onsite pretty much anywhere but for a max of year preferably 6 months or less.

So what would I like:
The big rate
Maybe at onsite adventure in a high paying location, Swiss, Kazakhstan, UAE, Azerbaijan ect
Agile Coach, i.e. bigger organisational stuff max has been 30 people or so

Quick overview of me
5 years exp started as technical writer jumped around till I got Scrum Master, did a intensive programming course so that I know something or other.
Jumped between small companies and big corps fairly frequently. Actually don't mind either.
Plenty of certs from Scrum, SAFe(!), Agile Coach ect

What would you do if you were me? What next? Does what I propose sound reasonable am I missing a trick?

[northernladuk]

I'd be getting my head down and getting more than one years experience. As a contractor you sell your skills and experience. The guys earning the decent money and getting the pick of the gigs will have decades of experience. Maybe not as a scrum master as it's fairly new but still have the time served delivering. Your one year won't cut it against them.

Keep going with whatever you can find and build up the experience as you are probably on the right rate for your level just now.

[NotAllThere]

A disclaimer here I am a Scrum Master which I would guess a lot of you old hand programmers despise. Sorry about that. I just try to not be a total douche

Strrange comments. I can't say I or my fellow developers have ever thought upon those lines. Maybe you've met some old hand programmers who are total douches? But anyway, I suggest you drop that attitude. When you've done that, you're ready to move on.

In Czechia, try to negotiate to get better rates, now you've a year's experience. Once you've got your Czech passport (I presume?), then just widen your nets to take in other countries. Consistently aim for improving your rates. Remember that high rates in one country may well mean high costs, high taxes or a mix of both. In Switzerland you could have €1000 a day - but the cost of living is 2.5x tthat of Czechia.

[lecyclist]

Have you got some Fortune 200/ FTSE100 companies on your CV?

As any kind of manager/ facilitator going for an interview, being able to present yourself:-


a) as a safe pair of hands trusted by industry brand names, particularly in their sector
b) as someone who understands best practices in high value companies

you should be able to pitch for the higher value contract roles in your area of expertise.

[cwah]

You earn less but pay almost no tax.

If you come to the UK if you are lucky you'd be at 19% corporation tax + 7.5% dividend so a tax rate of 25%.

If not so lucky and taken inside IR35 you'd be at 55% tax rate.

So it doesn't seem that bad where you are