Permie IT Manager Looking for Opinions

**northernladuk** · 8 June 2018, 13:36

But if you move to contracting all you will be doing is exactly the same as they are the only skills you've got. If your heart isn't in it now what are you going to feel like in a couple of years when you've been doing exactly the same and your skills are out of date?

Also not many small companies use contractors and you don't have experience in big corporates so you are going to struggle getting gigs.

**uk contractor** · 8 June 2018, 13:38

Contract market with your skillset is pretty much dead right now & has been for a long time due to globalisation, outsourcing, near shoring, off shoring & any other cost cutting measures you can care to mention. Best way forward is keep the perm job & try to find another similar role in a larger organisation with a better salary & better prospects.

Read backwards here to get a flavour a LOT of people are on the bench:
https://forums.contractoruk.com/busi...arket-152.html

**oliverson** · 8 June 2018, 13:43

Originally posted by eehbygum View Post

Hi folks,

I'm 36 and been working as a permie for a small business, managing their IT for the last 10 years. My main skills are Windows Server/desktop, AD, GPO, T-SQL/SSIS, Dynamics NAV, O365. I've managed a few migrations projects involving ERP, Exchange, cloud and VoiP. My salary is £42k.

I feel like I've taken this position as far as I can and my heart's not really in it anymore to be honest. I'm ready to move on...but to what? I've been curious about contracting ever since a friend of mine started a contract on £600 per day which is still going strong after 2 years, however he's a Java developer. I guess I wouldn't be able to land a contract with my current CV as i'm in no man's land with regards to skills & experience - part SQL developer, part MI/BI analyst, part PM.

My heart says I want to specialise and become an expert in one area like SQL. Perhaps get a junior permie role to build up some experience and open the door to go contracting later if I want to. My head says I should keep climbing the permie IT management ladder, perhaps move to a bigger company with more opportunity for progression. My imagination says I should completely re-skill in something that I might enjoy more, perhaps learn a new programming language or something with good future prospects like cyber security.

I have to admit I prefer the developer type work to management, but ultimately my goal is to improve my earnings and have a better work-life balance. Specialist contractor seems to fit the bill better than permie IT management, but I need to decide if it's worth making such a big change at this point in my life and career. My wife earns a little more than I do, so it wouldn't be a huge risk for me to change things up, but I really have no idea about the market or what potential paths I could take from here, so i'm really interested in your opinions.

Thanks if you read through all that.

TLDR
- 36 year old IT manager with 10 years experience at the same company.
- Feel like I've reached the limit of my current role and want to move on.
- Don't know what, if any, contractor opportunies would be open to me.
- Don't know if I should stick to IT management or specialise/re-skill.

I think the problem is you've been there for so long. Previous best as a permie for me was 5 years. I can't imagine any longer than that.

**malvolio** · 8 June 2018, 13:48

I have to agree with the others. Contracting will be a bad move in several ways. Better to look at permie roles in bigger companies, the logic being people hire permies for their potential and contractors for their skills. You don't have a lot of the latter to be brutally honest but you probably do have lots of the former. Look to go contracting when you have a specific skill set and are damned good at it, not before.

**MattZani** · 8 June 2018, 13:56

Originally posted by oliverson View Post

I think the problem is you've been there for so long. Previous best as a permie for me was 5 years. I can't imagine any longer than that.

My longest permie job was 2 and half years.

If you look at my CV...even my permanent roles look more like contracts, length wise

For the OP, find a similar role but in a bigger company. This might challenge you more and revive your enthusiasm.

Maybe try to move to a consultancy company. You'll get to work with different clients, in different projects, a bit more variety in general. And it kinda gives you a taste of what it would be like to be a contractor (but without having to find contracts)

**eehbygum** · 8 June 2018, 13:58

Originally posted by northernladuk View Post

But if you move to contracting all you will be doing is exactly the same as they are the only skills you've got. If your heart isn't in it now what are you going to feel like in a couple of years when you've been doing exactly the same and your skills are out of date?

Also not many small companies use contractors and you don't have experience in big corporates so you are going to struggle getting gigs.

I should clarify, when I said my heart isn't in it, I meant specifically working as an IT manager, not the individual skills. My thoughts about contracting were that I would perhaps specialise a bit more first, either doing something like SQL or PM, not contracting as an IT manager if that makes sense.

**eehbygum** · 8 June 2018, 14:05

Originally posted by malvolio View Post

I have to agree with the others. Contracting will be a bad move in several ways. Better to look at permie roles in bigger companies, the logic being people hire permies for their potential and contractors for their skills. You don't have a lot of the latter to be brutally honest but you probably do have lots of the former. Look to go contracting when you have a specific skill set and are damned good at it, not before.

I wasn't looking to go contracting with my current skills and experience, more like focus down on a particular skill such as SQL or learn a new skill, but do you think this is viable now? I assume I would have to get a junior SQL developer job for example to do this and I'm not sure if perhaps it's a bit late to being do that now I've established myself as an IT manager.

**northernladuk** · 8 June 2018, 14:06

But you don't have any experience doing that so you've no skills to sell. There is a thread going at the moment where a PM can't find work and another thread about the state of the market that would be worth a read.

**HugeWhale** · 8 June 2018, 15:01

I'm a PM and you have more technical skills than I have, but if someone is going to hire you as a contract PM they want more functional skills such as risk management, cost control, stakeholder management, through-life planning and all manner of things. Fortunately I've got some huge clients on my CV: government departments, Bae Systems, Airbus, Shell for example and that seems to carry a lot of weight.

Get some big corporation experience. No-one wants a PM who has only had small business exposure.

Good luck.

Permie IT Manager Looking for Opinions