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Getting first contract - advice needed

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    Getting first contract - advice needed

    Hi all,

    I am looking to move into contracting but need some advice on how to get that important first contract.

    A bit of background for you: I initially trained as a teacher and worked as such for 8yrs, the last 5yrs of which were in Italy. I also worked part time as a technical director building a large medical portal.

    For the past 3yrs I have had my own business in the S of France doing web design/development and a smattering of networking.

    Unfortunately work is not that easy to get here in France so I thought I would try my hand at contracting in the UK or Europe (we plan to come back permanently in 2yrs).

    My main problem is that I don't have any real commercial experience and I feel that is holding me back.

    Any one got any ideas/advice on what I should do to get my first contract?

    Thanks,

    Rich

    #2
    Is the 'large medical portal' likely to give you sufficient experience to blag a job in the health IT sector?

    Comment


      #3
      you see !! you see what's happened, word gets around quickly, they can smell that we're being nice.. i told you it would happen..

      <sigh>

      what's your area of expertise? what experience do you have? where are you thinking of living?

      thank crunchie it's friday, i can't cope with all this niceness
      The proud owner of 125 Xeno Geek Points

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by richclever View Post
        For the past 3yrs I have had my own business in the S of France doing web design/development and a smattering of networking.
        Originally posted by richclever View Post
        My main problem is that I don't have any real commercial experience and I feel that is holding me back.
        I'm sorry, I don't get what you're saying here. You've run a business doing web design and development for 3 years, yet you have no commercial experience?

        Presumably you're looking to get into contracting through agencies because the money is better. My advice: put together a CV showing each of your past client jobs as contracts (because that's in effect what they are), and get contacting agencies. Be sure to read up thoroughly on how best to deal with agents from past postings on this board. This should get you started.

        Or is there something that I've missed?

        Comment


          #5
          Don't know if the medical portal would allow me to blag a job in the health sector or not. The portal is really just an information site for the public an medical profession, however it is the largest in Italy and has some government links.

          As to what I am looking for, it's really web stuff. HTML/CSS PHP MySql etc.

          Location isn't a problem, as I plan to come back here every few weeks (London would be brilliant as I can get direct flights from Stansted).

          Chicane, yes I suppose you are right in that I should treat my contracts here as commercial experience. I suppose what I meant is the stuff I have worked on has been for small companies and not as part of a team (entire sites coded by me only).

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by richclever View Post
            I suppose what I meant is the stuff I have worked on has been for small companies and not as part of a team (entire sites coded by me only).
            I wouldn't worry about that as long as you've got a respectable portfolio that backs up your claimed experience. As with my previous contract, it's pretty common for all html/css/php/mysql stuff on even big-name websites to be done by one person.

            You may be well suited to look for work with creative & marketing agencies - they like to work with developers with a creative awareness as well as development expertise.

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks Chicane,

              Too be honest my design skills are not particularly brilliant, I am better at the more technical side of things.

              Comment


                #8
                not as part of a team (entire sites coded by me only).
                Really not much of a problem. I'd been contracting on solo projects for at least 2 years before I first worked team-style (and then it was as lead developer). Pitch on what you believe you can do; not on what you've done.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by richclever View Post
                  Too be honest my design skills are not particularly brilliant, I am better at the more technical side of things.
                  As far as I'm concerned, it's not necessarily about having good design skills.

                  It's about being aware of the problems and issues being faced by creative types when working with the web, and being able to work with these people to solve such problems in a satisfactory manner that's a reasonable compromise between technical and creative requirements.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Thanks for all the advice, it has certainly given me lots to think about.

                    Comment

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