Intro and question about specific job roles

[thecornflake]

Hi,

Just joined - I'm currently in a permanent role but considering contracting. I have been in application support roles for around 15 years and I've also done a small amount of development in VB.NET. I've done SQL Server stuff for most of that time as well.

A lot of contracts I see when searching are more towards the business analyst\developer side of things so I'm wondering how likely it is that I would be able to find contracts. I know this is probably a tricky question to answer but I was hoping to get a general idea of what the market is like at the moment for the support side of things. I'm within easy train journey of London and looking to get £350\day upwards. Compared to my current salary (allowing for travel costs, lack of holiday pay etc) if I did a 6 month contract and then had to find something else afterwards I would have saved enough from the extra money to keep myself going for around 3 months before I needed to start worrying about how to pay the bills etc.

[northernladuk]

You need to be looking at contracts that directly match your skill set. You won't get other roles just because you think you can do them. If you can't demonstrate the skills required for the role you just won't get a look in. As a contractor you sell your skills to a client, not just an able body that might be able to do it. Being a newbie makes this point even more important. There will be a raft of experience contractors that have years demonstrating the ability to do the roles you think you can do.

I also think your figures are right. I am not so sure £350 is going to be enough to give you what you are expecting. You are going to need a warchest to start of with as it is unlikely you will be able to dovetail a contract with a notice period so are likely to end up having to jack your permie job and spend time on the bench before you find your first role.