New to contracting, advice needed!

[01smicha]

Hi all!

I have started to look at going into IT contracting, as being a permie I am struggling to earn enough to pay for everything!

My son is just a few months away from needing to go to nursery, and I had no idea how painful those fees are! As such, this gave me the push I needed to seriously consider my options.

I have read through some other threads and guides on this site (very informative btw, thanks to the authors!), but I do have a few questions.

I am based in Wiltshire, so of course will be looking for work in this area, ideally as close to home as possible. With this in mind, have any of you had more luck finding work through agencies, or by looking yourself, dropping cv's etc?

Also, pay-wise, I see adverts for low-level stuff, i.e. Windows 7 rollout engineers, which pay £200 per day etc, is it really the case that something as simple as that can pay so well? Last thing I want is to walk into a contract roll, and be expected to do something completely alien that I haven't ever done before!

I haven't handed in my notice yet (1 month), but I ideally need to be wheels rolling within 3 months. Is that a reasonable timescale to get setup and working?

Thanks for reading!

P.S
FYI my prev. experience is all the way from service desk, to 2nd line desktop support, to part of a 3 man team for a small company, so a wide range of skills learned over time, but nothing developer related!

[cojak]

Welcome!

You'll find a lot of answers to your questions within the CUK website.

On the right you'll find CUK Navigation. >>>>>>>>>

Look down and you'll come to the First Timers section. Have a read through there.

Basic expenses questions answered here: Contractor Expenses - How to claim Travel and other expenses via Limited Company or Umbrella

Then pay particular attention to IR35.

If you go into the Accounting/Legal forum you'll discover the thread Basic advice when running your own contractor business.

Guide to Contracts also has some good articles.

Happy reading!

(and don't think that all of the £200 pd is yours!)

[cojak]

But you need to be prepared NOT to walk straight into a contract. You may need to hand in your notice first without a contract to go to.

Can you afford to do that?

[Jeremiah@RHJAccountants]

But you need to be prepared NOT to walk straight into a contract. You may need to hand in your notice first without a contract to go to.

Can you afford to do that?

I will second this contracting does have great benefits but there are also risks too.

Have a good read of all mentioned above and talk to your partner and see what you can afford.

Good luck and i wish you the best

[TheFaQQer]

I have started to look at going into IT contracting, as being a permie I am struggling to earn enough to pay for everything!

Having done your extensive research, what have you seen that indicates that contracting will help resolve your problem?

[northernladuk]

Having done your extensive research, what have you seen that indicates that contracting will help resolve your problem?

+1 to that. 3 months on the bench with zero income isn't going to help your financial situation.

You will only get work doing what you are skilled at. You can't just take a lower paid roll just because you can do that. You will be a risk to the client as you will just dump them when you get a higher paid gig so won't even consider you. They want people who will see it through, not take risks on paying skilled professionals less just because they want to make ends meet.

[TheFaQQer]

You can't just take a lower paid roll just because you can do that.

Or even a role.

[01smicha]

Having done your extensive research, what have you seen that indicates that contracting will help resolve your problem?

The rates of pay for the jobs my experience and skillset allow for are much more highly paid, plus over the past few months I have been considering the move I have seen multiple jobs come up. As far as I can see, the work is there.

[01smicha]

+1 to that. 3 months on the bench with zero income isn't going to help your financial situation.

You will only get work doing what you are skilled at. You can't just take a lower paid roll just because you can do that. You will be a risk to the client as you will just dump them when you get a higher paid gig so won't even consider you. They want people who will see it through, not take risks on paying skilled professionals less just because they want to make ends meet.

Agreed, 3 months without work would be a real pain for anyone.

My current pay as a permie must be that poor, because all of the contracting roles for exactly the same work pay an awful lot more.

I have zero intention of dumping clients for higher pay. If I enter into a contract, I will do so with full willingness to see it through to its end. And as such, if that contract is not suitable, I wont buy into it.