Any reason not to consult on the side for a while?

[Burns]

However think if this current part time client bins you for whatever reason you will struggle to find another part time client. Would you then simply close the company?

I could do, yeah, but I'm a fan of the startup culture (ish), the current permie company was small and independent (does it still class as a startup after 10 years?) who sold a product that used SQL as a back end but never had a proper DBA until they employed me because they simply didn't see the need for a full timer until they started getting in trouble. There was plenty to fix that could have been totally avoided if they had somebody that understood SQL performance from an earlier stage.

That could have been a consultant on 1 day/week to do code reviews and things like schema and index analysis (I'd definitely have to make sure that I was sure of the IR35 implications). I've spoken to a fair few local software houses who don't have dedicated DBA's and think that there may well be a place for me to do something like this, maybe offer 1 day/week or something similar to be their go to SQL expert, I could do all of the above in a day with no problems at all and it might be an interesting direction to take the career. Could even be a package of a week's time to analyse a bunch of stuff, report the issues/tell them how to fix it and then either leave them to it, offer to train their staff or take on the project myself.

Also think about burning out. 10 hours doesn’t seem a lot but it adds up on top of a permie role. And you may end up creeping into your 9-5 time at least your focus will.

Thing is, with the permie role, the company I work for is now part of a much larger company with lots of red tape, the pressure has ramped down significantly vs what it used to be and has been this way for about a year. Great for allowing personal growth but not exactly a challenging environment. It's much more project work now and less "my server is melting/on fire" calls.

Small point. IPSE+ is a recurring annual cost, not one off.

Very good point, I've noted it as an annual cost rather than monthly, that's why I lumped it in with the 'one off' costs.

A £2K setup is neither here nor there, totally legit business expense - however, lots of contractors think it's free equipment - it will still eat into your profits. Try Pcspecialist or similar if you need a bespoke beast.

It was PC Specialist that I was looking at, the 15.6" OPTIMUS VIII looks like about the right sort of machine, but choosing the i7, 32GB RAM, 2TB Samsung SSD, windows 10 pro, office pro, and another battery puts it at £1800+VAT. A portable hard drive for backups (in case the worse happens) and an additional monitor easily pushes it over the £2k mark.

I'm well aware it will eat away at profits, but that's not really a major concern at this point as I don't plan on withdrawing said profits for a while anyway and just build up the company war chest. I'd think it more of an investment than a cost, but yeah, totally not just free equipment.

This might be the opening into bigger and better consultancy gigs. You'll kick yourself for not trying. What's the worst thing that can happen, egg on your face for underperforming?

This was exactly my thought but I'm worried that this is just conformation bias at play and I'm just choosing to read the sentences in this thread that agree with my point of view.

[DaveB]

This was exactly my thought but I'm worried that this is just conformation bias at play and I'm just choosing to read the sentences in this thread that agree with my point of view.

Wouldn't make you any different to most of the posters in General if you were

[WordIsBond]

Would your existing employer take you on a 1-2 day a week basis as a contractor, or would they replace you? If the former, and you can grab even one of those other clients you've been talking about, you've got perhaps 3 roles running concurrently, and this thing can take off.

The contract with the existing employer might be inside IR35 (though not necessarily), but it isn't the end of the world to do that. I still have a limited-role contract with my former employer. I declared it inside the first two years but things have changed enough that I don't anymore. You just pay your salary and any pension contributions out of the inside contract.

[Burns]

Would your existing employer take you on a 1-2 day a week basis as a contractor, or would they replace you? If the former, and you can grab even one of those other clients you've been talking about, you've got perhaps 3 roles running concurrently, and this thing can take off.

I'm not sure about this. I know that there are (UK) permies who have reduced their number of days worked (e.g. a team lead that doesn't work Fridays and gets 80% of the salary that he would get as full time). The issue is that it's very Americanised now and over there people tend to be brought on initially as "contractors" with ambitions on becoming permies. I could certainly ask about going the other way, I'll have to keep that in mind. My reporting line is now all American which is why this gets a little confusing.

But, yeah, having 2.5 days worth of contracting work per week would make the business viable on it's own (assuming 45 working weeks/year). If I could reduce my permie work (even stay as a permie if the contractor thing isn't possible at current company) down to, say, 3 days/week then it would allow for picking up those extra days from contracting until I build up enough to take the plunge and just leave permiedom altogether.

[Burns]

Wouldn't make you any different to most of the posters if you were

ftfy

[quackhandle]

Yeah, looks a fair machine. The noticeable differences is that I'd specced 32GB RAM (I'm a SQL Server guy), an office subscription and a 2TB SSD (again, for those VM's). The £2k did also include a monitor to use it at around £150 but no big deal to start with.

I also use SQL Server and you'd be better off with an MS Action Pack Subscription (350 for the year) which gives you 75 per month to create any damn thing in Azure. Case in point, last month I created six vm's with DC and 2 node FCI with Availability Groups, it took 47 minutes! (remember to turn it off thou!)

Saves filling your laptop with countless VMs and you don't need to over spec it. 2TB SSD? What are you planning to do, run someones production databases on your laptop?

qh

[craig1]

Many permie contracts have exclusivity clauses that stop you making money through employment elsewhere without their permission, including self-employed work. Check your contract before you spend 1p.

[Burns]

Many permie contracts have exclusivity clauses that stop you making money through employment elsewhere without their permission, including self-employed work. Check your contract before you spend 1p.

Yep, checked and it's all ok

[Burns]

I also use SQL Server and you'd be better off with an MS Action Pack Subscription (350 for the year) which gives you 75 per month to create any damn thing in Azure. Case in point, last month I created six vm's with DC and 2 node FCI with Availability Groups, it took 47 minutes! (remember to turn it off thou!)

Saves filling your laptop with countless VMs and you don't need to over spec it. 2TB SSD? What are you planning to do, run someones production databases on your laptop?

qh

Nice, I'll check that out, thank you.

Regarding the SSD's, because I present at conferences I can't guarantee a decent wifi connection to anything online so prefer to keep it on my machine. Plus I tend to use the Stack Overflow database which is over 100GB, it's great for performance tuning presentations having that much data that people are familiar with.

[WordIsBond]

The issue is that it's very Americanised now and over there people tend to be brought on initially as "contractors" with ambitions on becoming permies.

There are a LOT over there who go perm to contract, and it won't be a surprise to most Americans if you look into it.

The tax benefits of going independent in the US aren't quite as significant as over here, and a lot of American firms have really good employee benefits packages. Employee health cover, especially, is a big factor.

But there is still a strong streak of independence, be your own man, etc, in the American psyche, and a lot of people strike out on their own and become consultants / contractors. It's the independence and freedom that appeals so strongly on that side of the pond.