Advice on move from permie to contracting?

[nomadd]

You and pretty much every other jobless IT contractor out there. Stick with what you have a count yourself lucky, imho.

This^

[Fraidycat]

The advice to 'Shelter in place' applies not only to Covid but also everyone's current job role.

This recession is not over and could get even worse.

Now even after giving you the above advice, i might still understand you quitting if you really hated your present role and it was effecting your mental health or stress levels.

But you still appear to like it.

The time to change career paths is during the Boom times when opportunities abound.

Companies give new starts more respect during those periods as well as they cant find people so easily.

[NotAllThere]

Written like a good senior IT technician. Try it from a management consultancy perspective

Spoken like a good management consultant. Well done.



I've known SME managers who've done very well, some have done poorly. I've know career managers and you can tell they've only got there by mistake. They'll never go higher, managers don't get sacked (often - though redundancy sweeps are useful to get rid of them), but they're inflicted on their staff. And of course the managers we like are empathic, but some great managers appear to be sociopaths - both SME and career managers.

[Liam007]

There is a major drawback with the plan.

If you’re any good there’ll be so much work that you never take your months long break.
If you aren’t any good you’ll have plenty of breaks, but too filled with poverty and anxiety to go anywhere.

Not everyone will have this problem, but those people don’t need to ask the question on here.

Footnote: If your current employer allows yo to take unlimited unpaid leave, then do it with them. Now is an awful time to be a first time contractor.

I'm surprised no one has really pulled his plan apart and added a dose of reality to it all.

I think there are some major flaws in it that can't be underestimated. You are about to enter contracting at the worst period since contracting started. You've got the covid issue so no one's job/role is secure. It offers some benefits with location not being an issue but even those gigs can evaporate in a day.
You've then got IR35 which is going to be a disaster. Many wise and talented contractors are jumping perm and nabbing the juicy gigs before all hell lets lose. A large number of gigs are going to go inside which will be unsustainable by many so there are going to be tens of thousands of very experienced contractors looking for work. Most of them will have started already trying to jump ship before determinations.
The chances of you getting gauranteed 6 months on 6 months off outside IR35 gigs? None whatsoever. Even if you do the first on and off will destroy your CV. No one is going to want a contractor with one 6 monther and a long break. Looks more like you can't cut it and your will be a risk to the agency so they won't touch you.

If you've a perm gig that's secure and you still enjoy then you are close to the top of the tree IMO. This is not the time to be moving jobs let alone giving it up and going contracting.

Come back in a year when the dust has settled and see what's what then.

First-time contractor here : )

I'm a Senior Java Developer (Spring, Hibernate, Docker, Kubernetes) with advanced skills in Front end development (React, Typescript, ES6, Testing, etc.). High in-demand skills.

I always wanted to try freelance contracting. So I moved from permie to contracting at the end of October. One of recruiter texted me through LinkedIn. The process was pretty fast, the company seem to be in a particular hurry. I had an interview on the same day. Got an offer the next day. Fully remote £425/day outside IR35 6 month. Accepted. I know that with my skills I could get a better rate, but I didn't want to waste a lot of time. For the first contract, it's not bad.

The client is a large enterprise company with a lot of politics and meetings. Onboarding alone took one week : ) I'm not busy here at all. Easy tasks which I can do in one day and relax for the rest of the week.
I read here, that some manage to do two contracts together. I think of the second contract option now What do you think guys? Is it OK to try to get the second contract?

[GhostofTarbera]

First-time contractor here : )

I'm a Senior Java Developer (Spring, Hibernate, Docker, Kubernetes) with advanced skills in Front end development (React, Typescript, ES6, Testing, etc.). High in-demand skills.

I always wanted to try freelance contracting. So I moved from permie to contracting at the end of October. One of recruiter texted me through LinkedIn. The process was pretty fast, the company seem to be in a particular hurry. I had an interview on the same day. Got an offer the next day. Fully remote £425/day outside IR35 6 month. Accepted. I know that with my skills I could get a better rate, but I didn't want to waste a lot of time. For the first contract, it's not bad.

The client is a large enterprise company with a lot of politics and meetings. Onboarding alone took one week : ) I'm not busy here at all. Easy tasks which I can do in one day and relax for the rest of the week.
I read here, that some manage to do two contracts together. I think of the second contract option now What do you think guys? Is it OK to try to get the second contract?

What makes your contract outside IR35 ? Who reviewed it?

Anyhoo my best is 4 concurrent contracts

Fill your boots


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[edison]

I guess everyone's experience is quite different. The career managers I have worked with have either had unsuccessful teams or they've had successful teams who largely ignore them. I've never seen one actually make a positive impact. They either get ignored and the people who know what they are doing get on without them or they hold back production. No one ever respects them. This is why there has been a move towards management who have subject matter expertise. You are stuck in the past.

It's also crazy to think that someone intelligent enough to be successful at programming especially a lead developer won't be able to figure out the bigger picture concepts.

What is the most successful background for an MBA student? a background in engineering. Engineers are the most successful in post MBA senior management. What does that tell you? it tells me that the skillset and aptitude engineers possess lead to success in management.

The two biggest traditional areas of employment post-MBA (especially from top schools) have been investment banking and consulting. Neither of those paths will necessarily make you a great manager and neither will an MBA. Soft skills play a much bigger part in senior management and just because some is 'intelligent' enough to be good at programming is no indication they would be good in senior management. From my experience, I would say it's more likely the opposite.

[malvolio]

The two biggest traditional areas of employment post-MBA (especially from top schools) have been investment banking and consulting. Neither of those paths will necessarily make you a great manager and neither will an MBA. Soft skills play a much bigger part in senior management and just because some is 'intelligent' enough to be good at programming is no indication they would be good in senior management. From my experience, I would say it's more likely the opposite.

I tend to agree. The analytical mindset that makes a good programmer is the antithesis of one that will make a good manager.

[Lance]

The two biggest traditional areas of employment post-MBA (especially from top schools) have been investment banking and consulting. Neither of those paths will necessarily make you a great manager and neither will an MBA. Soft skills play a much bigger part in senior management and just because some is 'intelligent' enough to be good at programming is no indication they would be good in senior management. From my experience, I would say it's more likely the opposite.

There are those that know how, and those that know why.
Those that know how, will always work for those that know why.

[BR14]

There are those that know how, and those that know why.
Those that know how, will always work for those that know why.

get that from a chistmas cracker?

[Lance]

get that from a chistmas cracker?

what? My MBA or that trite quote?