O/T Change of scenery required.......

[mondeoman]

I'm bored.........
No, really I am. So bored in fact that I'm seriously thinking of going contracting rather than permanent. Most of my jobs have only been for 2 years anyway, so I'm used to change.

Question is - what are the pitfalls, benefits, things I should be aware of....... I'm not in IT (I do Project Management and Planning), but it should be similar. Lots of you out there do this type of thing, so your thoughts would be much appreciated....

Comments anyone??

Cheers

Dave BMW

[Richard92c2]

The market at the moment is not in favour of contractors, I would seriously wait a while to see if things level out .... JMHO

[ap_smith]

Agreed.

I've been lucky so far, and my contracts have been extended and the most I've been out of work is a month but the contract market is ultra competetive at the moment and I'm not sure the rates hold too much of an advantage over being permanent if you get a good package.

But it's down to you as to what level of risk you're happy with. And it also depends on what skills base you've got to draw upon?

Andy

[mondeoman]

Ten years experience in proposals and Project Management (automotive/engineering), R&D Manager (2 yrs), Planning Manager (1 yr)

Day to day usage of Primavera P3, Suretrak MSP - the usual stuff really.

interesting that you think the market is tough at the mo - I'd heard differently about planners (although I have been told that PMs are ten a penny).

[nevpugh308]

quote:
The market at the moment is not in favour of contractors, I would seriously wait a while to see if things level out .... JMHO

Agree totally .... it's pants out there at the moment

[nevpugh308]

quote:
ten a penny

Is that the hourly rate ?

[JonRB]

Advantages of being a contractor:

• You earn more!


• You don't get asked bollocks like "where do you see yourself in 5
  years?" and "what are your goals?" in interviews


• You don't have to do appraisals


• You don't have to pretend to think that your employer is wonderful -
  they're just a client


• You can pretend that you're in control of your own destiny, even though
  the reality is that whilst you're under contract you're your client's bitch.


• It's easier to leave if you want to - you just see out your contract and don't renew


• You don't get so much hassle for taking days off as it saves them money

Disadvantages

• You don't want to take days off as it costs you money


• Bank holidays now cost you money and are a bad thing rather than a good
  thing.


• You don't get any sick pay, holiday pay, pensions, benefits, bonuses,
  cars, perks, training, staff 'jollies', share options, or anything else


• You have to put up with permanent members of staff bitching about how much
  you earn when they get all of the above, the ungrateful bastards.


• If you really like working at a client's site, you sometimes have to leave when you don't want to if the client doesn't renew.


• You have to pay an accountant and give shed-loads of money to the tax man.


• If you're caught by IR35 you have to give him even more.

At the moment, I'd say its debatable as to whether a contractor is better off
or not at the moment, especially if you are caught by IR35.

>> Edited by JonRB on Thursday 11th July 12:57

[Richard92c2]

quote:

quote:
ten a penny

Is that the hourly rate ?

WHAT, I gotta go see my Agent, things are picking up again!! wooohooo!!

Ok, I'll p*ss off then!

[mhibbins]

If you do do it, don't do it now. I've been contracting for 5 years (C then Java and J2EE development) and I finished a contract in November to take some time off when my daughter was born and couldn't get another contract until June and I started looking in february. Before this year I would struggle to get even a day off between contracts.

When you decide to do it don't spend all your money, keep a buffer of at least 3 months money so you have plenty of time to find something when your current contract ends.

Use jobserve (www.jobserve.co.uk/) to keep an eye on the market.

Find a decent accountant that doesn't tell you to forget about IR35 when you are supposed to be caught by it and you'll avoid getting a bloody great big tax bill through the post one day - seen it happen.

I prefer it to being a perm because of the fact I can stand back from office politics although obviously the money is a big pull. I do feel though that my 'career' is on hold as I'm doing exactly the same thing as I did before... there's no progression at all. The way out for me (as for many contractors I expect) is to come up with a fantastic idea and start my own company.

Mark

>> Edited by mhibbins on Thursday 11th July 13:24

[nevpugh308]

JonRB .... couldn't put it better myself !

[mondeoman]

Had a quick chat with one of them Agency chaps - seems like £35-£40 an hour is feasible, and a few contracts around at the mo..... What sort of tax bill shoudl I budget for, if I go ahead (%age wise) ??

[MikeyT]

Start at 23% up to the limit and then 40% of the remainder – oh and 10% NI.

Then you'll probably have a surplus come the end of the year!

[sparks]

Hi,

The other option is to PAYE. This means there is going to be minimal aditional tax (if any) com personal assesment.

I can recommend an accountant that does this, the only down side is that if you don't earn, you have to rely on savings NOT on money in the company.

I did the normal (pre IR35) contractor thing and then moved to the IR35 PAYE method and (for me at least) there was much less headache working out personal tax return and no big tax bill to cover dividends.

Sparks