Be Excellent To Each Other

I have a difficult choice and not sure what to do...

A colleague has left my team and gone contracting (something I used to do 10 years ago). The rate he is on because of his experience of working here doing the same role as me means he earns in a week what I earn in a month.

Having been there a few weeks he is trying to convince me to join him...

Not sure if I should, it is a 6 month contract but means I would earn a shed load in that time but it is in Bristol...

Do you need the money? Is your current position secure?

Make hay while the sun shines.

So they have you ride a rat around Bristol? Seems legit.

As secure as any big corp, we have had voluntary redundancies notices out..

Having just been through a rather expensive divorce and custody battle... yes..

I agree with Moses.

I think you just need to think about what you'll be doing in 6 months if you take it, and what you'll be doing if you don't.

Do you like wearing womens clothes? Are you busy on the 10 Dec 11?

This could get extended... but yes hence the dilemma...

Wait... That's... My birthday...

I'd probably think about the medium to long term. I got out of contracting because it was giving me sleepless nights every time the end of them rolled around. The market now is nowhere near as good as it was five years ago.

Why not aim for a better paid job within your current structure? What would happen if the work dried up and it wasn't extended? Could you afford to pay bills, mortgage, etc?

I'd only consider going back to contracting if I were made redundant. I wouldn't leave a reasonably safe permanent position to do so. The money is great, but the security is pretty much non existent.

Yes... I will have to have a chat with my HR manager to see what my options are...

The area I work in, can be lucrative..

Only you know what your situation is, but contracting is a very different mindset and lifestyle than a permanent job. Also, make sure you do your sums properly, including only working for 10 months a year, private healthcare costs, pensions etc... Whenever I look at it, the headline profits look good, but the actual profits aren't that much more than I get on my permanent wage.

However, assuming you are working in the large organisation I seem to recall you are, and looking back on my 9 months I worked there, I would take any job that got me out of that hell hole.

NHS, baby!

Tax dodge?

Assumption that you'll be out of work for some of the year as well as sickness/holidays.

It is a lot to think about, hence I am throwing it on here..

I would do it but then again, I would take "licking tarmac" as a career rather than working here.

Heh. A lot of companies give private healthcare as a "free" benefit, so if you go contracting you need to compare like with like, assuming that is important to you.

Having a fair amount of experience with the NHS, from both inside and outside the organisation. They are fantastic for emergencies, hopeless for anything long-term!

I'd take the money while it was there. That six months will get you the equivalent of 26 months pay at your current rate.

Indeed. Time between contracts, holidays cost you twice (cost of holiday + loss of earnings while away), not paid when sick etc... It all adds up.

That is the good part...

When I was contracting I was on 1.73x my current gross salary, plus a modest extra boost from the tax advantages. Typical daily rates are £300-350 in this neck of the woods for coders of my seniority; I wouldn't be surprised if Kovacs was able to get more than that. That's a metric assload of cash. You're quite right to point out that these things need to be factored in, but unless one is doing it wrong I'd suggest they aren't important because at those rates even five months a year out of work still makes more money than permie work.

Two things help a lot, I'd suggest:

1) having a partner or spouse who can entirely pay your monthly fixed outgoings, so that an extended dry spell between contracts is merely inconvenient instead of devastating.
2) being disciplined about not suddenly expanding your lifestyle to the top of the new income, but rather keeping money back for rainy days (and the inevitable tax bills if you're not using a holding company doing PAYE stuff -- after nine months contracting, I had to write a heart-breakingly huge five digit cheque for the Revenue!)

Which is why only KovacsC can make the choice. In my case contracting rates are around 1.5x my permie salary. That is getting dangerously close to breaking even once you factor in the time off, holidays, sickness, pension, healthcare, etc... Sure, it's still a bit more, but enough to put up with the extra stress of contracting? Depends entirely on how much stress you have in your current job, and how risk averse you are in financial matters

(plus i'm a reet lazy fucker, and it's much harder to fire a permie for doing fuck all, all day )

Good luck with whatever you decide, KovacsC. A bloody good Pro/Con list session usually works out these kind of decisions for me.

Considering my lifestyle, my ability to spend money frugally no matter what I earn, mad budgeting skills, actively preferring to change jobs and location often, having no dependants and having little fear of insecure work contracts etc, I'd be a prime candidate for going contract/freelance, but I have no idea how the hell to do it...

Tell your current work you are taking a 6 month sabbatical to tour the Outer Hebrides and will they keep your job open for you?

That wouldn't be problem, it's more that the obvious freelance route (corporate events AV stuff) would be boring and I don't look smart enough, and the exciting route (freelance sound design, sound production, engineering or even fancy studio install work) I can't imagine how it would make me any money? The stuff that I'm really good at and love doing the most is the stuff that people expect you to do for free (which I do already, to be fair). Hey ho... I should have learnt to code like you rich lot, shouldn't I?

It would be more than double if not triple my permie rate...

I have to look at holidays, company cars, health etc etc..

Trying to think of more than the £ signs.

At triple your current rate, I'd say fuck it and go for it. There will always be work out there for good people in IT, so you shouldn't have a huge problem getting back into permie after 6 months.
You know what they say, faint heart never fucked a pig...

A factor to consider, Kovacs: it's hard to get contract work if you're already in permanent work, because few contractor employees want to wait for you to serve a notice period. Hence moving from permanent to contract usually involves a gulp-inducing moment where you have to quit your permanent role first, then look for contract work second. If this contract you are talking about will wait for you to serve a notice period, however, then you're through a significant hurdle without any effort or stress. That might be an extra reason to think about this opportunely more carefully.

I will ring the agency again...

I think we all need to take a moment and consider Jessie Jay's thoughts on the matter.

Yeah KovacsC, do it like a dude!

If I had skills worth contracting, I'd be so there.

I'm seriously thinking of becoming a personal trainer. Shit-all pay compared to you lot, but it'd be nice for me.

It's sort of a dream job, really. You get to exercise for a living, and also transform overweight women into grateful hotties.

You would be perfect in a touring band. Form one!

Indeed. Money would just be the icing.

And transforming overweight blokes too... just think of the builders bum you will see..

If you're in a job where you get to pick your client and you pick the fat blokes, well, each to their own Kov.

There's loads of jobs for that advertised around here. I doubt one needs qualifications, either. Go for it.