IT Contracting....should I or shouldn't I?

I'm currently in a permanent position, Lead Developer, and have strong SQL Server, .NET (C# & VB.NET) skills. I have about 6 and a half years experience in total of software development using various technolgies, including the ones mentioned above.

I am thinking about becoming an IT Contractor as I think I may be suitable for DBA and other development roles.

Can anyone offer any advice?
An indication of how buoyant the contracting market is at the moment?
Any other help would be appreciated.....

The thing I didn't do was to really count all of the "extras" when calculating a pay rate.

At least in the U.S. a full time job in I.T. usually comes with health insurance, vacation, and some sort of retirement savings plan. From company to company these can vary in quality and amount but they're usually there.

You need to figure out how much these things add to your salary. For example, when I did a stint as a contractor I got a better rate but got none of the things I listed. The health insurance plan that the contracting outfit offered was totally inadequate especially for the rate reduction they were asking.

Initially I was thinking that I could "bulk up" on some cash. But when I was sick for two days it cost me about USD $1000. Those are the kinds of things that you have to plan for yourself - it needs to be built into your rate.

Eventually I found that companies that were geographically local to me were simply not paying the same as a full time position when the other factors were considered. Because of family I wasn't going to be a nomad so I went back to full time.

Be smart... do it on the side first to see if you can do it (get clients, handle the extra load that comes with self employment, and other factors like working from hom).

Once you start to make good money on your own for at least a few months (so you can sure about your stability), you can quit your job and go solo full time.

Surely you won't get any contracts unless you can attend the position during a normal working hours.

Depends if you're looking to contract with one company or wanting to start your own company.

If it's just contracting with one company then the market seems pretty good. It's not quite so easy to get big bucks unless you go for short term contracting. The company i work with brought in a sharepoint expert and he got 40 pound an hour, but was only here 3 weeks. Good money for the job but if he doesn't work for 3 months then it's bad money!

Do you have a specialised area you can work in?

I'm in the C#, .NET, SQL Server arena.

I have strong SQL Server skills so could easily be a SQL DBA. Short term contracting is what I'm thinking of doing.

I'd hope for contracts of about 3 months or so. This would be done under my own company but I would be the sole employee.

I would use agencies to try to line up contracts back to back but again, there is uncertainty in this but "nothing ventured - nothing gained".

Mr. Zogg,

I am a consultant for Elan IT (www.ElanIT.co.uk) and specialise in providing .Net (and other web dev skilled) contractors to the south west of the UK. The market is very busy at the moment but you are going to need to travel away from home to find any decent rates. Having said that, I have a few clients in your neck of the woods that I may be able to speak with about you.

Basically, you are just going to have to take that leap of faith in order to get started in the contract market. Quit your permanent job and hope for the best. A 4 week notice period is going to seriously detract from your potential of getting a contract - clients are simply not going to wait that long. So, you need to save up a little cash and just go for it.

If you use an agency then you will need to know about how we pay. I cannot speak for other agencies but this is how Elan go about it. We will ask you to submit a timesheet and an invoice on a monthly basis by the 10th of each month. We will then pay you on the 13th by BACS which takes about 3 days to clear usually. This means that you are likely to be paid 6 weeks after you start (if you start at the beginning of a month). So, you will need to be sure that you have quite a bit of capital saved to get you through this period.

If you want to discuss anything further, please feel free to drop me an email at Ben.Butterfield at ElanIT.co.uk.

Ben

I would go for it, after you have some savings. Think the general rules it to have enough to pay your bills for a year or so before you jump into it.

I am eventually going to be starting my own design/consulting group, but I just graduated with my Masters a few months ago, and jobs have been tight, so I have to have the experience and financial backing.

No one makes any money working for someone else, and I want the freedom to do what I want, when I want (within reason).