Contract work as a developer?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

HI lads, any of you guys do contract work as a software developer? if so, would you highly recommend it? im currently perm but looking for a new role and was wondering if i should try doing contract work as the money is ridiculous for it.

just wondering if its worth the risk though

[stytagm]

A fair few of my former colleagues have left permanent to go contracting, and generally they're all doing well, but they tended to be the better devs I've worked with. One or two are raking in a fortune, but they also tend to be the ones who work like crazy.

Personally I've never fancied the risk, especially as we're planning to move house soon, and will need to remortgage. But the higher rates represent the higher risk, and the fact that the hiring company have far fewer overheads for contractors.

The other thing I've noticed is that the best contractors (in terms of keeping employed at least) have to be great networkers. They're active on Twitter and Linked In especially, and always seem to crop up at the conferences and dev events.

It's also worth noting that there are plenty of mediocre or crap contractors out there too. My current employers are a bit too cheap to pay a decent contracting rate, so consistently manage to hire contractors who might be perfectly capable, but are just lacking that final bit of pride in their work. They often get the job done, just, but leave an unworkable mess behind them because they know they can leave in two weeks and will never have to maintain it. Whereas the top whack contractors still do top rate work, and can even act as mini consultants, improving the stuff they come across.

So, basically, if you're good you'll be fine as a contractor. Once you get the first few jobs and the first few references and reccomendations you'll be away.

[Peter Parker]

Would I highly recommend it?

Some plus points:

• Money - there's contractors at banks getting £600+ per day. And those that get consulting gigs ... ££££
• Experiences in different places - you might get to work in many great companies/roles/countries.

Some negatives:

• Career progression - you'll struggle to get beyond senior developer or team leader anywhere unless you can demonstrate some specialist skill. Given that software seems to be a young man's game (not claiming ageism and sexism here), there's a point where you need to have another plan beyond more contracting.
• Experiences in different places - you could end up in the worst hole of a death spiral project imaginable. The contractors we hire have some incredible stories

So it depends on a lot of things: how much experience you've got both in time and technical skills; what you realistically can get as a day rate; how confident you'd be of getting other roles in 3/6/12 months; what commitments (family?) you might have; what career goals you have ...

And if you're a good Java developer then send me a message because we're hiring!

[TheAnimus]

If your good then you can rake in a fortune!

But often those who command the four figure daily rate are very specialist, some even having phd + relevant msc.

The downside is the more specialist you are the harder finding good work can be, luckily if your a competent developer there are plenty of jobs out there all begging to pay a reasonable rate, just some of them are not very nice (too much work required to do minor changes due to horrific buggy code base + management that think its not an issue).

I started doing consultancy after a fellow I had worked with talked me into it, and the upshot for me is I'm now working a lot fewer hours, in a less stressful situation, for a little more money than when I was working at a hedge fund (kinda hard work).

So in closing, if you want career progression it makes it a lot harder, you might end up taking a crap role (normally all the crap jobs / really difficult lots of thought jobs are given to the contractors) but the cash is very good.

How many years experience in the industry you acquired so far? (Remember only 'real' roles counted)

[Spud1]

You may also want to look at the middle ground to try and get a taste - thats working as an employee but for a contracting company, such as Thoughtworks.

Then you have the security of a guaranteed salary (usually with decent incentives chucked in on top) but you still get the experience of contracting - the travel, the variety etc. I considered this life and went quite far in the recruitment process..but ended up deciding against it as I didn't want that kind of instability.

The biggest issue for me was that even with a middle ground and working for someone like thoughtworks, you could still end up working all over the country, with no idea where you will end up next..as you are sent where the work is. Not good if you own a house and have family up in say manchester, but end up working in the south east for 6 months of the year, or over in europe.

[TheAnimus]

Plus those companies have a fun business model.

A major labour party doner, was charging us about 800 a day, and giving us useless graddies 90% of which didn't know which end the code came out, they were been paid? 22k per year.

I just stepped back from that doomed area.

[tiggerai]

HI lads, any of you guys do contract work as a software developer? if so, would you highly recommend it? im currently perm but looking for a new role and was wondering if i should try doing contract work as the money is ridiculous for it.

just wondering if its worth the risk though

Hmmmpf Hmmmpf!!!!



(incidentally - what do you develop in?)

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i develope mobile applications using java. not the kind of career path i wanted but when your a graduate with no experience whatsoever, you tend to say yes to anything.

i actually wanted to do more desktop/back-end java stuff

[Bugbait]

If you’re competent and have some semblance of social skills then IT contracting is definitely a better medium term financial option. Even longer term, unless you’re willing to put in the hours it can take a while before a senior permanent role offers more financially than contracting.

I don’t buy into the higher risk of being out of work. Good contractors don’t need to worry about extended periods of involuntary unemployment. Even in times of low economic performance, good contractors can find work. Why? Companies still need staff and temps/contractors fill the role perfectly. Low HR cost due to the absence of training requirements, no career progression to speak of and best of all, no redundancy concerns.

You also have to consider that in the early to medium stages of your IT career you can comfortably make atleast double the gross salary of an equivalent permanent role. You can work 6 months, take 6 months off and still be making a year’s worth at equivalent permanent salary.

EDIT: Regarding “risk”. I often encounter staff (permanent employees) talking about how they would like to contract but they wouldn’t because of the risk involved. That’s just an excuse. There were 7 staff I worked with at my last bank who constantly made jibes about the contractors but it was all out of jealously. They would go on and on about lack of security but when the cuts came, every single one of them was made redundant while I was extended. Don’t let talk of “risk” dissuade you from trying contracting if it’s something you’re truly interested in and think you’ve got the goods to back it up.

Then you factor in the tax benefits where you can pay under 20% tax, that’s without resorting to questionable offshore practices. The take home pay for a contractor making £100k+ is notably more than someone making the same on salary. Depending on your spending habits this can be quite significant over time (pension schemes spring to mind).

However, if you’re after career experience then you’re usually better off with a permanent role unless you’re quite self motivated. As a good permanent, if your employer values you then you can more readily push for more interesting work under the guise of career development. As a contractor you’re there to do whatever job they need so there are generally fewer options.

Are you someone who primarily derives job satisfaction from what you do or what you earn? Yes, there is a middle ground but honestly ask yourself what is more important? For me, I just work for the money to enjoy the things in life outside of work so contracting suits me well.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

The place im in i feel as if i wasted so much time in doing dead end products. i have enquired my current skill and knowldged on my own by self motivating myself to try and learn new skills and technology(currently learning spring, j2ee and hibernate. Coming from a j2me, android developer).

There are ALOT of contract roles for android lurking around. Some in very big companies everyone knows about.

My ex team leader landed a contract role with shazzam and he is loving it. earnes nearly double what he use to and the guy from shazaam as asked if he can extend his contract with them.

contract role seems like a great thing to do and experience but maybe i need a bit more experience before i dive into that. i probably see myself doing so though sooner or later as its pretty tempting moneywise and project wise as i dont get stuck doing the same **** over over again.

Here is another bone to throw into this disussion. what if you have a mortgage or plan to get one?

People who do contracting, do you have kids? mortgages?

[TheAnimus]

No kids, one mortgage, might take on a BTL soon but our damned economy is showing better than expected growth and borrowing is becoming cheaper thanks to a government that actually understands debt is bad!

Its fun, but you get locked into the not taking too much time off, I only manage two months a year because of the greed, it quickly boils down to would you rather take two months off to backpack round xxxxxx, or one month now, earn that extra 5 figure for one months work pay all developer contractors with any track record can demand, and take that other month later..... Greed takes over!

[Brucelles]

I have been a contractor since 1990. I have a wife and daughter and a house in the South of France and drive a BMW 740. The money is good if you are good. I migrated from developing in RPG3 of all things, through Foxpro development to Powerbuilder and from there into Sybase DB design and ISQL development and thus into financial systems consultancy.

I love it and would never go back, but it can be tough working in Amsterdam when your wife is in Brussels or whatever.

The numbers quoted are great, but remember that you pay tax on them, and will still pay NI and your own pension. Having said that, I did 8 years in Abu Dhabi and every penny I earned went into my bank account. It is just another way of working, probably better suited to the confident and competent, though one of the most useless colleagues I have ever had has been a contractor for 20 years, too.

Oh, and by the way, I get up to €300 / day in expenses, so that I can live wherever I work and still keep my salary, but the downside is that I live in Paris, when I would rather be in my own home. All life is compromise, though.

[Bugbait]

Here is another bone to throw into this disussion. what if you have a mortgage or plan to get one?

People who do contracting, do you have kids? mortgages?

Why don’t you start applying for contract roles and attending interviews? What do you have loose? One thing to note, it’s rare (outside of niche roles) for employers to wait too long. At most they usually wait 1 month but often want people to start in a matter of days or weeks. My first contract was offered on a Thursday with a Monday start. My wife was similar, offered Friday with a Monday preferred start but due to paperwork the agent wouldn’t allow it until the Tuesday.

Mortgages can be more difficult to attain and you will get offered less products to choose from, but more likely just lower lending amounts. However, lenders are slowly becoming more contractor friendly. The structure of your payment also matters. Limited companies are pretty straight forward, while umbrellas can raise questions and off-shore I’ve never tried but could see that being more complicated.

Having said that, my wife and I were fine but we used a good broker. For a standard mortgage (ie. UK resident + Permanent) I wouldn’t really bother with a broker, but a good one is worth it when you’re a contractor (and a foreigner in my case). I would recommend a minimum of 12-18 months before applying for a mortgage as contractor unless you intend to borrow well below your affordability limits. The first mortgage application might involve additional paperwork but the longer you’re contracting the easier it gets. After a few years there’s no difference between contractors and staff when applying for a mortgage in terms of difficulty. For my recent mortgage application they didn’t even ask to see my current contract. All the financials they needed were in my company statements.

I have a mortgage, possibly two soon (moving and either selling or renting my current abode) as well a child with more planned in the near future. Do I worry about the “risky” nature of contracting given these financial responsibilities? No. In fact, I wouldn’t be able to afford it if I wasn’t a contractor.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

edit:


duplcate post. leave it here as i will reply to the guys above me

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Why don’t you start applying for contract roles and attending interviews? What do you have loose? One thing to note, it’s rare (outside of niche roles) for employers to wait too long. At most they usually wait 1 month but often want people to start in a matter of days or weeks. My first contract was offered on a Thursday with a Monday start. My wife was similar, offered Friday with a Monday preferred start but due to paperwork the agent wouldn’t allow it until the Tuesday.

Mortgages can be more difficult to attain and you will get offered less products to choose from, but more likely just lower lending amounts. However, lenders are slowly becoming more contractor friendly. The structure of your payment also matters. Limited companies are pretty straight forward, while umbrellas can raise questions and off-shore I’ve never tried but could see that being more complicated.

Having said that, my wife and I were fine but we used a good broker. For a standard mortgage (ie. UK resident + Permanent) I wouldn’t really bother with a broker, but a good one is worth it when you’re a contractor (and a foreigner in my case). I would recommend a minimum of 12-18 months before applying for a mortgage as contractor unless you intend to borrow well below your affordability limits. The first mortgage application might involve additional paperwork but the longer you’re contracting the easier it gets. After a few years there’s no difference between contractors and staff when applying for a mortgage in terms of difficulty. For my recent mortgage application they didn’t even ask to see my current contract. All the financials they needed were in my company statements.

I have a mortgage, possibly two soon (moving and either selling or renting my current abode) as well a child with more planned in the near future. Do I worry about the “risky” nature of contracting given these financial responsibilities? No. In fact, I wouldn’t be able to afford it if I wasn’t a contractor.

Yea i kind of get an impression that developers shine when they do contract work. you said you would recomend 12-18month minumum contract. no such thing at the moment for android developers. their mostly 3months!

if it was for a year then i would be 95% certain to say yes for that kind of contract.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

No kids, one mortgage, might take on a BTL soon but our damned economy is showing better than expected growth and borrowing is becoming cheaper thanks to a government that actually understands debt is bad!

Its fun, but you get locked into the not taking too much time off, I only manage two months a year because of the greed, it quickly boils down to would you rather take two months off to backpack round xxxxxx, or one month now, earn that extra 5 figure for one months work pay all developer contractors with any track record can demand, and take that other month later..... Greed takes over!

2 months a year? Thats a lot mate. most if not all perm jobs only give you 20/25 days annual leave.

I think another good thing about contract is that say if you do have kids, you could organise yourselves and do contract work from sep-June/july the following year and spend the whole summer with your kids.

i dont have kids or a mortgage but the latter i am planing to make it a reality and then kids after.