4 ms·

How do you, as a contractor, find this sort of work?

tomduncalf 7y ago
Personally I’ve been lucky enough to find it via word of mouth/recommendation and also directly approaching clients. Most contractors get their work through recruiters though, if you mention to a recruiter you are interested in contract work you’ll start getting a ton of phone calls and emails. It’s not uncommon for contracts to get extended several times, and you’ll probably build up a network of other contractors quite quickly. One thing you might find is getting your first contract is hard if you are in a permanent job - companies generally are looking for contractors to start ASAP, so a one month notice period (with the risk that you get tempted to stay at your existing company) is often not acceptable to them. Some clients will wait for the right person but you might find you need to quit your job first before finding work which can be a bit nerve wracking - so it’s wise to survey the market, talk to recruiters etc. for a while before doing so! If you’re UK based https://github.com/tadast/switching-to-contracting-uk/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/tadast/switching-to-contracting-uk/blob/m... may be interesting.
ed_balls 7y ago
you can start with a current employer
- laythea 7y ago
  be warned: the government does not like it if you are an employee and then go directly into contracting for said same company. you become an "employee under guise" and then you will be taxed as such. then you get the worst of both worlds.
  - weberc2 7y ago
    Which government?
    - tomduncalf 7y ago
      I assume he means U.K. (IR35 ruling) although there may be equivalents elsewhere in the world
- tomduncalf 7y ago
  In the UK you need to be careful transitioning from permanent to contract for the same company without a gap as it could be an IR35 risk (assuming you want to operate as a Limited Company at least). Not saying it’s not possible but you’d need to be careful and explicit that the contract isn’t just a direct extension of your permanent work.
laythea 7y ago
To get contracts as a contractor, you need to differentiate yourself from the market as best as possible. One way is to try and get some sort of security cleared job. Once you do, you immediately elevate yourself away "from the crowd" of developers in the market and you will find major global companies want you and they pay well. And when you get your first gig, you can be sure that another company will want a security cleared engineer, so it's good for job security. Just be careful how you say no when they ask you if you want to join on a perm basis :)
dsego 7y ago
You can join a network of freelance experts, like Toptal.
skrebbel 7y ago
From your network, and everybody has a network. However, you need to make sure that your network knows that you're available. So: email everyone you know (also non-programmers) a 4-sentence email that you're now a contractor. Explicitly list the domains and technologies you can "hit the ground running" at, and focus on those. People need to be able to see you as "a great Java programmer" or "a great iOS programmer". People have a hard time wrapping their minds around "a great generalist" so don't make that pitch. Set a high rate from the start. Ask around what's common in your area and go a bit above average - some of your peers are likely charging to little. You'll find that customers don't typically negotiate rates - instead they'll just assume that this must be what a proper contractor costs. You might miss a customer that way, but that's the customer you don't want, the kind of customer that will make you regret contracting. Time-sensitive customers are ok (after all, that's what you sell right? hitting the ground running?). Avoid price-sensitive customers, they're hell. Sell by the day or week. Not by the project, cause projects always blow up and you don't want to take that risk. That's it, really.
- weberc2 7y ago
  How does the lone contractor model compare with working for a contractor company?
- aetherspawn 7y ago
  What if your network is mostly in a different industry than the area that you want to contract within? Would you then use a recruiter or something like that? I don’t think I would get any gigs using my network.
  - tomduncalf 7y ago
    Yeah seems reasonable, nothing wrong with going through a recruiter, it can just be harder to find the interesting work as recruiters. But a good recruiter is definitely a useful thing to have and it can’t hurt to reach out, if just to get a sense of the market. It can also be worth emailing companies you’d like to work with (e.g. interesting or nearby) with a quick note offering your services. Even if they aren’t hiring permanent sometimes there’s budget for a contractor.

Personally I’ve been lucky enough to find it via word of mouth/recommendation and also directly approaching clients. Most contractors get their work through recruiters though, if you mention to a recruiter you are interested in contract work you’ll start getting a ton of phone calls and emails. It’s not uncommon for contracts to get extended several times, and you’ll probably build up a network of other contractors quite quickly. One thing you might find is getting your first contract is hard if you are in a permanent job - companies generally are looking for contractors to start ASAP, so a one month notice period (with the risk that you get tempted to stay at your existing company) is often not acceptable to them. Some clients will wait for the right person but you might find you need to quit your job first before finding work which can be a bit nerve wracking - so it’s wise to survey the market, talk to recruiters etc. for a while before doing so! If you’re UK based https://github.com/tadast/switching-to-contracting-uk/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/tadast/switching-to-contracting-uk/blob/m... may be interesting.

ed_balls 7y ago

you can start with a current employer

laythea 7y ago
be warned: the government does not like it if you are an employee and then go directly into contracting for said same company. you become an "employee under guise" and then you will be taxed as such. then you get the worst of both worlds.
- weberc2 7y ago
  Which government?
  - tomduncalf 7y ago
    I assume he means U.K. (IR35 ruling) although there may be equivalents elsewhere in the world
tomduncalf 7y ago
In the UK you need to be careful transitioning from permanent to contract for the same company without a gap as it could be an IR35 risk (assuming you want to operate as a Limited Company at least). Not saying it’s not possible but you’d need to be careful and explicit that the contract isn’t just a direct extension of your permanent work.

laythea 7y ago

To get contracts as a contractor, you need to differentiate yourself from the market as best as possible. One way is to try and get some sort of security cleared job. Once you do, you immediately elevate yourself away "from the crowd" of developers in the market and you will find major global companies want you and they pay well. And when you get your first gig, you can be sure that another company will want a security cleared engineer, so it's good for job security. Just be careful how you say no when they ask you if you want to join on a perm basis :)

dsego 7y ago

You can join a network of freelance experts, like Toptal.

skrebbel 7y ago

From your network, and everybody has a network. However, you need to make sure that your network knows that you're available. So: email everyone you know (also non-programmers) a 4-sentence email that you're now a contractor. Explicitly list the domains and technologies you can "hit the ground running" at, and focus on those. People need to be able to see you as "a great Java programmer" or "a great iOS programmer". People have a hard time wrapping their minds around "a great generalist" so don't make that pitch. Set a high rate from the start. Ask around what's common in your area and go a bit above average - some of your peers are likely charging to little. You'll find that customers don't typically negotiate rates - instead they'll just assume that this must be what a proper contractor costs. You might miss a customer that way, but that's the customer you don't want, the kind of customer that will make you regret contracting. Time-sensitive customers are ok (after all, that's what you sell right? hitting the ground running?). Avoid price-sensitive customers, they're hell. Sell by the day or week. Not by the project, cause projects always blow up and you don't want to take that risk. That's it, really.

weberc2 7y ago
How does the lone contractor model compare with working for a contractor company?
aetherspawn 7y ago
What if your network is mostly in a different industry than the area that you want to contract within? Would you then use a recruiter or something like that? I don’t think I would get any gigs using my network.
- tomduncalf 7y ago
  Yeah seems reasonable, nothing wrong with going through a recruiter, it can just be harder to find the interesting work as recruiters. But a good recruiter is definitely a useful thing to have and it can’t hurt to reach out, if just to get a sense of the market. It can also be worth emailing companies you’d like to work with (e.g. interesting or nearby) with a quick note offering your services. Even if they aren’t hiring permanent sometimes there’s budget for a contractor.