7 ms·

I also see a lot of contracts around 400GBP a day in London for front end folks, thats around the 100K mark per year.

_progger_ 13y ago
Front office rather?
tome 13y ago
As a contractor you can spend a lot of time just marketing yourself, invoicing, etc. I'd imagine this is more like 50k per year in practice.
- _progger_ 13y ago
  Also there is a risk of being fired with a one week notice and not being able to find next gig for a couple of month. So 400 is not a lot, it is just an adequate minimum for London.
  - john_flintstone 13y ago
    >and not being able to find next gig for a couple of month In London? Sure, you could be laid off anytime, but if you can't land a new contract in two weeks then there's something wrong with you. Contract market in London is buzzing.
- nicwise 13y ago
  I'm calling BS on this, being a contractor. I spend around 10 mins a week invoicing. Nearly no time "marketing myself". I DO spending a bit of time saying "no, I have a contract" to recruiters tho.
  - tome 13y ago
    How many billable hours a week do you tend to work, and what's the average number of working hours for employees in your locality?
  - stevenwilkin 13y ago
    Ditto, I don't need to put a huge amount of time into the admin side of things. The volume of recruiter emails & calls can be oppressing at times haha
    - tome 13y ago
      Well it's genuinely great to hear you two have got so much work on. May I ask why you have not doubled your rates?
      - cs02rm0 13y ago
        Probably because they prefer to spend their time working in a stable contract rather than out of work marketing themselves. My current contract is for a year and I invoice monthly. If I doubled my rate I'd be out of work.
      - mseebach 13y ago
        Recruiters generally aren't interested in you at any advertised rate, or even for any particular skill. They just see Java (substitute as necessary) and contracter in the general vicinity of each other and decide to call you up and smooch you, even if the job is not a good fit and pays half what you charge. Problem is, you often have to keep in touch with recruiters to keep the flow of work, so you can't just cut them off entirely. Burner phones and email addresses for recruiters is certainly a thing, though.
        pointyhats 13y ago
        This times a million. When I was doing contract from 2004-2007, a shit Nokia and an O2 PAYG phone was a good investment. Many times did I just chuck the thing in the bin. Recruiters will suck up to you even if you've ignored them for months. Commission vampires - that's all they are. You're just a line in a spreadsheet to them.
        stevenwilkin 13y ago
        I just stopped putting my phone number on my CV about a year ago which cut down the calls a great deal.
  - Evernoob 13y ago
    I'm a contractor also, front end, and my agency invoices for me. All I do is fill out a timesheet on work time. It's literally no different than a perm role, but I get 100k instead of the 50k - 60k I'd get for the same role as a perm.
yashodhan 13y ago
Could you help point a stranger towards these contracts? Cheers.
- cs02rm0 13y ago
  Just search for Java contracts on almost any job site. My rate is comfortably more than £400/day even well outside London (1 year contract term, extended).

Front office rather?

tome 13y ago

As a contractor you can spend a lot of time just marketing yourself, invoicing, etc. I'd imagine this is more like 50k per year in practice.

_progger_ 13y ago
Also there is a risk of being fired with a one week notice and not being able to find next gig for a couple of month. So 400 is not a lot, it is just an adequate minimum for London.
- john_flintstone 13y ago
  >and not being able to find next gig for a couple of month In London? Sure, you could be laid off anytime, but if you can't land a new contract in two weeks then there's something wrong with you. Contract market in London is buzzing.
nicwise 13y ago
I'm calling BS on this, being a contractor. I spend around 10 mins a week invoicing. Nearly no time "marketing myself". I DO spending a bit of time saying "no, I have a contract" to recruiters tho.
- tome 13y ago
  How many billable hours a week do you tend to work, and what's the average number of working hours for employees in your locality?
- stevenwilkin 13y ago
  Ditto, I don't need to put a huge amount of time into the admin side of things. The volume of recruiter emails & calls can be oppressing at times haha
  - tome 13y ago
    Well it's genuinely great to hear you two have got so much work on. May I ask why you have not doubled your rates?
    - cs02rm0 13y ago
      Probably because they prefer to spend their time working in a stable contract rather than out of work marketing themselves. My current contract is for a year and I invoice monthly. If I doubled my rate I'd be out of work.
    - mseebach 13y ago
      Recruiters generally aren't interested in you at any advertised rate, or even for any particular skill. They just see Java (substitute as necessary) and contracter in the general vicinity of each other and decide to call you up and smooch you, even if the job is not a good fit and pays half what you charge. Problem is, you often have to keep in touch with recruiters to keep the flow of work, so you can't just cut them off entirely. Burner phones and email addresses for recruiters is certainly a thing, though.
      - pointyhats 13y ago
        This times a million. When I was doing contract from 2004-2007, a shit Nokia and an O2 PAYG phone was a good investment. Many times did I just chuck the thing in the bin. Recruiters will suck up to you even if you've ignored them for months. Commission vampires - that's all they are. You're just a line in a spreadsheet to them.
        stevenwilkin 13y ago
        I just stopped putting my phone number on my CV about a year ago which cut down the calls a great deal.
- Evernoob 13y ago
  I'm a contractor also, front end, and my agency invoices for me. All I do is fill out a timesheet on work time. It's literally no different than a perm role, but I get 100k instead of the 50k - 60k I'd get for the same role as a perm.

yashodhan 13y ago

Could you help point a stranger towards these contracts? Cheers.

cs02rm0 13y ago
Just search for Java contracts on almost any job site. My rate is comfortably more than £400/day even well outside London (1 year contract term, extended).