Re: FN-FORUM: contracting and how to take the leap..!

date posted 14th May 2008 09:38

Hi Dan

Apart from the business admin aspects another thing you need to ask yourself
is are you of the right mentality to go out and get work. Maybe even cold
calling companies in the first few months trying to get work? I would
totally agree that a gradual transition to freelance work is the right way
to go, rather than jumping into a contract right away.

I was unfortunate in that both my intros to freelancing were through
redundancy. Its hard hard work to get going from scratch so go careful.

R
>
>>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I am a software developer and have worked at the same company for
>> about a year now but I am the kind of person that thrives on change
>> and new projects, especially developing a system from the ground up.
>> My first employment post-university was entirely by accident at P&G
>> where I developed an n-tier system in .NET used by a few hundred folk
>> (long story but it started out with me temping in admin...!) but since
>> then I have been working on legacy systems and code maintenance in my
>> new role and don't feel like I am learning any new skills.
>>
>> If you want to cut out the blurb my question is 'when is the best time
>> to jump into contracting' I'm relatively young nipper at 24 but have
>> had a good 4 years of (commercial) experience on top of a lifetime of
>> bedroom coding on both my own and some open source projects and have
>> finished my degree with a fairly solid 2:1. I feel that moving into
>> contracting would allow me to diversify as-well as focus on what I
>> love to do (develop) rather than get bogged down in business meetings,
>> customer workshops etc...
>>
>> Would you have considered yourselves too young at the age of 24 to
>> jump into something like this?
>> I really want to go for it, but quitting my job is a big step, and I
>> have an unfortunately long period of 8 weeks notice :o)
>>
>> Any advice from you 'seasoned professional types' greatly appreciated,
>> even if it is "don't do it, kid" :-)
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> --
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>>
>>

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