I'm about to start contracting in the UK and I would like to get a better understanding of the market, and learn how to find the most rewarding contract work.
Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
1–6 of 6 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
#2ContractorUK is actually pretty good, and have some good starter articles:
https://www.contractoruk.com/first_timers
Also their forum is active and also ok.
My only warning is that there's presently a shit storm for contractors raging which is HMRC's handling of IR35, basically them trying to tax all contractors as employees even though they have none of the protections.
I'm not contracting at the moment, but as I understand it, it makes a massive difference to take home if you get caught in IR35.
New rules are supposed to be coming in from April 2020. I think public sector contracts are already under new rules and it's much more likely in that sector to get a contract that they're declaring to be under IR35.
Because you have to pay the employer's NIC bill as well as your own I think it means some contracts are ultimately worth something like 16% less than advertised.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
#3Most accountants will give a free one-hour consultation. I met with a few before starting contracting and not only does it mean you can choose one who you get on with, but you can also have all your tax, legal and other questions answered.
Re: Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
#4Hey wil
I work out of WeWork in Kings Place, Kings Cross and often hear of gigs
Put your email in bio and I will be in touch
ps London is an amazing AI hub, the city itself is starting to have a real sci-fi feel to it ;)
First pic Tulip Building, nixed by Mayor Khan
Second pic Kings Place (WeWork office). Wimbledon watchers on the canal. New tower for Google's Smart City. There are five additional towers extending out to St Pancras' Station.
Surrounding the towers Google is building a massive pedestrian promenade with retail, entertainment, restaurants, theaters, as well as outdoor ampitheater featuring public UCL lectures.
I think we need a Kings Cross HN meetup ;)
Re: Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
#5Hey wil I work out of WeWork in Kings Place, Kings Cross and often hear of gigs Put your email in bio and I will be in touch ps London is an amazing AI hub, the city itself is starting to have a real sci-fi feel to it ;) First pic Tulip Building, nixed by Mayor Khan https://imgur.com/a/ZEcLmUN Second pic Kings Place (WeWork office). Wimbledon watchers on the canal. New tower for Google's Smart City. There are five ad…
Hey, thanks for this!
I've added my email to my bio :)
Re: Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor?
#6The contractor's handbook on Amazon is a good resource, probably goes more in details than you'll need but if you're an overachiever it's a good read.
From my personal experience I would say, if you're considering contracting you've been a dev for quite some times, don't let impostor syndrome settle in. Trust yourself. It's not harder to be a contractor than an employee, it just pays more.
For understanding of the market, fill your linkedin profile with as much as you can, so people find your profile when they do linkedin search. As a web developer contracting, you should get half a dozen interesting messages weekly, filtering people who contact you for completely unrelated stuff.
If you do that for a while, you can start seeing trends (more active months, average rate, amazing rates, technology etc.).
If you have time to spare, try to negotiate as hardball as you can at first. If people are not saying no to your rate, you're probably underselling yourself. If you're in a rush, then start with what you see as being the average rate instead.