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I came out concluding that whilst I love the variety of the technical work that comes my way there, I absolutely hate the admin that comes with going solo, and the financial implications.
Admittedly, I did not make my life any easier by not purchasing for an accounting solution (that track expenses, calculates tax, manages invoicing, etc) and instead trying to do it via the accountant included through a company that had managed my Ltd business setup and providing documents to them ad-hoc ...
Lead generation is also difficult, especially if you're not of a sales mindset. I used to trawl Indeed.com to look for opportunities, and to avoid cold-calling and sales-pitching to companies.
If I were to return to contracting, I would probably make a stronger point of reaching out to former colleagues to see if they were in need of contractors at their old/new companies for my skillset, as well as use a small business accounting solution. A local one to me is freeAgent , my friend who runs a small shop uses SAGE which links up directly to their bank account and processes information automatically... there are options for eliminating the overhead and, if I really wanted to, I would likely try to find someone to do all the admin for me a couple of hours per week - it gets the paperwork sorted, and someone gets some extra cash.
The hard part financially is that because you are not on any fixed salary, and self-employed, banks do not consider you viable for any meaningful loans - so don't do it if you're intending to take out a mortgage! That's a definite dead-end.
And whilst you're working a contract, you're earning, but if you're between contracts, you'd better have saved up a little buffer. If you've got unpredictable costs, or are saving up to send a kid to higher education (or just a fancy school) , you need to take that into account.
You can also find yourself out of contract unexpectedly - there aren't the same provisions (American model notwithstanding) for employees as there are for contractors.
On the other side, being employed means you do have better job security (I have the UK in mind), right to company benefits (private medical insurance, stock options, pension top-up/matching, if any suit your fancy or needs) and you don't need to do nearly as much paperwork - in the UK, tax returns are automatic through the PAYE system. You get limited holiday days though (as a contractor, you can in theory say "oh, I am not available on this day/that day" and that's it), and your extra hours aren't always remunerable. You might be stuck with dealing with legacy items forever and getting out of a bad work environment may not be so straightforward (being a contractor means that the very principle is that either party can terminate the contract at will with short notice).
Sometimes you might need to relocate temporarily/medium-term for a job. Depending on what you like/want, this may be a pro or a con.
Would I go back to contracting? I've considered it, but not in any rush.
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I did the contractor route once (UK).
I came out concluding that whilst I love the variety of the technical work that comes my way there, I absolutely hate the admin that comes with going solo, and the financial implications.
Admittedly, I did not make my life any easier by not purchasing for an accounting solution (that track expenses, calculates tax, manages invoicing, etc) and instead trying to do it via the accountant included through a company that had managed my Ltd business setup and providing documents to them ad-hoc ...
Lead generation is also difficult, especially if you're not of a sales mindset. I used to trawl Indeed.com to look for opportunities, and to avoid cold-calling and sales-pitching to companies.
If I were to return to contracting, I would probably make a stronger point of reaching out to former colleagues to see if they were in need of contractors at their old/new companies for my skillset, as well as use a small business accounting solution. A local one to me is freeAgent , my friend who runs a small shop uses SAGE which links up directly to their bank account and processes information automatically... there are options for eliminating the overhead and, if I really wanted to, I would likely try to find someone to do all the admin for me a couple of hours per week - it gets the paperwork sorted, and someone gets some extra cash.
The hard part financially is that because you are not on any fixed salary, and self-employed, banks do not consider you viable for any meaningful loans - so don't do it if you're intending to take out a mortgage! That's a definite dead-end.
And whilst you're working a contract, you're earning, but if you're between contracts, you'd better have saved up a little buffer. If you've got unpredictable costs, or are saving up to send a kid to higher education (or just a fancy school) , you need to take that into account.
You can also find yourself out of contract unexpectedly - there aren't the same provisions (American model notwithstanding) for employees as there are for contractors.
On the other side, being employed means you do have better job security (I have the UK in mind), right to company benefits (private medical insurance, stock options, pension top-up/matching, if any suit your fancy or needs) and you don't need to do nearly as much paperwork - in the UK, tax returns are automatic through the PAYE system. You get limited holiday days though (as a contractor, you can in theory say "oh, I am not available on this day/that day" and that's it), and your extra hours aren't always remunerable. You might be stuck with dealing with legacy items forever and getting out of a bad work environment may not be so straightforward (being a contractor means that the very principle is that either party can terminate the contract at will with short notice).
Sometimes you might need to relocate temporarily/medium-term for a job. Depending on what you like/want, this may be a pro or a con.
Would I go back to contracting? I've considered it, but not in any rush.