Love your Life Sciences Career

Derek Smyth takes a look at all the wonderful reasons for IT professionals to take up contract roles.

Whether you are looking for a short term role in between permanent positions or are looking to pursue a long career in contract roles, contracting can be highly enjoyable and incredibly rewarding for IT professionals.

Contracting appeals to people for many reasons – not only do you get the opportunity to gain broad experience working on a number of different projects, a wide variety of technologies, and potentially in a wide variety of sectors, but IT contractors are generally very well paid.

More and more highly skilled tech professionals are leaving permanent roles and choosing contracting as the next step in their career. The transition from working in a permanent role to a career in contracting can understandably be quite daunting for some but don’t worry, our contract team are here to advise you along the way and to answer any concerns you may have. People are usually surprised at how easily and quickly you can be set up, and how little hassle is involved.

There are many advantages to choosing a contract role, and depending on the person some will be more valuable than others.

We speak to lots of individuals about contracting and each has their own unique circumstances and objectives. However, the following list, while not exhaustive, will give a good idea of the typical advantages available.

• Opportunity to be your own boss and to choose your clients: Contractors have great freedom to pick and choose the right roles for them at that particular point in time
• Increased financial benefits: IT Contractors are likely to be earning more per hour than permanent employees and employers are prepared to pay higher rates to contractors than employees as their goal is flexibility.  In addition, contractors often get to keep more of what they earn as there are many tax advantages on offer.
• Variety – the freedom to change jobs on a regular basis and meet new people in new environments
• Holidays – during your contract, you are fully entitled to take holidays but many contractors like having the freedom to take extended holidays between contracts
• Broaden experience – contracting offers an excellent way to broaden your experience in IT. Exposure to more clients and systems means fast upskilling and more doors being opened for you. For many, this is the primary reason to take up a contract.

If you have a love for contracting, or are curious to find out more why not speak to one of our contract team today. There are opportunities available and we will be happy to answer your questions. 

Derek Smyth is Associate Director of Brightwater Technology’s Contracting division and can be reached via LinkedIn or email