SCJP 5.0 SCWCD 5.0
Regards,
Anayonkar Shivalkar (SCJP, SCWCD, OCMJD, OCEEJBD)
Vikram PracLabs
No more Blub for me, thank you, Vicar.
Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
On the other hand, some people don't like the 'unsafe' feeling of being a full time freelancer, so they take up a job for security and consistent income, and then go for part time freelancing.
Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
If you accept a job in descent company, then you don't have to worry much, but then be aware that most of the companies would decide your salary on your previous salary - so your new salary might be quite less than the freelancing offers you have. But then you'll get paid every month and salary will increase in time and - well you know the routine![]()
Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
On the other note, you can share some tips on this forum about how to go for (at least part-time) freelancing - which would be a great help to some people who are willing to enter in that field.
SCJP 5.0 SCWCD 5.0
avi sinha wrote:So how much can i expect from good companies here?? I would be more than happy if i get around 8lpa. is this feasible??
Regards,
Anayonkar Shivalkar (SCJP, SCWCD, OCMJD, OCEEJBD)
Vikram Kohli wrote:Sorry about asking this way, but is Job location a reason, or Money is the reason to change the job? Unless there is not a very strong reason, change of job should be avoided. Specially when you are already doing good in your present job.
Vikram Kohli wrote:
Will it not be possible for you to wait till the appraisals and then take a call.
Vikram Kohli wrote:
And finally about freelancing: It's a great way to not only enhance your technical knowledge, but also help a person to understand the dynamics of business. You are a company in your own.
SCJP 5.0 SCWCD 5.0
Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
The standard rate in India is 25-30% raise in old salary (some companies even go till 35-40%).
Anayonkar Shivalkar wrote:
However, I'm not sure about what type of work you've done (it seems good, as you've said that you've got a good reputation in your company).
SCJP 5.0 SCWCD 5.0
chris webster wrote:Well, I don't know how things work in India, but I've been a freelancer (contractor) here in the UK for 20 years, so here's my £0.02.
As you already know, freelance work pays a lot more than regular employment, partly because freelancers are generally expected to have specific high-demand skills/experience and partly because freelancers may have to survive for months between contracts (I've had spells up to 18 months out of work in the past). Planning for and dealing with this insecurity can be quite a burden sometimes e.g. it's OK if you know you are going to be out of work for 3 months and then find a job, but not so good if you are out of work for an indefinite period and can't see where the next job is going to come from. This will depend on your local job market, which I suspect is probably better in India than here in the UK!
But you will also have to be prepared to go where the work is, which may involve a lot of extra expense or disruption to your personal life.
As a freelancer you are responsible for your own training/skills development, because usually an employer is paying you to apply your existing skills, not to acquire new ones on their time. You will usually learn something new on every contract (if not, it's time to shift your target market), but you will need to invest time/money in keeping your skills up to date and develop new skills e.g. you might have a 12 month contract using skill A, which may mean your skills in B start ageing pretty fast.
Also, it can be very hard to break into new areas as a contractor, because employers usually recruit you for the things you've done a lot of, not the things you want to do. This may be a particular problem if you want to get into a different role e.g. project management, as you need experience to get the job, and you need a job to get the experience!
You also need to be responsible for your own finances - taxes, pensions/savings etc - and I've seen new contractors who quickly get into trouble with the taxman because they've spent all their tax money on a fancy new car. You need to save for the periods when you may be out of work, and also for the time when you may not be able to carry on contracting e.g. if you have a family and feel you need more job security. Get some advice from a reputable accountant on how to manage this stuff properly, as it's much easier to get things right at the outset than try to resolve problems later on. If you have any freelancer colleagues, ask them privately for recommendations here, but use your own common sense too: if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Perhaps the biggest problem for contractors is that after a while it may be very difficult to get back into regular employment. You may accumulate a lot of skills/experience, but many employers will be wary of hiring somebody who they already know is happy to change jobs every 6-12 months: they may wonder how long you will stay with them. This can be a problem when the market is down, as people try to retreat into more secure regular employment, so there is greater competition for jobs and employers fear you will quit and go back to contracting when the market improves.
Those are some of the bad things about contracting. Now for some of the good things (apart from the money).
Flexibility and variety - you will need to be flexible and adapt quickly to different roles, different businesses, different technologies (hopefully) and different working environments, but this is a good thing as it gives you broader experience and is also a lot of fun. Even the bad experiences are useful lessons - in hindsight at least! After all, it's better to work for a bad company and know you will be leaving in 6 months, than take a permanent job there that you can't get out of.
No politics - well, not much. You will need to be able to fit into a new team structure easily and get along with your colleagues professionally, but generally you will not have to get dragged into office politics, because nobody is going to promote you and you'll be gone in a few months anyway. In some workplaces the regular staff may show hostility towards contractors, perhaps over your pay or your role in the team, but this is rarely personal and is usually a sign of an unhappy workplace where the organisation is failing to treat its own people decently. Ignore this kind of thing and just focus on doing your job well and being helpful to your colleagues. This should ensure that you can get good references and maybe build up a network of satisfied ex-clients and colleagues who may be able help you find work in future.
Independence - you are responsible for your own career and you can choose which directions to go in, provided you can find the right jobs of course! But you are not tied to a particular dead-end job or restricted to a particular career path as you might be in some organisations. You can also choose to take time out e.g. for study or travel or personal development etc, although some potential clients may ask you to explain what you were doing during this time out as they may be suspicious of long gaps in your professional experience.
In your situation, it sounds like you are probably at the earliest stage where you could reasonably go contracting, as usually contractors are expected to have a little more experience. Check your local job sites to get an idea of what kind of skills/experience are expected for contractors in your target market. If you are far below the threshold, maybe wait a year or two before going contracting full time and concentrate on expanding your skills/experience in the meantime.
On the other hand, you already have a potential client lined up for your first full-time contract, which gives you a great advantage: by the time you are looking for another contract you will have more experience and (hopefully) at least one satisfied customer. You will have to judge for yourself whether you would be in a position to find a new job after this first one. Also, make sure these people really are going to give you the work - you don't want to quit your job and find they've changed their minds.
If you decide to leave your current job and go contracting, make sure you do so amicably e.g. give them proper notice and make sure you get a decent reference off them, even if it means waiting a bit longer. You never know when you might need a friendly ex-employer to vouch for you, or an ex-colleague in a new company to recommend you.
Working freelance demands different skills from permanent employment, the risks and rewards may be greater (but the rewards are not always worth the risks), so you need to decide for yourself if you think this would be a good route for you at this stage in your career.
Good luck, either way.
SCJP 5.0 SCWCD 5.0
Find the latest job vacancies from the top employers here at QuickList.
We are the prime job site for Filipinos.
After some pecan pie, you might want to cleanse your palatte with this tiny ad:
Smokeless wood heat with a rocket mass heater
https://woodheat.net
|