[kentrado]

From those rates I assume you live in the USA.

The huge salaries in the US, make me think that the situation is different in the UK, in terms of the challenges to accomplish this.

I would like to know more about how to get started with this in the UK.

[dustedcodes]

No, I am European but live in London (Wimbledon). The rates are absolutely UK rates. I think in the US you'd get much more, but then you have to pay a lot more as well for things which we get for free here (e.g. NHS).

How to get started? My journey was what I think is quite common for a lot of contractors. First I started as a normal employee, worked in many different companies, large and small as a developer, junior, mid, senior, then with some management responsibilities. Eventually I became just really good at my job, not just programming, but also understanding how different sized businesses work, how the politics work, how hiring works, etc. and I just felt comfortable and confident that I could get into contracting.

Initially I got all my contracts via UK based agencies (the usual ones, Gravitas, OB, etc.) but then I figured out how to look for open roles directly, either by looking in the right places or through connections which I've built over the years. If you skip a recruitment agency then you can easily get the rates which I've listed, because that's what the agency takes when they tell you a rate of 500/550.

[newone2three]

I do the same thing, but through agencies, so the roles tend to be larger companies and rates more like 500-600.

Where do you look for open roles directly? I haven’t managed to figure this out.

[kentrado]

Thank you for your response. It has been helpful.