Then, £400 a day is pretty standard for London? I frequently get offers under that value, hence my belief that this kind of pay doesn't come through normal channels.
Edit: Wrote this before coffee. Thought we were talking hourly rates. Nevermind.
Depends what you do. If you work in the City you should reasonably expect £600 and up. No other sector in London pays as well.
Ruby is quite commoditised now. Take a look at, say, Scala on jobserve.com and you'll see rates are double Ruby. The only way you'll make big money as a Ruby consultant is by differentiating yourself somehow. Better go write a book. All that said, I would be very hesitant about accepting work below £400 a day. A good rule of thumb for consulting is you'll work 100 days a year. At that rate you are making about the same as a mid-level FT employee.
Also note the OP said he was a contractor. There is a fuzzy but real distinction between contractors and consultants. A contractor is typically treated like a FT employee, without the permanent job. This means working from the client's office, longer jobs (usually 6 months - 1 year), and no simultaneous engagements. Contractors typically get paid less than consultants, but there is more work going.
> Also note the OP said he was a contractor. There is a fuzzy but real distinction between contractors and consultants. A contractor is typically treated like a FT employee, without the permanent job.
Yeah bang on - I'm treated as a full-time employee, just no sick pay, national insurance (state pension), redundancy, paternity leave, etc. Sacrificing these benefits pays around 50% more, but you have to file your own tax.
The biggest problem I had was last year when I caught a bug and was out for a week, cost me £2000 - something you often take for granted in a permanent job.
Is it possible to find a contract for a dev that has no permit to work in UK? For instance, I'm skilled in Scala&Python and can easily visit UK as a tourist/businessman. What's the way to this market?(Scala User Group meetups, anything other)?
I'd be in violation of your visa/visa waiver. I have to pay UK corporation tax, something you won't be able to do with a National Insurance number (right to work in the UK) or working on a work visa or something.
I have American friends that have come and worked in the UK, but all for companies, none have setup themselves, so not sure if it's possible.
It shouldnt be a violation if I'll visit UK only to get new contracts and work on them remotely. I also have my own LLC in EU, so I can act on its behalf making taxation for customer easier.
Work from home, and you'll be sorted, even if you're coming in from week to week. Tax laws target _where the work is done_. Then you're just coming to visit a client.
Edit: Wrote this before coffee. Thought we were talking hourly rates. Nevermind.