
Ask HN: What are the best blogs and resources for starting as a contractor? - willmoss1000
I&#x27;m about to start contracting in the UK and I would like to get a better understanding of the market, and learn how to find the most rewarding contract work.
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mattmanser
ContractorUK is actually pretty good, and have some good starter articles:

[https://www.contractoruk.com/first_timers](https://www.contractoruk.com/first_timers)

Also their forum is active and also ok.

My only warning is that there's presently a shit storm for contractors raging
which is HMRC's handling of IR35, basically them trying to tax all contractors
as employees even though they have none of the protections.

I'm not contracting at the moment, but as I understand it, it makes a massive
difference to take home if you get caught in IR35.

New rules are supposed to be coming in from April 2020. I think public sector
contracts are already under new rules and it's much more likely in that sector
to get a contract that they're declaring to be under IR35.

Because you have to pay the _employer 's_ NIC bill as well as your own I think
it means some contracts are ultimately worth something like 16% less than
advertised.

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iraldir
The contractor's handbook on Amazon is a good resource, probably goes more in
details than you'll need but if you're an overachiever it's a good read.

From my personal experience I would say, if you're considering contracting
you've been a dev for quite some times, don't let impostor syndrome settle in.
Trust yourself. It's not harder to be a contractor than an employee, it just
pays more.

For understanding of the market, fill your linkedin profile with as much as
you can, so people find your profile when they do linkedin search. As a web
developer contracting, you should get half a dozen interesting messages
weekly, filtering people who contact you for completely unrelated stuff.

If you do that for a while, you can start seeing trends (more active months,
average rate, amazing rates, technology etc.).

If you have time to spare, try to negotiate as hardball as you can at first.
If people are not saying no to your rate, you're probably underselling
yourself. If you're in a rush, then start with what you see as being the
average rate instead.

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ArtWomb
Hey wil

I work out of WeWork in Kings Place, Kings Cross and often hear of gigs

Put your email in bio and I will be in touch

ps London is an amazing AI hub, the city itself is starting to have a real
sci-fi feel to it ;)

First pic Tulip Building, nixed by Mayor Khan

[https://imgur.com/a/ZEcLmUN](https://imgur.com/a/ZEcLmUN)

Second pic Kings Place (WeWork office). Wimbledon watchers on the canal. New
tower for Google's Smart City. There are five additional towers extending out
to St Pancras' Station.

[https://imgur.com/a/IXitCDj](https://imgur.com/a/IXitCDj)

Surrounding the towers Google is building a massive pedestrian promenade with
retail, entertainment, restaurants, theaters, as well as outdoor ampitheater
featuring public UCL lectures.

I think we need a Kings Cross HN meetup ;)

~~~
willmoss1000
Hey, thanks for this!

I've added my email to my bio :)

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ID1452319
Most accountants will give a free one-hour consultation. I met with a few
before starting contracting and not only does it mean you can choose one who
you get on with, but you can also have all your tax, legal and other questions
answered.

