FN-FORUM: PHP Contracting

date posted 13th August 2007 12:31

Hey all,

I've been contracting in London about 5 months now and i've been to
two different places. Its fun, i like it and i love that i get to
change places of work when things start to get mundane, it suits me
well.

Being that before i came here i had only done freelance work for small
businesses and other freelance designers i was really surprised with
how many job offers i got, both permanent and contract. Luckily,
people hiring me understood that while my CV wasnt brilliant my
knowledge spoke for itself. I believe i made the best decision with
going the contract route. So now im at a stage where i'm earning damn
good money compared to what i was earning before i came here and im
happy.

What im wondering is where i find the rediculously well paid gigs,
because, lets face it, im here for the money, no other reason. So far
i've figured out not to use recruitment agencies. One of them marked
up my daily rate by 28%, when i found out they were going to be doing
this i refused the offer. So far i've managed to find contracts
myself.

I'm also sure that since most of the jobs advertised on the net are
from recruiters that i'm going to have to find gigs elsewhere. So i'm
wondering how people who have experience of contracting do it. Is it a
word of mouth thing? Cold calling dev houses? Or is there some secret
im not yet aware of?

Thanks
Tam