Contracting in London

Since I last wrote about my experience working outside of Northern Ireland I’ve returned to the UK, turned down prospects of contract work in Belfast and have set up shop in London.

Serendipity

A good while back Rob and myself had discussed the possibility of London. He’d been working remotely with a company based here and due to changes in his circumstances leaving N. Ireland was a valid option.

Lines of communication between the two of us dropped off for a while as a result of travel, work and such like and when I finally got caught up with him I discovered he’d already bitten the bullet and was moving over. Further conversation uncovered that the house he was going to be sharing in Ealing had a box room going spare which I was welcome to make use of for a month. Wheels were set in motion.

The Search For Work

With my mind made up about London I started keeping my eye out for contract work. Apart from the usual job sites I focussed my efforts on the LRUG mailing list as many companies will directly post job ads there and going direct with the client is very often the preference with contracting.

A week or so before I was due to fly back to Ireland positions with two companies were posted to the list, I responded and eventually interviews via Skype were arranged. These both went well and next steps were organised.

>30 hours travelling had me back in my home county of Fermanagh. I rested, caught up with my family and returned to Belfast long enough to pack a carry-on case and head to London for the joys of face-to-face interviews.

Song and Dance

The first interview was on a Thursday, the next on the Friday and the first offer was in my inbox on the Monday. Not bad at all and very indicative of the state of supply and demand for technical talent here in London specifically and across the industry in general.

Unfortunately the first offer turned out to be unable to match the rate I was on during my last contract. Adding to the displeasure was me having effectively done a morning of unbilled work as part of the process along with having to suffer the song and dance of a competency based interview. Such is life, the world doesn’t owe anyone a living.

The other offer when it arrived didn’t involve a drop in rate and looked to have the opportunity to get my hands dirty with a bunch of interesting technology. From a business point of view this seemed to be the one to take so I went for it.

The Road Ahead

As has happened before in my career, the job I was sold and the job I ended up getting didn’t quite match up. I did my three months, put myself forward for a handful of contracts, did a couple of technical tests and one face-to-face interview and I’m now with another client and things are better.

Before coming to London I only knew a little about the place. One area was more or less interchangable with any other area. I soon discovered that the majority of the contract Ruby work going is focussed in Central and East London and being out West in Ealing for a lot longer than originally planned has meant a great deal of commuting and a general feeling of being disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the technology world here.

The solution to this has been to move closer to the trendy part of town and within a few weeks we’ll have transplanted everyone across to the other side of town and into a converted warehouse near Whitechapel.

I still have my flat in Belfast, have started investigating parts of the world with even lower costs of living and have only the vaguest idea of what the future might hold but can’t see myself working anywhere other than in London over the next few years.

No choice but to continue to making it up as I go along then :D