Employment for a Newbie

[nko]

At the end of High School, I was pretty sure I wanted to do something in computers. I'd done web design for my cousin's band and a lot of tinkering, fixing people's computers, etc. I've got some college under my belt and am currently employed full time. The job is okay, but if I'm here for too many more years, I'm betting I'll go insane. At this point, I'm certain I want to be a contractor doing web design, network / hardware installation & maintainance, fixing stupid spyware / virus problems, developing verticle apps for local businesses, etc. I hear this is a dismal job market. I'd also like to be a network technician. I think I'd be perfectly happy doing menial stuff like that for a long time before going stir crazy and wanting to be even a jr. admin, let alone a sr. admin. But again, dismal job market. Very discouraging. I've tried to get in to electricity, engineering of several varieties, and a whole slew of other possible career paths, but I find that, if I'm not maintaining computer systems or hanging out with my friends / family, I'm not happy. I'm passionate about being in a job market so saturated it'd make my head spin. On top of that, I've got a wife and kid to support, so it's not like I can quit my job, get on financial aid, go back to school and live on ramen til I find my niche.

So I'm posing the question to experienced contractors, web designers, and others who've managed to find success in this field (or those who haven't, that's cool too): I'm passionate, driven, know a lot and want to learn more every day. What are some good approaches to transitioning from full-time employee to full-time contractor?

I have no problem dealing with people, either, or networking. The problem is being able to do that while I'm at the office / commuting from 7 to 6 every day, barely scraping a living even with those hours. I live in a semi-rural area. Plenty of "cities" of 30k people and towns of 500-5000.

[heckle]

Have you thought about staying where your at and doing sidework until you have more experience? Then you can start workign your way upwards. Take a serious look at where you want to be in 5 years and then plan your steps to get there. I started out with doing sidework on computer repairs and builds. Then I moved up to data wiring and started a business doing wiring and computer repair. Then on to small network installs and support. Moved and sold the business. Took a job as a glorified Help Desk Tech and in two years moved up to Network Technician. Now, 5 years later, I am wotking as a WAN Admin.

And one bit of advice I can give to you. Don't always look at the money! Look at benifits, perks, etc... My example is that I can leave my currnet job and make 10 - 20 K more BUT, right now, I have a 35 hour workweek, Mon - Fri, no weekends and no on call. And because I am a state employee, it is a union job to boot.

[Hayl]

contracting is cyclical.

companies seem to go through periods where they like contractors and then they switch completely to wanting only full-time people. (management changes, policy changes, money, etc)

pre-Y2K it was all about contracting, and then after it went mainly to the full-time thing. not sure what it is like now because i am totally out of the computer / tech business now.

[nko]

I definitely want to ease in to this. I certainly expect the transition to take several years, and that's okay. The problem is finding the time to shoehorn in even a couple jobs. Right now, I have weekends and weeknights (6:30PM+) free, and that's it. I get medical, optical and dental coverage for my son and I, but it's ridiculously expensive to add my wife to insurance. I have a 401k, but I can barely afford to put anything in it. 1 hour commute either way. So I don't imagine I could make much less than I am now, and obviously long hours don't bother me too much, especially if they're only occasional.

I think my first step is going to have to be taking the plunge. Our apartment managers keep asking people to use the bullitin board to post any talents you have or services you can render, even for a price, and I still haven't even listed that I can fix computers. I think I'm afraid of not being able to fix something.

If anyone would care to regale this thread with insights and stories about this kind of work, please do!

[Parcival]

I haven't experienced this myself, but I would like to add up to hayl's insights with a story that happened here in Switzerland:

A Swiss bank had a very good inhouse IT staff. When the dotcom boom was over they wanted to save money, so they fired their entire staff with the plan of giving IT jobs to contractors. The former employees stuck together and created their own enterprise offering IT services. Since they were already experts on the bank's internals they always were the best contractors at the best price. The fine end of the story is that it finally cost the bank more to pay those contractors than it would have cost if they had kept them inhouse in their former contracts. :p

[heckle]

Not sure if they have ManPower (Temp agency) near you. If they do, they also have a Technology Division for the Tech jobs. Could be somethign to check into.

[thaddaeus]

I suggest reading/buying (referance later) in depth books for the systems you know/tinker with. Take some certification courses, start with you apartment complex and grow. Don't worry if you can't fix somthing, place a bid on the repairs, and give a money back gaurentee. This way even if you can't fix it, yes time was wasted but this person will now respect you and may even offer your services to others who have issues.
Start small, learn, grow.