[Gllug] starting in IT

[JLMS]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Martin <mherda at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've got a job unrelated to IT. I'm starting a freelance job helping
> somebody with IT in his newly opened office in London. I'll set up the
> computers/network in the office. Configure Ubuntu, etc. and troubleshoot
> any problems when needed. It means that it's not going to be a very
> time-consuming. The office is small. There are only 2 computers. We
> don't run any server - for the time being the website is hosted by a
> third party. I also administer the website.
>
> Now my question is as to what I should do in terms of my legal status.
> Shall I become self-employed or what's the best option in such a situation?
>
> As I have never worked in IT, I don't know how to charge for my services.
>
> - how to charge for the website (there won't be many changes per month)
> - how to charge for my support in the office. Initially I'll probably
> spend a few days to make sure everything is working, but then I might
> not be needed for a month.
>
> I'd appreciate any words of wisdom
>
>
You can start as a sole trader. You only need to inform the Inland Revenue
and keep basic accounting (if you are employed elsewhere you may still want
to hire an accountant).

Since nobody is actually employing you, being an employee seems to be out of
the question, and starting a limited company would clearly be overkill (this
is what most IT contractors do, but this should be done only once this is
your main source of income and work since it is not cheap).

As for charging

-  Website: Charge a one off for setting it up (look around for how much
other people are charging and find more less a fair price).

- You have to find out how much your time is worth. A rough example: junior
permanent positions in IT fetch anything between £15000 to £25000, lets take
the happy middle: £20000. Divide that by 52 weeks per year, then by 5 days
per week and finally by 8 hours per day. That gives you a basic hourly rate
(in our example: £9.61 hour). Now multiply that by 2. Why? Because people
working on their own have many overheads that an employed person does not
have and work is not regular.

So I would say £20/hour for somebody starting on the field would be a fair
rate.

Other may chip in with different ways to calculate this, it really does not
matter how you do it, the important thing is to have an objective  reference
against which you can decide if it is worth your while to be doing this kind
of work.

I can't recommend highly enough the Business Link website (
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk ) they have lots of advice pertaining to this
and free seminars, anybody trying to start a business (which is basically
what you would be trying to do) should have a look there.
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