Everything you need to know about working as a contractor.

My name's Yosuf.

I’ve been contracting for a few years now, and have had the good fortune to work at various types of companies. From small startups of a few people, to large multi-national organisations. From government to a stealth-mode scale up that moved very quickly. As both an Inside and Outside IR35 contractor.

I've spent some time contracting at the Government Digital Service, Arm - the secomiconductor company, AstraZeneca, and Google; as well as startups and B Corporations.

When I started contracting, there weren't many resources to help you understand what you needed to do, or how to get started. You had to figure things out yourself along the way.

I've learnt a lot contracting these last few years, made mistakes, and gained a lot of insight. And I wanted to distill my learnings down for anyone who was considering contracting, so they avoid the mistakes I made, and are able to make informed decisions about their career.

Although I am a Software Engineer, this is not a tech blog. Therefore, much of it will be applicable to anyone considering contracting, regardless of their industry.