5 Skills You Need to be a Successful IT Contractor

When a person decides to leave a permanent role in exchange for running his/her own IT contracting business, this fact alone shows an initiative and mindset needed to succeed in contracting. But the necessary skills for financial and professional freedom do not stop there. Besides carrying a business and technical skillset, there are a number of other required factors and traits desired for a long-standing, fruitful, contracting career.

1. Be a Network Guru

Your contracting work is only as good as your last so engage with the client, grasp their feedback, and enquire if there are other available contracting roles. There may be another role for you at the same company but with a different team. Keep this in mind during your contract term.
Ask clients to supply a recommendation and/or testimonial to post on your website and/or LinkedIn. Online referrals hold significant weight to potential and repeat customers.

2. Keep Your Skills Fresh

Your experience, knowledge, and practices are the most dominant devices for safeguarding the greatest competitive rates. As a contractor, it is your obligation to maintain updated skills, ongoing certifications, and education. This improves your value in the workforce.

Clients see you as the specialist in a particular area for a position they cannot fill with current staff. The company does not have an expert as qualified as you. By fulfilling this role, you are providing the client with a productive advantage. The client isn’t forced to train someone less qualified, and there is now someone, you, present with a prosperous track record.

3. Be Flexible

Being adaptable to market demands keeps you at the forefront of your field. If a contract role appears in a specific town and in a different job than what you normally aim for, while offering great pay, an ideal term/duration, and the tasks are subjects you outperform in, then go for it.
The same applies to positions requiring travel. Don’t dismiss a role based on that alone. The connections made during your role may lead to future work, which is how a successful contractor thinks.

4. Prepare Yourself Financially

For some people, not receiving a steady paycheck brings uneasiness to their lives. Avoid this from happening to you by planning ahead.
Look at your expenses. What funds do you need to live on for 6 months without a contract? Find a reputable contractor accountant to manage the business finances and keep your backup funds separate. It relieves any unnecessary pressure and equips you for unpredictable circumstances, which may arise.

5. Be a Go-Getter

A contractor’s main focus is working hard at exceeding a client’s objectives. But you must do so while managing your own timelines, deliverables, communications, and securing your next role.

Don’t be timid when implementing these self-managing attributes. Let them shine through during your contract. By doing so, you improve your success rate and professional worth.

For IT workers, contracting is an excellent path to pursue. It gives you the chance to work at different companies, test out new skills, and be your own boss.