I am moving to Vancouver in September, have permanent residence.

I was wondering what the pros and cons are with regards to contracting and perm roles?

I am a UI designer / Visual designer and contract in London and money wise contracting far outweighs perm roles, basically I have found you can pretty much double your money when contracting in the UK.

So what's contracting like in Vancouver? Do you get on average more money than a perm role or are there better perks in a perm role e.g. pensions and dentist/prescription cover.
Are there agencies that can find you work or is it all about you networking yourself and offering your services?
Do you have to register as self employed or a limited company or are there umbrella companies available?

Its certainly not all about the money, I love what I do but need to make a living also, I've researched the area with regards to salaries and relevant companies in Vancouver etc, plus I am thinking that a perm role may suit better in terms of being settled and making new friends.

I was just curious wanting to keep my options open as I can't really find much info with regards to contracting.

Thanks all

I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the field you work in UI design and visual design is related to the IT/games sector and most of that work has moved out to Toronto. But maybe someone can come along and confirm if thats the case or not.

Basically I am a designer, never worked in the games industry, there are so many labels for what I do, e.g. Interactive designer, UI designer, Graphic Designer, Creative, Visual Designer it depends what the company decides they want to call you, perhaps in-line with what ever current trends they may be following.

so in short I design website interfaces and basically anything design e.g. mobile sites, responsive, apps, campaigns, etc etc

Working for a design agency is what I would be looking for, and my research tells me there are plenty of them in the Vancouver area.

Just trying to establish the pros and cons for contracting to keep my options open.

But thanks for your comments/reply.

I think one of the forum regulars RICH is some sort of freelance creative, although I think he is in Kamlooops rather than Vancouver. He may have advice though

Many thanks

I was saying in another thread - my mate has come back to Vancouver and cant get anything in the games industry. He left to go travelling last year, leaving a very good well paid job at Ubisoft. It seems the entire industry has upper and left to Toronto.

I was an Artworker in London, the Graphic design here is very slow and the pay is poor.

Good job I am not in the Games industry then

I know it wont be easy being a newbee to Vancouver, what will be will be, I am very experienced and very determined and do not mind any sort of work whilst looking in my field if it takes a while. I have worked for some major worldwide brands so am hoping my resume will be of interest?

Won't know until I get started

There's still some game developers left in Vancouver. Quebec is the best place for games related jobs because of the government tax breaks. Montreal specifically.

Thanks everyone, but just going back to topic what are the pro's and cons of contracting?

Do some benefits outweigh one than the other??

You would certainly expect a premium over the hourly rates of a permanent employee. At an absolute minimum 20% but I would be looking nearer to 50%. There is no need to register as self-employed. You just include you self-employed income on your tax return. however, many companies that hire contractors prefer to deal with limited companies rather than individuals so, if you decide to become a contractor, it makes sense to incorporate.

You're very unlikely to get paid double for UI contracting work in Vancouver over a salaried employee. I've hired several UI specialists for large web projects, and they've been a mixture of employees within boutique agencies, or self employed individuals. Vancouver has perhaps half a dozen businesses that offer UI as a core service - I'd suggest looking them up and networking amongst the self employed to understand the market.

Thanks R I C H I'll certainly start networking

And thanks JonboyE for the info as well

So when to start networking?

I shall certainly do more research now into the in's and out's and network with other freelancers.

But with regards to targeting companies, as I am not arriving in Vancouver until September, should I perhaps contact companies a few months before as I was thinking contacting them now might be too early and then they would possibly forget who I am? Hope not, but how soon should I be getting things moving before arrival?

I don't work in your industry, but I'm what someone called earlier a 'freelance creative'.
All of my jobs come from the UK at the moment. I make around 40% more than what I was making when I had a permanent position in the UK (but I also had a really good pension in the UK, 30 days paid holidays, and other perks, which I don't have now). My freelance rate is the rate freelancers charge in the UK, and I've noticed that it's about 25% more than the freelance rate here (obviously depending on experience). Having said that, my field is quite specialist and I haven't found an exact match here yet, so the rate could be similar.

The pros? I hated working in a 'corporation'. I always did (unpaid) overtime. I was always stressed. So now I work whenever I want, wherever I want. I bill every single hour. I forgot what work-related stress is.

The cons? As you've said - it's really difficult to meet people and have a social life. I haven't taken immigration very well, and even though I was always an outgoing person, things have changed here and I'm finding it more and more difficult to get out. But...there are lots of networking groups and events out there. I went to a 'creative mornings' thingy recently. Apart from that, there are plenty of work-related groups on meetup and facebook.

In terms of healthcare, I get good coverage through my partner's job, so I haven't even looked into options for self-employed, but there was a thread on this here not long ago.
I'm not worried about pension as I have other ways of sorting that out (and still have my UK pension). But again, lots of threads on this here.

I'd start networking now. LinkedIn is good. Check out meetup too as I've seen groups related to your line of work.

Thanks for all the info, so have you found it easy / difficult to get the work flowing in as a freelancer, what were you methods, recruitment agencies or targeting companies?

I know what you mean about working in a corporation
When you add it all up would you say you get a good monthly wage. And are you getting a good work /life balance?