There are two main types of self-employment for engineers – setting up your own business or working as an hourly-paid contractor for a large engineering firm.

More and more large firms rely on contract staff to perform the day-to-day work. Such staff are often indistinguishable from permanent employees and even outnumber them.

The hourly rate can be as much as £40 for an experienced chartered engineer, although recent graduates would get around half that. There is, however, no job security at all.

The pros

Consider self-employment if you:

• are highly independent
• enjoy autonomy
• don't mind hard work
• want blocks of time off (unpaid) to pursue other interests
• have good health
• like changing jobs frequently
• can juggle different tasks
• have business acumen.

The cons

Think again if you:

• expect company benefits such as paid holidays and sick leave
• would worry about being out of work at an hour's notice (as a contractor for a large company could be)
• lack self-motivation.