I did it accidentally without really knowing there was such a thing as contracting. I was 19 years old, self taught PHP Dev and the highest salary where i lived (Edinburgh, UK) was £22k. I had always wanted to go to London and so i started looking for a job there. I got invited for an interview at a place in London, went down, had already done a technical test remotely and got told i had scored the highest overall in the test of all applicants (it wasnt a hard test so i'm amazed they said that).

I got offered the job at the end of the interview and asked what salary i expected. I hadnt a god damned clue and just pulled £30k out my ass thinking that was a big ask even for London. In hindsight they probably would've given me £45k at least because they bit my arm off saying that they'd happily give me £30k with a raise of £5k in 1 year. I accepted and the HR person brought me the contract, i started reading and got to a section i didnt like. It basically said all code i produced both at the company and in my spare time would be owned by them, i asked them to remove it, they refused and i walked. BEST THING I EVER DID!

Coincidentally i had seen another job advert for a temporary gig elsewhere in London the day before on a job board. After refusing the offer at the first place at probably 11am, i walked to an internet cafe, phoned the advert, said i could be there that afternoon, traveled across London, interviewed at probably 1pm, got the offer at 3pm by phone, and started the next morning at £250 a day, which was stupid money at the time.

I've been a contractor since and that was 8 years ago, i now charge £400 a day and still do PHP work. PHP isnt cool, but i like it, it pays the bills and its in high demand and ive got a pretty nice portfolio.