State of the Market

[avonleigh]

Four months on the bench and I've finally landed a new contract. It's with a client that I've worked with a few times before and they're paying the same rate as two years ago. At the moment that seems like a win.

Good luck to everyone who's still looking.

T

Nice, well done!

[gables]

Three times minimum wage seems a bit high for new graduate salaries in years before the minimum wage was introduced. I would have guessed nearer to about 2-2.5 times. When the UK minimum hourly wage was introduced in 1999, it was equivalent to about £7k.

I've seen a few different data sources but the average starting graduate salary recently seems to be about £30-31k. This average masks huge variations though depending on degree subject, university and industry sector.

Oxford Computer Science grads have the highest average graduate salary 18 months after graduating than any UK course - £65k.

I think there will be very few jobs at £70k immediately after graduating apart from in law, investment banking etc. If you want to make a lot of money long term, go study medicine, maths, economics or law. Computing and business subjects are the next level down.

Which is roughly the UK average which I was alluding to, so not much change really since 1989 ;-)

[WTFH]

Which is roughly the UK average which I was alluding to, so not much change really since 1989 ;-)

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

[eek]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

1990 I got a small grant for uni and we bought our first house in 1994 - for a think 3times Mrs Eek’s income

[edison]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

I came from a lower income family so received a maximum grant, about £2000 in my first year in 1986, around £6k in today's money.

No tuition fees, also received housing benefit. I had plenty of friends who bought their first flat or even house by their mid-20s.

I don't think full time university is good value for money for a lot of degree courses now but there is a real shortage of decent apprenticeship scheme alternatives.

[gables]

Apart from the amount of debt - in 1989, students didn't pay fees to go to uni, and may well have got a grant. Also, if they wanted to buy a property (or rent one) they could afford to do so with that kind of salary.

Very very good points which I'm embarrassed to say I'd forgotten about when posting... I only had a 50 quid overdraft when I graduated due to grants and help from parents.

[PerfectStorm]

Things are a little dry this week. Becoming particularly conscious of how many of the public sector opportunities are nonsense projects designed to keep consultancies (and their donor owners) busy.

I even entertained a "jabappatunity" call, just to see if I'm being too hasty in usually terminating their time wasting. it didn't go well.

[ResistanceFighter]

in previous good years, when should the market start "heating up" to get ready for the new financial year? about now?

[SchumiStars]

This is crazy
Not being funny but seems like you are being paid an offshore rate for an onshore job.

Have you looked at companies like Detica / BAE systems? They are chock full of technical people from top unis.

I have a confirmed interview, 5 days on-site, 30miles away from home, paying £13.50 PAYE per hour. The job is software development requiring Java, Node, MongoDB, Docker and also security clearance.

Just to add, I'm an Oxford Grad, living in London. Unfortunately, it does seem as though I will be attending and lowering my own expectations of achievable day rate

Nevermind, got to take the rough with the smooth I suppose and no-one knows when this rough tide will end.

Did the interview. The interviewer said he had another 8 people to see for the role but I am clearly over qualified. He wants someone who will do the job for 12mths.

Said, I would be bored tulipless. Did give me a couple of contracts I could ask that the company use for software development.

He asked a couple of times, why I wanted the job and without seeming desperate, I said I needed a job at his company and was hoping that the oppuntunity may lend itself to other possibilities.

He said he was surprised that I turned up and there was a note on the file, saying I was over qualified for the role.

Frustrated, dishearted and generally wondering when the universe will lend me a hand.

[sreed]

I don’t get it. Are they really able to hire a sw dev (I imagine it will require some experience at least) on an FTC for 25-28k a year (not sure how many hrs/week)? And not just that, one that is 100% on-site in the SE which somewhat limits the candidate pool.

Given the continued mass immigration from countries like India over the past few years, I would expect there to be a lot more experienced applicants for entry level sw dev roles but find it hard to accept that it’s got to this level.