State of the Market

[dsc]

Are inside contractors really paid all that much more than perm staff? They are paid more for sure but nothing that screams jackpot. As per my experience at least as a generalist PM contractor.

The last few inside roles I did for day rates in the region of 550-600, the equivalent on permie grades was around 60-65k (in the PS) and 70-80k (plus a small annual bonus) in an FS firm. Overall, and especially from the pov of cost to the client/employer , it’s not a huge lot more is it considering holidays, employer NI, pension contributions, long notice period, sick leave, etc etc.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I didn’t pivot to becoming a contractor just for the money. It was equally to do with flexibility and balance of power. Being able to avoid office politics, tell dickhead clients to FO if I wished to, being able to move on from toxic workplaces seamlessly, take summers off if I wished to, etc.

Not sure about inside, but lets not forget inside is rather a "new" thing, before reforms, everyone was outside earning tons more than permies. Even now with inside, if you pop £600 as your day rate, apparently the equivalent in permie land would be around 110k yearly, so effectively almost double the rates you quoted for PS.

I get that people don't just go in for the money, but the amount of people on this thread who say "I've been back to back, no breaks for 10+ yrs" tells me, that majority don't really take huge breaks, besides that seems to be impossible nowadays anyway (perhaps back in the good ol' days you could take 3months off and land a contract straight away in less than a week). Also people don't seem to switch that often, unless tulip is really bad and market is super hot.

[northernladuk]

I get that people don't just go in for the money, but the amount of people on this thread who say "I've been back to back, no breaks for 10+ yrs" tells me, that majority don't really take huge breaks, besides that seems to be impossible nowadays anyway (perhaps back in the good ol' days you could take 3months off and land a contract straight away in less than a week). Also people don't seem to switch that often, unless tulip is really bad and market is super hot.

Nope, I know very few contractors that used the flexibility to have much time off. I've met a lot that have wound down, finished early or have expensive hobbies in their later years though. So very few people taking breaks but plenty working a pot up enjoying it later.

Even in the good old days a break in your contract was a bit of a hump to get over. Plenty of threads even back then about how to hide gaps and why don't recruiters understand them but nothing like the problem it is now.

Dunno about the switching bit. I've seen plenty of contractors with a history of 6 months or less gigs and met others that have been 5 years plus with the same client. I don't see any change in that nowadays. It's only the tax regieme and the market that's changed the size of the projects and length of time to deliver them hasn't been impacted.

Some very wild assumptions in that paragraph.

[SussexSeagull]

Oddly the longest I went without a contract was following my longest ever contract which lasted nearly two and a half years. With hindsight - plus Brexit happened - I had a not very exciting contract at the top of my CV and agents didn't get past it.

Some clients like that you can come in for three to nine months to take a project over the line so there are no hard and fast rules about these things.

[barely_pointless]

When you add in the agent fees, 600 a day ends up being close to 15K per month.

Some clients will always think they can hire 2 or 3 permies for that much.

And its true if they look further a field, my last three roles have had permies from Greece/Spain/Eastern europe and Mexico on the team.

I think Brexit has shrunk the EU resource pool somewhat, I was seeing quite a few Spanish - Polish etc, now not so much

[edison]

Nope, I know very few contractors that used the flexibility to have much time off. I've met a lot that have wound down, finished early or have expensive hobbies in their later years though. So very few people taking breaks but plenty working a pot up enjoying it later.

Even in the good old days a break in your contract was a bit of a hump to get over. Plenty of threads even back then about how to hide gaps and why don't recruiters understand them but nothing like the problem it is now.

Dunno about the switching bit. I've seen plenty of contractors with a history of 6 months or less gigs and met others that have been 5 years plus with the same client. I don't see any change in that nowadays. It's only the tax regieme and the market that's changed the size of the projects and length of time to deliver them hasn't been impacted.

Some very wild assumptions in that paragraph.

I must have been one of the few that went into contracting for more time off rather than more money. I used to aim to take 2-3 months off over summer most years and that seemed to work pre-covid.

Now it's a lot trickier to be able to time it working full time. I have managed to have time off over summer since 2020 but it's been mainly due to doing more fractional work where I'm doing typically 2-4 days a week for multiple clients. Obviously most contractors won't fit that pattern.

Having said all that, I'm waiting to hear back on a 12 month full time contract offer and if I get that there will be no summer holiday this year!

[dsc]

I think Brexit has shrunk the EU resource pool somewhat, I was seeing quite a few Spanish - Polish etc, now not so much

A fair amount of Poles packed up and left, IT is paid really well in Poland (atm at least) so even with the constantly rising prices (property going absolutely mental) it's worth it. Plus you can do b2b there without any issues (it's pretty much the norm for employers to simply say "perm / b2b - you pick"), which is what a lot of IT people use to lower taxes / NI etc.

[t0bytoo]

I am another who went into contracting for more time off. Over twenty-five years, I rarely worked more than six months of the year. More recently, I did longer contracts but that's because of covid and looking after a kid.

The lifestyle was great but it did mean that I tended towards the tuliptier jobs that more professional people didn't need to take. Suited me fine.

[dsc]

For permie roles it seems that "internal hires" is the go-to term these days. Certainly explains the amount of rejections even for close to perfect fits. Or so I keep telling myself

[SpliterOfLogs]

I'm another who was a contractor because it allowed me to take more time off, did that for 15 years. Pre-covid I almost never worked during the summer months, through choice, never stopped me finding new gigs. But it does seem like those days are over. I took a perm role in feb 2020 after 6 months on the bench, unfortunately it was in crypto, so that blew up by the end of 2022 - found a contract out of the wreckage of that, which took me to November 2023. Since then, nothing. Many applications but just tumble weed.

Still can't quite believe I'm seeing gigs advertised at rates I was getting 15 years ago.

But I do have an interview for a contract role today, so fingers crossed...

[gables]

For permie roles it seems that "internal hires" is the go-to term these days. Certainly explains the amount of rejections even for close to perfect fits. Or so I keep telling myself

And tbh I think that's how it should always have been (i.e. give someone a chance of promotion\change etc and then backfill their old position) but the role shouldn't be externally advertised until the internal route is exhausted.