State of the Market

[slogger]

I'm all for positivity but reskilling will not help much as you will still be back of the queue simply too many contractors chasing too few roles. Lets face it who will the agency put forward for the role you if you reskilled or someone with lots of experience in that field! Agents are getting worse than ever IME so many people who do not understand simple IT or business concepts yet they stand between the interviewer & you its sheer madness!

I've done it a few times over the years but just incremental changes - e.g. get a role as a sysadmin or dev and start implementing devops in your work - have helped people do that - also can add other tools/services to your role (e.g. have done it with mongodb/hadoop etc) - agreed more difficult to do with larger changes..

[uk contractor]

I've done it a few times over the years but just incremental changes - e.g. get a role as a sysadmin or dev and start implementing devops in your work - have helped people do that - also can add other tools/services to your role (e.g. have done it with mongodb/hadoop etc) - agreed more difficult to do with larger changes..

I agree its possible to blag with incremental changes but anything more will be way too obvious. Security will escort you out the building fast! Another recent factor is that people no longer job hop as much as they once did which has a 2 stage effect on vacancies as internal candidates cannot move up the ladder so no demand to bring in a contractor or another external perm creating a static job market when the contractor demand is low its more obvious but this has been the ongoing trend for years now. In the interviews I had recently the hiring managers both mentioned they had not needed to hire anyone for between 5 & 7 years due to no-one leaving their teams until now.

[slogger]

I agree its possible to blag with incremental changes but anything more will be way too obvious. Security will escort you out the building fast! Another recent factor is that people no longer job hop as much as they once did which has a 2 stage effect on vacancies as internal candidates cannot move up the ladder so no demand to bring in a contractor or another external perm creating a static job market when the contractor demand is low its more obvious but this has been the ongoing trend for years now. In the interviews I had recently the hiring managers both mentioned they had not needed to hire anyone for between 5 & 7 years due to no-one leaving their teams until now.

wow - I see lack of staff turnover is bad in a contractors case yes.

As maybe a lateral way of thinking you can contribute to an open source project related to a field you would like to work in - I started by publishing puppet modules and python code - it was picked up by a company and they hired me on contract .. I've been at a few firms in the last few years and they actually look at open source contributors and approach them directly..

[pauly]

We can do all the things that have been suggested in this thread to make us more competitive workers, however... I wonder if the bigger picture in the IT contract market comes down to macro-economics. Zero interest rates/QE printing/crap productivity - has created a situation where most Western/Euro economies have been flat lining with zombie companies and zombie jobs, surviving on cheap money and little real demand or value creation.

Isn't the state of the IT contract market just a reflection of this?

[SussexSeagull]

We can do all the things that have been suggested in this thread to make us more competitive workers, however... I wonder if the bigger picture in the IT contract market comes down to macro-economics. Zero interest rates/QE printing/crap productivity - has created a situation where most Western/Euro economies have been flat lining with zombie companies and zombie jobs, surviving on cheap money and little real demand or value creation.

Isn't the state of the IT contract market just a reflection of this?

This is the main reason but also throw in:

Offshoring
Contractors who came over a few years ago and have permission to stay
A lot more people have decided to try out contracting in the last few years
Handling of IR35 in the public sector

You now turn up for an interview you would have walked two or three years back and still do quite well in but they will keep on interviewing until they find someone who matched 110% of the skills they want.

Jobserve and the like are basically useless now. Networking and contacts are the only way forward and whatever you do don't show any variety on your CV.

Please do keep your skills up to date but don't be under any delusion the main the problem is lack of opportunities and if you haven't encountered this so far someone is trying to work out how to get your equivalent skills cheaper.

[SueEllen]

This is the main reason but also throw in:

Offshoring
Contractors who came over a few years ago and have permission to stay
A lot more people have decided to try out contracting in the last few years
Handling of IR35 in the public sector

You now turn up for an interview you would have walked two or three years back and still do quite well in but they will keep on interviewing until they find someone who matched 110% of the skills they want.

Jobserve and the like are basically useless now. Networking and contacts are the only way forward and whatever you do don't show any variety on your CV.

Please do keep your skills up to date but don't be under any delusion the main the problem is lack of opportunities and if you haven't encountered this so far someone is trying to work out how to get your equivalent skills cheaper.

For my last two contracts including current one I matched only 50-70% of the skill requirements.

The reason being is I had expose to all of the technologies they used but not the exact experience to utilise them in the way they wanted.

[PermMCCon]

This is the main reason but also throw in:

Offshoring
Contractors who came over a few years ago and have permission to stay
A lot more people have decided to try out contracting in the last few years
Handling of IR35 in the public sector

You now turn up for an interview you would have walked two or three years back and still do quite well in but they will keep on interviewing until they find someone who matched 110% of the skills they want.

Jobserve and the like are basically useless now. Networking and contacts are the only way forward and whatever you do don't show any variety on your CV.

Please do keep your skills up to date but don't be under any delusion the main the problem is lack of opportunities and if you haven't encountered this so far someone is trying to work out how to get your equivalent skills cheaper.

Sadly, I think Sussex and Sue have got it about right, the answer in contracting is generally always more complex than one syllable and between them I think they have got it.

Contracting market at the moment is very, very, very competitive. There are a LOT of people looking for roles (and not just in IT). All the banks since 2008 have downsized by a large number of FTE and this will invariably impact contracting as a % of those people will try their hands in contracting.

I have seen a number of older colleagues who decided to take early retirement (nice package and pension made available) also decide that they still had a few years in them hence went straight into contracting after receiving a package.

All means extra competition and this also means I agree with Sussex / Sue, your contacts and networks are now key for your future roles.

[SussexSeagull]

For my last two contracts including current one I matched only 50-70% of the skill requirements.

The reason being is I had expose to all of the technologies they used but not the exact experience to utilise them in the way they wanted.

I eventually got a contract in the health sector, which I have no previous experience of but had previously worked with someone there.

Three weeks in I am picking up nicely and basically left to get on with it. If only agents and clients looked past keyword bingo the industry would be in a much better place.

[oliverson]

+1 to Oli

Call it what you like - "progress" or "things are getting worse" or "too many visas" or "Government Policy changes" etc etc

The fact is, we all have to adapt and move on. I'm pretty sure people who were horse carriage drivers felt the same as some on this forum when they saw cars and trains taking their turf... same type of thing for all our parents in their early career (remember pen and paper and typewriters?) when it all started to move towards computers... what would happen to some of their or their friends jobs!?!

We have to keep fresh and move on. Yes yes, I know the 1980s and 1990s was a golden era for contracting bla bla but so was the 1950s for makers of top hats and 3 piece suits. We have to move on. What did we all expect governments worldwide to do after those 2 decades of an easy life!?! Let contractors continue paying 5% tax when everybody else was on 40%?

Off course they were going to end up coming after us. Talk to any veteran contractor who was around in the 90s and they will accept that things were beyond rosy.

But still, in saying all that, can you imagine being a contractor then? What a market it must have been!

At a time when property prices were a fraction of what they are now and company cars were a perk to be enjoyed without taxation. Whilst I do envy contractors back then, I also appreciate the position I'm currently in.

[BrilloPad]

We can do all the things that have been suggested in this thread to make us more competitive workers, however... I wonder if the bigger picture in the IT contract market comes down to macro-economics. Zero interest rates/QE printing/crap productivity - has created a situation where most Western/Euro economies have been flat lining with zombie companies and zombie jobs, surviving on cheap money and little real demand or value creation.

Isn't the state of the IT contract market just a reflection of this?

The can was kicked down the road several times now. However it will be kicked alot further.

Bigger reason is offshoring. At least in IT overseas conditions are not too bad. In manufacturing there is child labour and no health/safety.