State of the Market

[quackhandle]

Really, Schumi, you are continuing to bang your head against a brick wall hoping against hope that things will go back to the way they were before.

This ^^^^^^^^^.

Running at lunchtime around the royal parks or round the river, you can find yourself racing against highly motivated company directors and managers.

You are Alan Partridge and I claim my £5.


qh

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I mean prior to COVID, everyone worked in the office, there was not a problem with it then.

I have been 100% remote since 2013 in a variety of permie and contract jobs HTH.

[willendure]

Let’s put an advert out offering it for 25k then get someone in on a Visa for 80% of the going rate*.

*Has to be the the going rate now, in the interests of balance.

Accurate. Except now Rishi has gone, perhaps Rishis-mates-rates is going too, thank goodness.

[willendure]

I've just about had it and ready to throw the towel in can't keep going like this....had a call yesterday saying I had an interview the job came up a few weeks back but then they never got back to me if I was shortlisted for interview or not.....so either someone started and it didn't work out or someone pulled out so the role came back on is my take.

Anyways the agent called me yesterday says oh they want to see you and sorry I have ignored your calls/emails...supposed to get details yesterday for the interview but nothing.

Chased up today and told I would have the interview details by COP today...nothing so reckon it is another waste of time.

It is a joke...

Spoke to another agent this morning who had contacted me they weer all keen then few hours later went cold won't answer my calls or email me back....probably found someone in the meantime who will work for half the price.

I want out of this malarkey

Similar experiences of agents being hot/cold/ghosting.

Recently had an agent recruiting for a role via Infoplus (oh god). He seemed super keen on the phone at 4.45pm. Demanded my brushed up CV be sent to him for 5pm because the role was super urgent. Probably should just have put the phone down at that point. Anyway, I gave him my stuff and who knows if it will turn into anything or not. Don't think I even want it, inside ir35, poor rate and wouldn't even tell me anything about the end client.

[SussexSeagull]

Similar experiences of agents being hot/cold/ghosting.

Recently had an agent recruiting for a role via Infoplus (oh god). He seemed super keen on the phone at 4.45pm. Demanded my brushed up CV be sent to him for 5pm because the role was super urgent. Probably should just have put the phone down at that point. Anyway, I gave him my stuff and who knows if it will turn into anything or not. Don't think I even want it, inside ir35, poor rate and wouldn't even tell me anything about the end client.

I suspect the problem is they are sitting round doing nothing most of the time so when a half opportunity appears they pile into it and expect you to drop everything as well.

Does begin to become hard to motivate yourself when a so called opportunity appears.

[uk contractor]

Just coming out out of a very well paid IB role after almost 4 years.....I can tell you right now they are all on a race to the bottom rates wise your going to have to target non financial services if you want to get any decent work going forwards.

They axed all the London based developers & support staff same day to save money as they appear to be in deep financial trouble......like so many in IBs they relied on the fake offshore based (but actually near shore based!) suppliers of talentless bottom feeders....the end results are already more steep losses due to lack of experienced IT staff to contain the damage..........!!

[avonleigh]

Just coming out out of a very well paid IB role after almost 4 years.....I can tell you right now they are all on a race to the bottom rates wise your going to have to target non financial services if you want to get any decent work going forwards.

They axed all the London based developers & support staff same day to save money as they appear to be in deep financial trouble......like so many in IBs they relied on the fake offshore based (but actually near shore based!) suppliers of talentless bottom feeders....the end results are already more steep losses due to lack of experienced IT staff to contain the damage..........!!

Serves them right. IB's have always been completely up themselves. Don't have IB experience then you have no chance of ever getting an interview despite how good your skills are. Only sector I haven't worked in I think, never had a sniff in 27 years of contracting.

[Smartie]

Had this through today if it's of interest to anyone (no rate provided):


Morgan Stanley -MOR3JP00011529 (Previously MOR3JP00011444) - Scrum Master CONTRACT (Glasgow)
Job Title: Scrum Master
Location: GBR | - | Glasgow | 3 days on site, 2 days WFH
Duration: 12 months


About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services.
As a market leader, the talent and passion of our people is critical to our success. Together, we share a common set of values rooted in integrity, excellence, and strong team ethic. We can provide a superior foundation for building a professional career – a place for people to learn, to achieve and grow. A philosophy that balances personal lifestyles, perspectives and needs is an important part of our culture.

Team Overview:
The Scrum Master of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Engineering group in the Core Infrastructure division at Morgan Stanley is responsible for designing, implementing and managing the firm?s huge scale global physical and virtual server infrastructure. The group is involved in evaluation, certification, integration, and maintenance of numerous products, including hardware, hypervisor, the Linux O/S, system configuration, critical infrastructure services (DNS, DHCP, NTP, etc.), load-balancing capabilities, high availability products and virtualization management technologies. There is a large software development and integration aspect to most of our work, as we enable our customers to practice DevOps techniques by provisioning and managing infrastructure as code.

Key Responsibilities:
• We are seeking a Scrum Master to join our organization in Glasgow, co-located with two squads in the early stages of Agile adoption.
• You will be responsible for improving value-add, flow rate, quality standards, predictability and continuous improvement of your teams, as well as participating in the firms rapidly expanding horizontal Agile practice spanning numerous technology areas.
• You will use Agile methodology values, principles and practices to plan, manage, and deliver solutions.
• Facilitate and coordinate agile ceremonies, and manage workflow through Jira • Create and deliver a reporting framework for team members and management • Train and mentor squad members in Agile techniques • Work with product owners to handle roadmaps, backlogs and new requests • Monitor progress and performance and help teams institute effective change • Help build a productive environment where team members own and enjoy working on their products

Skills Required:
• Experience in a scrum master or service delivery manager role • Excellent knowledge of Scrum and Kanban techniques, ceremonies and artifacts • Familiarity with software development teams/projects • Strong analytical and problem solving and conflict resolution skills

Desired Skills:
• Experience working with virtual teams

[Ketto]

Be interested to know how many people do not have the “desired skills”.

[SussexSeagull]

I have been contracting for 17 years and never got near to working in the City. It is more of a closed shop than SC roles.

Problem is in London and the South East, and maybe further afield, if the City isn't employing contractors, and as they mainly seem to be Inside now I am happy describing it as that, then it drags the whole region down with it.