State of the Market

[Manic]

Wow this might actually be very interesting, basically means all bods need to be inside the UK, so any offshoring is practically finished.

Possibly yes. We are still working out what that might mean for our offshore resources. Does cost trump it? Can we use the local equivalant clearance?

The guidance appears to suggest any Govt work is out of scope now.

[oliverson]

I'm not looking as I've retired, but a friend sent me a few links to DevOps contracts, outside IR35, etc. The market doesn't seem that bad to me (or him). Are you guys looking sure you're not stale? When did you last update your skillset? If you're sat there doing the same Java or .NET that you did 20 years ago, what do you expect? Or if you're one of the millions of JavaScript developers only, either front or backend, did you not stop to think of potential supply/demand issues down the road as bootcamp after bootcamp churn out rookies with those skills, all prepared to work for far less than you or I?

[ekim]

Very much this, I always found the UK odd in the sense that there was huge amounts of very average contractors easily landing contracts as there wasn't enough people on the market.

I guess you didn’t work with contractors in the US then?

[SussexSeagull]

Doesn't there always have to be average contractors on the grounds that there has to be people in the middle of the good ones and the bad ones? Also, if all the average and bad ones drop out of the market some of the good ones will become average and bad.

I think the actual ability to do a contract well and being good at what you do gets diluted by everything having several hundred applicants and clients chasing a unicorn that exactly matches everything they could possibly dream of.

However the bigger problem is the contract market, especially outside IR35, has disappeared and if it ceases to be a channel clients look at then it really doesn't matter how good you are at what you do.

[SussexSeagull]

I think thats a bit of false equivalance there, the global CAGR rate for technology is estimated at 10% per year, every year for the next ten years.

The money is there on the table globally and it is a big money.

But its not on the table for mediocre coders or devops peeps that want to contract and not leave the M25 - you need to be top notch and willing to be flexible.

I was surprised to learn that demand for coal is at record highs global but next to none of it is mined in the UK. IT is threatening to go the same way.

[SchumiStars]

I was out last night to one of my favourite restaurants in London.

Prior to lockdown, Fri night, you would struggle to get to the front of the bar. As I was driving round, most of the pubs looked half empty.

Ok, so yes, it was freezing cold and it was raining but there did seem to be lot less people out. Even the place I went to used to have queues outside as seem to have diminished.

[SchumiStars]

The guy I was with, he hired a SQL DBA/Developer, outside, 50ph, working for 50hrs per month. The guy he hired was living and working in Canada.

The outside contracts can be worked by people outside the country which is bizarre to me. That people outside the UK are getting UK jobs, paid higher!!

THIS IS THE STATE OF THE MARKET!!!

[anonymouse]

If UK hirers don't hire many contractors, then they don't know what to look for (outside of a tick-box checklist or recommendation). I used to specialise in working for clients that don't have experience with analysis /architect /testing for difficult projects. They want the work doing, but don't know how to do it, or have brought in suppliers who then get stuck. Repeated roles month after month that never get filled. For that reason, I'm out and now retired. Jobserve app has been deleted, if recruiter gets in touch then great. Crazy market times.

[quackhandle]

This is from the update I get from a recruiting pimp about, oddly enough, the state of the contracting market. As ever, take with a pinch, etc...


The Market
2024 is now out of the way and from a market perspective, many organisations and individuals are glad to see the back of it. Whilst we witnessed some stable periods of activity across the contract market, our own MI backed up with industry data shows the market contracted significantly from the end of 2022, with demand for IT contractors hitting a low for us in December 2023 and a UK 54-month low in December 2024 (REC).

As highlighted in previous newsletters, the market downturn has been down to a number of factors, the majority of which can be attributed to economic uncertainty due to both national and global macro-economic factors such as budgets, elections, wars, inflation and interest rates, all of which have led organisations to pause programmes, limiting investment and spend over the past 2 years.

Looking ahead to 2025, the outlook remains cautious but optimistic. Business confidence is expected to improve as firms adapt to new economic conditions and post-Budget changes. There is pent up demand for change and transformation, both to address legacy issues but also to continue digital transformation initiatives, not to mention the inevitable focus on both Cyber Security and AI adoption.

It has been an encouraging start to 2025. Whilst we don’t expect the market to pick up significantly across Q1, there are strong indications that we will see the IT Contract market grow over the course of the year - hopefully this will be borne out!











Nothing about return to office vs WFH, sorry Schumi.

qh

[SchumiStars]

Why the emphasis on Project Management, Scrum when there are no projects to deliver or manage?

Usually it's the BAs that are required early in a project to build the reqs.

Doesn't look great for tech, again. Surprised to see the low of 54mths, that would put us in COVID. Perhaps the increase we saw was just a flash in the pan, 2yr upward blip.

Think, i will take it, as a pinch of salt tbh.