State of the Market

[oliverson]

lol, I have not seen anything like this at all. And why would they pay the high rates, when there are a million contractors available?

Why are recruitment agencies closing and agents advertising themselves for other roles?

Nothing of what you say is true.

And there is one thing seeing advertised roles, there is another being called about them and ultimately converting them to offers.

I have applied to ~25 jobs this week and not received any phone calls.

Why would I lie?

I questioned the £ 1k+ rate and the agent said they want the best devs and had to raise the rates because of IR35. I doubt my mate was lying about the roles at his place, friends generally don't do that and it's pretty common knowledge that BNPP are indeed paying upto £ 900 inside.

Perhaps you need to look closer to home as to why you're not getting much success, though I note further down this thread you have managed to secure an interview. Good luck.

[oliverson]

What’s made you question the retirement decision, if you don’t mind me asking?

A number of things. So, I'm 'living the dream' right now, down at the holiday home in Andalucia, only it's not what I expected. Weather isn't helping as there's a week of storms. It feels very different not to be working out here though. All of a sudden without a decent income coming in, I'm starting to question going out often for expensive meals. Is that heating still on? That's expensive out here too. I'm charging the Tesla up at El Higueron hotel, except I'm staring out at the infinity pool as the rain falls, from the comfort of the lounge. It occurs to me that wonderful car is going back in September and I won't be leasing another through the company on the back of no income. Then there's the apartment, a lovely duplex Penthouse with fantastic views. As I've said earlier, this was my pension pot. Either it goes or the house back in England does. Which one? A decision has to be made pretty soon. Then there's the sense of purpose and the waste of a skillset built up over a 25 year career. Flushing the development / devops / platform engineer down the toilet, it seems criminal. Then there's wandering round the supermarket mid-day with all the other retirees and daytime television talking about funeral plans, etc. Is that the life I really want? Is it the one I envisioned, sat at my desk in contract, wishing I could retire? In hindsight I think the last contract of 3.5 years, working almost every possible billable day, and sometimes statutory holidays was a big mistake and I should have taken more time off. But on the other hand, I needed to put those days in, coming off the back of 17 months on the bench, and all the financial damage that did.

So, I'm telling myself, while you've got these hot skills and feeling the way I do, why not push this decision down the line another few years. Keep both properties, take out another car lease, build up a bigger war chest and, one for you SchumiStars, get back to the office in London. Capitalise on my skillset. Sad, some might say, but I do miss the prestige of being down there, even just a couple of days a week. Couple of nice suits, look the part and feel I'm going somewhere, not just the bingo or crown green bowling.

[dsc]

Contracts overtaking permanent is interesting. Might mean companies want to put a toe in the water with temporary resource before taking the plunge with permanent staff?

Is this always the case in tulip periods? no one wants to commit to anything long term, so contractors it is.

[jamesbrown]

A number of things. So, I'm 'living the dream' right now, down at the holiday home in Andalucia, only it's not what I expected. Weather isn't helping as there's a week of storms. It feels very different not to be working out here though. All of a sudden without a decent income coming in, I'm starting to question going out often for expensive meals. Is that heating still on? That's expensive out here too. I'm charging the Tesla up at El Higueron hotel, except I'm staring out at the infinity pool as the rain falls, from the comfort of the lounge. It occurs to me that wonderful car is going back in September and I won't be leasing another through the company on the back of no income. Then there's the apartment, a lovely duplex Penthouse with fantastic views. As I've said earlier, this was my pension pot. Either it goes or the house back in England does. Which one? A decision has to be made pretty soon. Then there's the sense of purpose and the waste of a skillset built up over a 25 year career. Flushing the development / devops / platform engineer down the toilet, it seems criminal. Then there's wandering round the supermarket mid-day with all the other retirees and daytime television talking about funeral plans, etc. Is that the life I really want? Is it the one I envisioned, sat at my desk in contract, wishing I could retire? In hindsight I think the last contract of 3.5 years, working almost every possible billable day, and sometimes statutory holidays was a big mistake and I should have taken more time off. But on the other hand, I needed to put those days in, coming off the back of 17 months on the bench, and all the financial damage that did.

So, I'm telling myself, while you've got these hot skills and feeling the way I do, why not push this decision down the line another few years. Keep both properties, take out another car lease, build up a bigger war chest and, one for you SchumiStars, get back to the office in London. Capitalise on my skillset. Sad, some might say, but I do miss the prestige of being down there, even just a couple of days a week. Couple of nice suits, look the part and feel I'm going somewhere, not just the bingo or crown green bowling.

Spoiler: you're going to feel exactly the same way in a few years unless you actually develop a plan for what you want to do with your time. The above was totally inevitable if you're just sat around watching daytime TV and wondering what to do next. If you do go back, FFS, develop an actual plan for your retirement when it does eventually happen.

[avonleigh]

Right, got an interview today. 1700! .

Defence, SC, on-site, 6mths. Java. £650 inside.

1700. Tells me everything I need to know. Clearly means, I am in a long list of candidates for the position, which ultimatly means, it will be a set of standard questions, my cv will not be opened and I have minimal chance.

I do like to say, I am the best of my opportunities, so let's see what happens.

Good luck. I wouldn't read anything into the time. Could be a whole list of reasons it's at that time.

[eek]

Good luck. I wouldn't read anything into the time. Could be a whole list of reasons it's at that time.

+1 you can’t read anything into interview times - they can often be booked for the convenience of the interviewers so 5pm is usually slotted in after they’ve done a full day of work.

[oliverson]

Spoiler: you're going to feel exactly the same way in a few years unless you actually develop a plan for what you want to do with your time. The above was totally inevitable if you're just sat around watching daytime TV and wondering what to do next. If you do go back, FFS, develop an actual plan for your retirement when it does eventually happen.

I did have some kind of plan and that was to replace contracting with a plan B gradually. However, the retirement was kind of thrust upon me unexpectedly with the plan B not really gaining any traction. So, instead of 'replacement', in the sense of income from contracting being replaced by income from plan B, the plan B is the only source of income, i.e. zero and likely to be that way for a couple of years at least. Kicking the can down the road another few years seems like the solution to me.

[SussexSeagull]

Is this always the case in tulip periods? no one wants to commit to anything long term, so contractors it is.

That's my thinking. Possibly overly optimistically!

[TheScheduler]

That's my thinking. Possibly overly optimistically!

Next month we will certainly have new budgets agreed and is typically a time of increased hiring.
We will see!

[PerfectStorm]

I'm between gigs at the moment. Which is my own fault - I was being grouchy in the previous one and got let go. Lesson learnt.

At the moment I'm terrified though, I'm getting calls about £300 inside gigs and a whole lot of silence.