State of the Market

[unixman]

Market was fine until about 2 months ago, then it all hit a cliff. Now it seems like 2008 all over again. Hardly anything except a few terrilbe contracts on awful pay, blowing around the job boards like discarded cigarette ends. Tumbleweed time.

An agent friend of a friend says is the referendum affect.

[LadyPenelope]

Market was fine until about 2 months ago, then it all hit a cliff. Now it seems like 2008 all over again. Hardly anything except a few terrilbe contracts on awful pay, blowing around the job boards like discarded cigarette ends. Tumbleweed time.

An agent friend of a friend says is the referendum affect.

There was an article in yesterday's Times saying that businesses were holding off making hiring decisions until after the referendum.

[diseasex]

There was an article in yesterday's Times saying that businesses were holding off making hiring decisions until after the referendum.

got boomed yesterday. there are still jobs, had 2 offers and took one

[cablarnshowntone]

Another couple of weeks and all those leads I had over the past month will go live again... with every crisis comes great opportunity...

[northernladuk]

There was an article in yesterday's Times saying that businesses were holding off making hiring decisions until after the referendum.

Erm......

[theroyale]

Yeah I agree 20K + high paying jobs going in London is going to stuff the market for sure. If we Leave EU I think its going to lead to a gold rush IT contracts wise. I want us to leave & if we do (I think we will) its going to create a lot of IT contract opportunities. If we stay it will create fewer job opportunities & more intense competition for fewer roles. So Leave EU to me is a Win Win scenario we can adopt a fairer Work Visa system & more IT work will be created to implement the outside EU changes.

Australia would have already long ago cancelled any Work Visa's for foreign IT workers (they have done this before several times) as they look after their own first & foremost!

This is provably nonsense. These occupations are still on the shortage list and people are being invited to come in every year (as of 2016). That 'Ceiling Value' is the number of people they have determined they need this year, by occupation.

From: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Skil


Description Ceiling Value

ICT Business and Systems Analysts 1536
Software and Applications Programmers 5364
Computer Network Professionals 1986

[suityou01]

Seeing a lot of Java and Android roles. Most C# gigs are "Front end" development which isn't my forte, and even though I know the front end technologies well enough would bore me titless.

[LadyPenelope]

Erm......

OK Mr NLad - I presume it's the word 'hiring' you're having a problem with? Well, that's what the article said, as it was a general news article, so they didn't refer to contractors specifically. I expect it also extends to engaging contractors, although I suppose you could posit a theory that if they're not taking on employees then they are more likely to take on contractors. I can't say I've seen this in my area, it looks more like businesses are waiting it out.

Glad to hear that it's happy days for some though. I'm kind of enjoying the excuse not to work ATM and have a decent warchest but if it extends into Autumn it could get alarming. Had a call about a fantastic contract today but it requires colocation/networking tech knowledge which I don't have, despite the agent being keen to put me forward.

[northernladuk]

OK Mr NLad - I presume it's the word 'hiring' you're having a problem with? Well, that's what the article said, as it was a general news article, so they didn't refer to contractors specifically. I expect it also extends to engaging contractors, although I suppose you could posit a theory that if they're not taking on employees then they are more likely to take on contractors. I can't say I've seen this in my area, it looks more like businesses are waiting it out.

The fact you are linking contractor trends with employment trends which you do again in the post above was really what the 'Erm' was for. If it's a general article about employment then you cannot assume it means contractors at all for many many reasons. They are just too different. Even if there is a headcount freeze on/VR and so on contractors still come and go as the business case for the projects get passed so the client stumps up the money.

Don't assume any article regarding employment has anything to do with what will happen to contracting.

[LadyPenelope]

The fact you are linking contractor trends with employment trends which you do again in the post above was really what the 'Erm' was for. If it's a general article about employment then you cannot assume it means contractors at all for many many reasons. They are just too different. Even if there is a headcount freeze on/VR and so on contractors still come and go as the business case for the projects get passed so the client stumps up the money.

Don't assume any article regarding employment has anything to do with what will happen to contracting.

Fair goes. I have been a contractor for 10 years though, and I did see a similar slowdown before the last election. If you're a BA you work at the start of projects, unless it's Agile, so if businesses are holding off project initiation to see what will happen then that would affect me. And in my experience they do seem to hold off investing in new systems in times of uncertainty. It's probably different for Dev roles.

Weirdly enough, I just had another call about a great-sounding contract, although we do need to finesse the rate a bit . Nothing for a fortnight then two calls today. Not rubbish jobs either but projects I'd be very interested in. Hopefully something will come of it, but not taking the aforementioned wooden nickel.