State of the Market

[hobnob]

I'm not really into os software TBH. I have never really looked into it or taken part as my day job took priority and after a day coding, the last thing I want to do is write more code or fix issues.

When you're working, that makes sense - use your free time for something else. However, if you're not coding at all at the moment, and you can feel your brain "dying of inactivity", maybe it would provide you with an outlet? It might also look good on your CV, i.e. you can include a link to your GitHub profile to show your activity.

[Dorkeaux]

Permi roles are deader than dead. There is absolutely no demand for programmers ATM. I was getting 1 or 2 interviews per month but that seems to have also stopped.

I'm not really into os software TBH. I have never really looked into it or taken part as my day job took priority and after a day coding, the last thing I want to do is write more code or fix issues.

I am rarely free. I applied to some roles in the am, had a couple of short meetings over lunch, went cycling with a couple of mates in the afternoon and just got back from the gym. And now sitting with the wife, and helping her do her nth degree.

It's a depressing market but there is nothing it seems I can do about it ATM, so I may as well just relax. It's highly frustrating. Wanting to be part of an enterprise and contribute to theirs and mine progression.

Schum. I hope you take this is the positive spirit in which it is intended.

It sounds like you have a lot of good things going on.
Which is great, truly. But they are largely unrelated to your profession, more particularly finding work.

My mate calls those "deflection activities".

You are "rarely free"? If you don't focus on upgrading your skills, working on your CV, talking to agents, looking at more job sites and generally looking for work then work probably will not appear for you. Looking for work is a full time job.

The Hobnob and other posters have given some very good practical advice. Maybe read back and reconsider the points you have rejected.

One more practical thing, you gave one of your skills as Episerver. I had to look it up (Niche Skill!). They have changed their name, were I you I'd catch up on any new product features and update the product name on your CV.

[ResistanceFighter]

It's not the lack of day rate that's hurting me, it's the work. I really, really do enjoy working. I love software development, the harder it is the more I can learn.

The current situation means brain is dying of inactivity. I am loosing time that could be actively learning new skills and systems.

I tend to only learn in practice. I am not much of a fan of text box knowledge TBH. CBT courses with no qualifications don't do it for me.

I did become a MSCD at one stage but found it had little to no value in the real world.

Gosh....I need a contract!! FFS....market needs sorting out one-time.

Exactly this. If I was interviewing and not getting the work, that's something I can sort of control in that I know what I need to learn. But it's nowhere near getting to that stage

[TheDude]

Schum. I hope you take this is the positive spirit in which it is intended.

It sounds like you have a lot of good things going on.
Which is great, truly. But they are largely unrelated to your profession, more particularly finding work.

My mate calls those "deflection activities".

You are "rarely free"? If you don't focus on upgrading your skills, working on your CV, talking to agents, looking at more job sites and generally looking for work then work probably will not appear for you. Looking for work is a full time job.

The Hobnob and other posters have given some very good practical advice. Maybe read back and reconsider the points you have rejected.

One more practical thing, you gave one of your skills as Episerver. I had to look it up (Niche Skill!). They have changed their name, were I you I'd catch up on any new product features and update the product name on your CV.

These are great comments.

One other thing I will add.

Don't assume that because you were earning (for sake of argument) £800pd a few years ago at (say) an investment bank that you were (and by implication are) one of the very best developers out there.

You probably weren't but it was a sellers market. Now you are up against developers who have been let go from companies with a higher benchmark such as Meta, Google as well as the next generation of developers who can do the job for less.

[SussexSeagull]

These are great comments.

One other thing I will add.

Don't assume that because you were earning (for sake of argument) £800pd a few years ago at (say) an investment bank that you were (and by implication are) one of the very best developers out there.

You probably weren't but it was a sellers market. Now you are up against developers who have been let go from companies with a higher benchmark such as Meta, Google as well as the next generation of developers who can do the job for less.

Bit of a tangent but I would find it interesting to know how people let go from places like Meta and Google get on afterwards and how they cope. To give a dodgy analogy, it must be like when a really highly rated footballer gets let go for a Premier League club because they can't make the first team and you would expect them to have a really solid Championship career but it often doesn't work like that and they fall down the divisions.

[TheDude]

Bit of a tangent but I would find it interesting to know how people let go from places like Meta and Google get on afterwards and how they cope. To give a dodgy analogy, it must be like when a really highly rated footballer gets let go for a Premier League club because they can't make the first team and you would expect them to have a really solid Championship career but it often doesn't work like that and they fall down the divisions.

I have worked with a few ex-Google types at banks. They were good, certainly among the best developers in the team but not the mythical 10x developer.

I always wonder why people add ex-Google, ex-Meta, ex-Apple to their LinkedIn headline. I read this as for whatever reason you weren't good enough to thrive/succeed there but you still think this buys you a place at the front of the queue.

Rather like those who define themselves by the day they open their acceptance letter to Oxford/Cambridge and not by the subsequent 15 years of mediocrity as a low ranking VP in Canary Wharf.

[sadkingbilly]

Life was much better before all these little computers and associated OS's.
No computer courses/qualifications either.
You either knew or you didn't

[SussexSeagull]

I have worked with a few ex-Google types at banks. They were good, certainly among the best developers in the team but not the mythical 10x developer.

I always wonder why people add ex-Google, ex-Meta, ex-Apple to their LinkedIn headline. I read this as for whatever reason you weren't good enough to thrive/succeed there but you still think this buys you a place at the front of the queue.

Rather like those who define themselves by the day they open their acceptance letter to Oxford/Cambridge and not by the subsequent 15 years of mediocrity as a low ranking VP in Canary Wharf.

I worked on a project with Accenture and got the impression most of them were there to work themselves into the ground for 2-5 years after University then go and get a sustainable job with it on their CV. Generally nice people when you got them away from work but I always wondered how they would get on outside of the tight confines of Accenture where projects were tightly controlled and they basically signed their lives over.

[Dorkeaux]

I worked on a project with Accenture and got the impression most of them were there to work themselves into the ground for 2-5 years after University then go and get a sustainable job with it on their CV. Generally nice people when you got them away from work but I always wondered how they would get on outside of the tight confines of Accenture where projects were tightly controlled and they basically signed their lives over.

Similar. I worked as an associate with Accenture some time ago.

The idea was to get Big Consultancy experience on your CV.
Probably the same with Meta et al.
In reality, the Accenture peeps spent most of their time competing internally with their colleagues and talking to the internal company headhunters who were in control of their career progression instead of doing their jobs.

I didn't rate any of them, frankly. Smart, but doing the wrong things.

[TheDude]

Similar. I worked as an associate with Accenture some time ago.

The idea was to get Big Consultancy experience on your CV.
Probably the same with Meta et al.
In reality, the Accenture peeps spent most of their time competing internally with their colleagues and talking to the internal company headhunters who were in control of their career progression instead of doing their jobs.

I didn't rate any of them, frankly. Smart, but doing the wrong things.

With respect Meta set the bar a little higher than Accenture.

And by a little I mean much much higher.