State of the Market

[Yonmons]

It's quiet put myself on the bench in April, and have one promising call in that time. (TBH I'm not pushing that hard to get back at the moment ) My last gig contacted me Thursday and said if it could be "swung" for me to work 2 days a week WFH would I had be interested in coming back. Initially I have said yes, but nothing is certain at the moment and TBH I could have done with them ringing 2 months down the line.

[uk contractor]

At most levels the market is oversaturated with good candidates & lots of cheaper poor quality candidates who talk the talk but cannot walk the walk! Employers all know this now they can pick & choose their perfect contractor. Its not going to suddenly change either cost is an issue & they expect everything for a lower rate. Only exceptions to this are niche roles & or high end banking roles few are qualified to do.

You have to consider that now more than ever the market is also stuffed full of fake job ads & or the same role repeatedly advertised by different agencies on different websites so the overall picture of lots of IT vacancies is highly deceiving!! I think the market is in a 2007 post financial crash state for anything which is not considered an essential project. Nothing to do with the EU referendum either the financial markets have been running on empty since last summer they are only waiting for a catalyst to trigger a major sell off (probably US elections in November).

[northernladuk]

At most levels the market is oversaturated with good candidates & lots of cheaper poor quality candidates who talk the talk but cannot walk the walk! Employers all know this now they can pick & choose their perfect contractor. Its not going to suddenly change either cost is an issue & they expect everything for a lower rate. Only exceptions to this are niche roles & or high end banking roles few are qualified to do.

You have to consider that now more than ever the market is also stuffed full of fake job ads & or the same role repeatedly advertised by different agencies on different websites so the overall picture of lots of IT vacancies is highly deceiving!! I think the market is in a 2007 post financial crash state for anything which is not considered an essential project. Nothing to do with the EU referendum either the financial markets have been running on empty since last summer they are only waiting for a catalyst to trigger a major sell off (probably US elections in November).

Could you hand your forum username back in on the way out please. It doesn't fit you properly.

[Rabotnik]

Yup, absolutely dead for me . I'm a SQL Business Intelligence dev, and I actually left a contract at the end of March since I was bored there and I didn't want to renew for x months and then just terminate the contract after a month once I found another gig (what a nice guy). Thought I would walk into another one like previously (had a week between contracts previously). Turns out I've really shot myself in the foot - been benched for nearly 2 months now!

[SussexSeagull]

Must confess I wouldn't consider being out since the end of April that bad.

[Rabotnik]

Must confess I wouldn't consider being out since the end of April that bad.

Ah OK, I don't know what's considered a long time for a contractor to be benched. I know you are supposed to have 6 months worth of cash in the warchest, but I've only been contracting 4 years and have always been renewed at clients until I decided to leave, so not working for this long is unusual for me.

[WTFH]

1 year is a long time to be benched. 2 months is not. Also, walking away is not a clever thing unless you have something in the pipeline.

[Rabotnik]

1 year is a long time to be benched. 2 months is not. Also, walking away is not a clever thing unless you have something in the pipeline.

Yeah I realise that now , but like I said, I didn't want to tell them I'd renew for 6 months and then terminate the contract after a month or two (I was the only BI dev there so they would be absolutely screwed if I suddenly left in 3 weeks). I actually renewed for 1 month to give them more time to find someone and for me to do handover.

I guess I'm a soft touch? Do you guys have no qualms about terminating a contract any time you feel like taking another contract? I always wait until renewal before thinking about leaving.

[WTFH]

If you are thinking of leaving, or just coming up to the end of the contract and you might not be getting a renewal, then it's not about qualms - you should be out looking for new work. I normally start about 6 weeks before the end of a contract. Others on here might be 2-4 weeks.

There's a BIG difference between looking for work and, as you put it "terminating a contract any time you feel like taking another contract"

[Cirrus]

Moral Dilemmas

I guess I'm a soft touch? Do you guys have no qualms about terminating a contract any time you feel

I'm in a worse position. I've actually got to the end of my contract. Right now I don't have one but I know they expect me in on Monday. The agent said he'd got something but I've not seen it.

The point is I have a mind to walk. I've got a project that is clearly loony but I'm the junior of three PMs messing about on this and the other two simply don't understand IT. I know they would get upset if I left. They got most upset when my predecessor left (because they'd delayed his renewal to the very last second and he'd gone and got something else in the meantime) but I just think it is scummy to walk out early. I agree it is illogical.