State of the Market

[hungry_hog]

A number of banks (the usual suspects) used to have policies that said a contractor couldn't be on site for more than x number of months. So, they'd all get periodically binned off and then rehired a few months later.

Some didn't even bother to do that.

The one with the green logo had many contractors on site for 10+ years. Mostly disappearing now of course.

[Bluenose]

Not to be outdone by Microsoft Azure and sensing that they could be missing out, Amazon AWS have placed over a dozen perm job adverts on the boards.

Luckily for NorthernLad these adverts do not include 'Shelf Fulfillment Logistics Director' @ £9ph...........

[unixman]

52 yo here and feeling the same ennui. Been excited by computers since the age 15. Lately, the excitement seems to be wearing off. Problem is, I have no plan B.

I still like computers from an interest point of view. And, like BR14, am still excited engineering in general. Eg. I have 6 Pis scattered around the house and am just about to publish the 100th post on my tech blog.

Almost certainly it is just down to age, but at work I feel like a cow being put in a stall and milked. Teats are getting a bit tired. Perhaps I should become a manager.

[hairymouse]

Hopefully, I am coming to the end of my latest time on the bench. It's been 3 months. Today I had an interview with a client who is is hot to trot and wants me to start Tuesday. I've also got another potential client who is starting the onboarding process which looks like it could take forever, so I'll just keep following along with them until I am happy the gig with the first client is actually OK. Bizarrely, the rate for both is higher than my last, which is unexpected since every other job ad was lower.

As far as IR35 for this new role, it's all up in the air. The agency has no real plans, the client is clueless and I have no idea how I can protect myself against whatever will happen in April. I've asked for a one week termination clause in the 3 month contract, if a determination of inside comes down I'll either walk and possibly get one month's pay treated as inside or stay inside and hope for a higher rate. I'm not worried about the 2 months or so until then, and can't imagine that short period being worthwhile for HMRC to try it on. Maybe not ideal, but I've got to start working again.

Anyway, here's what I learned:

• I paid to have my CV rewritten. It took longer than expected, and the first version lacked dates for all my gigs. Agents hated that and for the first time I actually got complaints about my CV. After tweaking that, it seemed fine so I don't actually know if it helped.
• December was dead. Whoever gave me the advice to relax and enjoy Christmas was right.
• I paid Contractspy £30 each month to get their digest of contract roles. I got a few leads, but nothing more. Not sure I would do again.
• Both offers were not the result of responding to a job ad. Both were agents finding my CV on the job board or maybe Linked In and contacting me.
• I got a Microsoft Azure Certification while on the bench, and hope that impresses people. I want to continue and eventually get my Azure Data Engineer Certification, but I am afraid I'll lose my momentum as I return to the grind. Something for the next episode on the bench.

[soitgoes]

I still like computers from an interest point of view.

Sitting writing Perl test scripts for a quid a minute makes them a lot less interesting, trust me.

But hey, at least I'm earning for another 5 weeks, which is more than many can say.

[tsmith]

Hopefully, I am coming to the end of my latest time on the bench. It's been 3 months. Today I had an interview with a client who is is hot to trot and wants me to start Tuesday. I've also got another potential client who is starting the onboarding process which looks like it could take forever, so I'll just keep following along with them until I am happy the gig with the first client is actually OK. Bizarrely, the rate for both is higher than my last, which is unexpected since every other job ad was lower.

As far as IR35 for this new role, it's all up in the air. The agency has no real plans, the client is clueless and I have no idea how I can protect myself against whatever will happen in April. I've asked for a one week termination clause in the 3 month contract, if a determination of inside comes down I'll either walk and possibly get one month's pay treated as inside or stay inside and hope for a higher rate. I'm not worried about the 2 months or so until then, and can't imagine that short period being worthwhile for HMRC to try it on. Maybe not ideal, but I've got to start working again.

Anyway, here's what I learned:

• I paid to have my CV rewritten. It took longer than expected, and the first version lacked dates for all my gigs. Agents hated that and for the first time I actually got complaints about my CV. After tweaking that, it seemed fine so I don't actually know if it helped.
• December was dead. Whoever gave me the advice to relax and enjoy Christmas was right.
• I paid Contractspy £30 each month to get their digest of contract roles. I got a few leads, but nothing more. Not sure I would do again.
• Both offers were not the result of responding to a job ad. Both were agents finding my CV on the job board or maybe Linked In and contacting me.
• I got a Microsoft Azure Certification while on the bench, and hope that impresses people. I want to continue and eventually get my Azure Data Engineer Certification, but I am afraid I'll lose my momentum as I return to the grind. Something for the next episode on the bench.

well done on the new role. i should be hitting the bench in a couple of weeks. could do with one more 6 month contract but have been saying that for 3 years. expecting to be out at least 3 months too. have been looking since november last year but havent got passed first set of recruiter calls.

guessing theres so many on the bench if youre in a contract they pass you by as its easier to get someone whos not in a role to interview + start monday etc

"Both offers were not the result of responding to a job ad. Both were agents finding my CV on the job board or maybe Linked In and contacting me."

Ive found the above true - rare to get a role from applying to ads. Theres so few listed now anyway.

[GhostofTarbera]

well done on the new role. i should be hitting the bench in a couple of weeks. could do with one more 6 month contract but have been saying that for 3 years. expecting to be out at least 3 months too. have been looking since november last year but havent got passed first set of recruiter calls.

guessing theres so many on the bench if youre in a contract they pass you by as its easier to get someone whos not in a role to interview + start monday etc

"Both offers were not the result of responding to a job ad. Both were agents finding my CV on the job board or maybe Linked In and contacting me."

Ive found the above true - rare to get a role from applying to ads. Theres so few listed now anyway.

Luckily you will hit the bench after we leave Europe and the market will be plentiful and rich

In other news, January market makes the dead market in December seem like a cocaine fueled sex orgy




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[hairymouse]

Today I had an interview with a client who is is hot to trot and wants me to start Tuesday.

God, I should have known before I posted. What does it mean when a client says "I want somebody here on Tuesday, I'm going to get this resolved Monday morning"? Apparently it means "We are still trying to get the budget, maybe you can start on Wednesday. No contract yet."

[GhostofTarbera]

God, I should have known before I posted. What does it mean when a client says "I want somebody here on Tuesday, I'm going to get this resolved Monday morning"? Apparently it means "We are still trying to get the budget, maybe you can start on Wednesday. No contract yet."

Which means they have found someone cheaper and waiting to see if they accept

Hopefully you are still continuing with the other offer until bum in seat for a week


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[BritishLad88]

from experience, December/January/start of Feb have been notoriously known to be quite dead & quiet in the contract market. During this time normally there would be only a few new roles available - as some big banks tend to have new roles open in new year after budgeting from the end of previous Dec. It is after April/May when the new financial year starts that you tend to see a flurry of new contract roles open up even more. That is likely when other companies (maybe the non-big enterprises) do their budgetting.

So.. I really wonder whether this year would be the same? Or will It be completely different like as some predict, that pretty much all outside IR35 roles will dissapear off the market completely. It might be worth waiting till after April to observe how the whole situation is behaving (if you're willing to wait/afford that).

Others are hoping that the march budget will have some impact but realistically would there be any changes? given that is 2 weeks before when IR35 kicks in. It's highly unlikely I feel.

personally, I still feel there would be some outside IR35 roles available after April. It's just that its far far less than ever before. These ones are likely to be really short term ones as well.. ones that require people immediatly to help out a dying project or help getting a project over the line.