State of the Market

[coolhandluke]

https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/20/visa_h1b_reform/

why is the UK not doing the same with our equivalent visas, like intra company transfers for the outsourcers.

The UK are doing the total opposite unfortunately.

[Dorkeaux]

Just been extended until end-Jan.

Inside role that I've been at for just coming up to 2 years. Was initially a 3 monther

Do renewals warrant a banana? I need guidance.
Here's one on spec. Congrats!

[CoolCat]

https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/20/visa_h1b_reform/

why is the UK not doing the same with our equivalent visas, like intra company transfers for the outsourcers.

[ladymuck]

Just been extended until end-Jan.

Inside role that I've been at for just coming up to 2 years. Was initially a 3 monther

[fatJock]

Just been extended until end-Jan.

Inside role that I've been at for just coming up to 2 years. Was initially a 3 monther

[jamesbrown]

Absolutely.
I tried this some time ago, I found it was not an efficient use of my time. Also incredibly frustrating.
Still, if you are good at it or better yet have someone in your limited company that is good at it it can be lucrative.

Really, this is how contracting should work, But it doesn't seem to, we are mostly contingent workers.

Agree. Risk and reward. Mostly fixed price, so definitely more of both. It really should work this way - if you want employment, go through agents and recruitment processes, if you want B2B, go through procurement processes. The latter is totally alien to UK IT contracting, based on this forum, other than some gov’t work. That said, procurement is a very tough process for micro businesses, so you really need to partner with other companies that have the scale to respond to a typical RFQ, which is probably the main barrier, unless you have an unusual skillset.

[Bluenose]

My last

[herman_g]

Drove 2 hours from my place in Silicon Valley to Sacramento and met a nice PM at California State Lottery. She looked at my CV and asked me if I was able to start in the first or second week of September. I told her first week and she asked if she could buy me lunch at a nice Mexican place next to the river. We drank so many margaritas she called a taxi, took me to where the contractors apartments were, pulled some keys from her purse and said "that will be your apartment". You can stay until you're sober enough to drive home or all week, doesn't matter to me (the lottery was the only state government department that made money and they made a lot of it).

[TheDude]

Had one like that. Worked for an investment bank and then a few years later came back. The hiring manager opened the interview by saying he spoke to my previous manager who told him I was perfect for the job so it was mine! Then we looked at the clock and we still had 45 minutes, so we just found some interesting stuff to chat about. Both great managers and it was a lot of fun to work there.

When there were still contracts at banks I noticed that hiring managers didn't go hard if you had a previous track record at other banks. They know roughly what you would have been doing and more importantly that you wouldn't have lasted two years or so if you were rubbish.

My banking job was at GS and the interview was ridiculous - 8 different people in a single day and still had to come back to meet the MD. Despite all this process they still hired plenty of duds because they just didn't fit in with the way the company worked.

[willendure]

The best interview I had was "Hi, great to meet you, let's cut to the chase, I'm going to offer you the job so let's just discuss terms"

Had one like that. Worked for an investment bank and then a few years later came back. The hiring manager opened the interview by saying he spoke to my previous manager who told him I was perfect for the job so it was mine! Then we looked at the clock and we still had 45 minutes, so we just found some interesting stuff to chat about. Both great managers and it was a lot of fun to work there.