State of the Market

[uk contractor]

First call of the week, on a Wednesday. Role with a a hedgefund.
Agency starting with "what we do and who we are" nonsense... got me really confused about who am I speaking to.
Apparently the role is permanent with the agency not the client.

Maybe I am getting this wrong but the difference between the two:
- if you are perm with agency you know upfront they want either no liability from you or might be a temporary role mis-sold.
- no benefits at all.
- contracts might be vague and you might find yourself without many rights. (could be the same on the other side as well)
- agency could be pocketing 2 x your salary only for processing a payroll and still you could be back on your ass 2 weeks into the gig.
For the right figure I would consider it, but I am guessing even that side is a bit disappointing...
Moving on...

FTC all over it avoid unless you really need the money once the end client does not need you they will dump you fast usually!

[PerfectStorm]

Precisely! I don't know it is right or wrong but When you are asked to leave - it lowers your confidence, questions your usefulness, feels like humiliation, insult and what not.

It was my 'being asked to leave' that gave me a sizeable lump with which to try contracting. In many ways it's the nicest thing that company did for me, and I've never felt the need to go back to permanent work..

[oliverson]

It was my 'being asked to leave' that gave me a sizeable lump with which to try contracting. In many ways it's the nicest thing that company did for me, and I've never felt the need to go back to permanent work..

Same here. I was laid off in the dotcom crash in 2002 and remained unemployed for almost a year. There was just nothing around in my neck of the woods, so I figured if nobody would give me a job I'd go it alone. Best thing I ever did, initially supplying IT kit and support to a small number of companies, albeit one of them a Premier League football club at the time. But I just couldn't make much money at it and they expected 24 hour support on the back of selling them a couple of PC's. So I ended up contracting as a developer from early 2004. Haven't looked back since, until now. It's now time for me to continue with the plan B because the writing is on the wall for this industry and has been for a while now. Plus, as a 50+ year old developer, I'm starting to feel a little out of place. I'm also intolerant of all the workplace bulltulip and left wing craziness that's going on in this country and the older I get, the less likely I am to bite my lip.

[Excursion UK]

It's now time for me to continue with the plan B because the writing is on the wall for this industry and has been for a while now. Plus, as a 50+ year old developer, I'm starting to feel a little out of place. I'm also intolerant of all the workplace bulltulip and left wing craziness that's going on in this country and the older I get, the less likely I am to bite my lip.

Yes, absolutely all of this.

I was approached by an agent the other day about a perm role. Salary was no great shakes (£50k) but it was fairly local so I went with the flow up until the point I got a call telling me they wanted to do an interview.

Even though I've been out of contract for 3 months, I just couldn't go through with it. The thought of having to embed myself in a team of people who are probably half my age, all the agile stuff and it's associated spin-offs, performance reviews, team build events. My heart just sank.

Yes, we have to deal with most of the above in contracts but there is always light at the end of the tunnel as you're never more than 3-6 months away from the end of it. And that was my plan until this virus came along - muddle through for the next 5 years inside/outside IR35, whatever, hopefully save some more money and then concentrate 100% on my travel business.

Regretably, both strings to my bow have taken a complete hammering and it will probably take 5 years to get back to where I was in March as I was heavily invested in the plan B.

[Shackattack]

Yes, absolutely all of this.

Yes, we have to deal with most of the above in contracts but there is always light at the end of the tunnel as you're never more than 3-6 months away from the end of it. And that was my plan until this virus came along - muddle through for the next 5 years inside/outside IR35, whatever, hopefully save some more money and then concentrate 100% on my travel business.
.

I have the same doubts about going full time, i always struggled with working at a company beyond 2 years MAX, I used to think it was me until i landed into contracting and it occurred to me it wasn't. As soon as i started contracting I realized it was the fast pace and the need to constantly learn new things that kept me going. After about a year I became fully embedded and some slick processes in place often made some good friends but fundamentally was bored.

However here's the rub, I feel like now I could go full time even if it was for a year and I could just go back to contracting when ever i felt like it. I think there are some difficult times ahead and at least being full time keeps you in the game.

Anyway good luck I'm on the bench as of 3 months and going stir crazy.

[Excursion UK]

I have the same doubts about going full time, i always struggled with working at a company beyond 2 years MAX, I used to think it was me until i landed into contracting and it occurred to me it wasn't. As soon as i started contracting I realized it was the fast pace and the need to constantly learn new things that kept me going. After about a year I became fully embedded and some slick processes in place often made some good friends but fundamentally was bored.

However here's the rub, I feel like now I could go full time even if it was for a year and I could just go back to contracting when ever i felt like it. I think there are some difficult times ahead and at least being full time keeps you in the game.

Anyway good luck I'm on the bench as of 3 months and going stir crazy.

Good luck to you too

[uk contractor]

It's now time for me to continue with the plan B because the writing is on the wall for this industry and has been for a while now. Plus, as a 50+ year old developer, I'm starting to feel a little out of place.

Your not kidding about age IME IT industry in the UK is rapidly becoming a sub 30 year olds industry as experience is not what it was anymore!!

[ContractorHardman]

Spoke with my current pimp this morning. My contract is up soon and he was telling me that people who would never have considered Perm are now doing it. He has been doing more perm recruitment and the contract market is difficult.

[Excursion UK]

Spoke with my current pimp this morning. My contract is up soon and he was telling me that people who would never have considered Perm are now doing it. He has been doing more perm recruitment and the contract market is difficult.

Think I'd rather be a white van man and get £200 pd

[BigDataPro]

Got a call from an Agency with whom I have worked recently. They need people for BigData - Python, PySpark, Hadoop, HDFS, Hive etc. Not sure if Cloud is involved.

Contract till September. They need 2 more apart from me. If you are interested, ping me your Linkedin profile. I will forward your details to the Agency. I am not taking any cut, you will not be working through my company etc. You will be dealing directly with the agency.

On a side note HSBC has resumed its lay off

HSBC revives 35,000 job cut plan after pandemic pause - Reuters