State of the Market

[ShandyDrinker]

I took one of those very low rate (outside) contracts a few months ago. Up for renewal at the end of the month, and been offered a 3 month extension with only a very small increase.
Project complexity has exploded and the workload is increasing. I tried to work out a deal for a bigger increase to get back to market rates because of this, but client is having none of it.

I'm 90% sure i'm not going to extend, but got a few more days to think about it

Unless you really don't need the money or you've got something else lined up I'd recommend keeping in a contract if you can. We're going to see the same carnage yet again in the run up to April 2021 with clients being as unprepared or at least as unwilling to offer outside contracts as they were this year. I'd play the long game but then that's just me!

[Paralytic]

I took one of those very low rate (outside) contracts a few months ago. Up for renewal at the end of the month, and been offered a 3 month extension with only a very small increase.
Project complexity has exploded and the workload is increasing. I tried to work out a deal for a bigger increase to get back to market rates because of this, but client is having none of it.

I'm 90% sure i'm not going to extend, but got a few more days to think about it

Are you working hours/days beyond those agreed in the contract?

[ResistanceFighter]

Are you working hours/days beyond those agreed in the contract?

yes, and I'm billing for them, but I can see on the horizon it's going to get a lot worse.

[CheeseSlice]

A lot of job listings are totally fake though! I doubt there is much demand for any IT staff right now with so many furloughed & expected to lose their jobs soon sadly!

Perhaps. I'm not seeing that many fake roles at the moment. I think the noob agents that get put up to this type of thing have largely been laid off.

I agree its important to see both demand and supply side for the job market to get a full picture.
These reports only show the demand, but that still useful.
In any case if you're on top of your game and you have a lot of experience, latest certs, a great CV etc, you should be in front ready to be snapped before the general dross that hits the market.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I am seeing a lot a "ads" on linkedin for roles that are obviously the result of some bot processing.

The most obvious ones are where the bot has taken a US location and parsed it as somewhere in the UK. They aren't strictly fake in the sense the role exists - but contrary to the ad it cannot be done in the UK.

[DimPrawn]

I am seeing a lot a "ads" on linkedin for roles that are obviously the result of some bot processing.

The most obvious ones are where the bot has taken a US location and parsed it as somewhere in the UK. They aren't strictly fake in the sense the role exists - but contrary to the ad it cannot be done in the UK.

Maybe they are remote working? I.e. US client location but remote working from the UK?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Maybe they are remote working? I.e. US client location but remote working from the UK?

It's not that, it's a poorly written bot that does a lookup of the US location and redefines it as UK.

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1954245282/

[KentDogWalker]

one month on the bench for me almost so far, but building a webapp that i hope wll grow

[simes]

This is a perfect lie, because if you say you are affected, he can say well, maybe you are not a real contractor...

I think Jesse has already perfected the Perfect Lie when saying On the one hand there was no evidence to suggest blanket non-use, while In the other hand holding a copy of the Glaxo Gazette.

[perplexed]

Got a few contracts in the pipeline; a fellow contract has also outsourced some stuff to me.

Small signs of improvement.