State of the Market

[uk contractor]

The big misnoma in the costs of comparing London to India or even Poland is the quality of person that you're actually getting.

"But we can have 3 people in Bangalore for the price of one in London." "Yeah, but they can't actually do the job that the one person in London does." "That doesn't matter."

"We can have 2 people in Warsaw for the price of one in London." "You're getting two graduates to replace the person with 15 years under their belt? No wonder they're cheaper." Stunned silence....

I agree with you 100% and have seen situations where the banks do this & the obvious problems it causes are swept under the carpet. Sadly the people who make these decisions only see the headcount rise for less money & looking good to their bosses as they shaved another few % off the bottom line whilst keeping division headcount slightly higher but at least they got their performance bonus this quarter!

[LondonManc]

I agree with you 100% and have seen situations where the banks do this & the obvious problems it causes are swept under the carpet. Sadly the people who make these decisions only see the headcount rise for less money & looking good to their bosses as they shaved another few % off the bottom line whilst keeping division headcount slightly higher but at least they got their performance bonus this quarter!

Unfortunately it's just another symptom of the market-trader mentality of the Brits compared to the long-term view that other countries hold. While there's an obligation to shareholders, surely there's an obligation to those shareholders who are in it for the long term and don't expect the shares to plummet years later when all ability to deliver has been stripped from the organisation for the sake of short term gains.

[pauldee]

The big misnoma in the costs of comparing London to India or even Poland is the quality of person that you're actually getting.

"But we can have 3 people in Bangalore for the price of one in London." "Yeah, but they can't actually do the job that the one person in London does." "That doesn't matter."

"We can have 2 people in Warsaw for the price of one in London." "You're getting two graduates to replace the person with 15 years under their belt? No wonder they're cheaper." Stunned silence....

This is the problem with outsourcing. Once the decision as been made to outsource, price completely takes over from quality. They end up hiring people of a standard that they wouldn't consider in the UK.

[uk contractor]

Unfortunately it's just another symptom of the market-trader mentality of the Brits compared to the long-term view that other countries hold. While there's an obligation to shareholders, surely there's an obligation to those shareholders who are in it for the long term and don't expect the shares to plummet years later when all ability to deliver has been stripped from the organisation for the sake of short term gains.

Agree fully again but sadly as many of us have noted on here we are all in a race to the bottom now rates wise end clients are looking at IT costs very closely & non UK IT solutions are popular due to the amazing cost savings (on paper!). Not sure if we have reached the bottom yet either its hard to quantify in London where I am based certainly I can see it close to the bottom recently but outside London I have heard there are still many profitable bubbles to mine if you can afford to relocate me I am stuck in London so have no choice but to tough it out


Group hug time I think for many of us

[uk contractor]

This is the problem with outsourcing. Once the decision as been made to outsource, price completely takes over from quality. They end up hiring people of a standard that they wouldn't consider in the UK.

Only way they reverse that decision is if the new solution causes major IT operational issues noticed at boardroom level or you get a regime change @ IT director level! So in other words it takes a very long time to revert back to the traditional IT model.

[ruasonid]

I agree with you 100% and have seen situations where the banks do this & the obvious problems it causes are swept under the carpet. Sadly the people who make these decisions only see the headcount rise for less money & looking good to their bosses as they shaved another few % off the bottom line whilst keeping division headcount slightly higher but at least they got their performance bonus this quarter!

It's all about budget. Someone told me it's cheaper to do it this way, bringing in premium skills to fix it when necessary.

[MrMarkyMark]

It's all about budget. Someone told me it's cheaper to do it this way, bringing in premium skills to fix it when necessary.

I disagree, it always really costs a lot more to fix things afterwards.

[CISCOITCONTRACTOR]

State of the Market

I agree the market is quiet i am a network Engineer and when taking to agents they are telling me a large amount of CV are coming in for only one role. I suspect it's just the lull before the start of the new tax year where new budgets come in and hopefully the market picks up for you.

[northernladuk]

I agree the market is quiet i am a network Engineer and when taking to agents they are telling a large amount of CV are coming in for only one role. I suspect it's just the lull before the start of the new tax year where new budgets come in and hopefully the market picks up for you.

Nah. That's March. February is slow because its the short month and because it's the month after the January lull cause of Xmas.

[ruasonid]

I disagree, it always really costs a lot more to fix things afterwards.

Yes, I know that. But that's what people think at the time. They are probably long gone when it goes belly up.