State of the Market

[Bluenose]

Say what you may about 'Jobserve' but I find it does bring together vacancies from across the board, listed by a multitude of agencies.


So you don't have to look at several different sites to get a feel of what is being listed on any particular day.

The best thing about jobserve and indeed.com these days is the ability for the agencies to search for your details on the database using their AI.

The artificial intelligence is getting better than the agents so low-skilled ones can find you easier, assuming they type in the correct search terms.

let's not get too excited. Many of them can't even type in the correct code on the vending machine for their morning hot beverage but the search facility on their end does seem to work correctly if they know what buttons to push and your profile is not full of random tech buzz-words.

[FIERCE TANK BATTLE]

Arse, got canned after a cancelled project. Back to the bench it is!

[man]

Arse, got canned after a cancelled project. Back to the bench it is!

Commiserations, me too (got binned just before the contract start date - after turning down other good opportunities for this one).

[BlueSharp]

General noise from recruiters at the moment is the IT Architect dev market is dire, I think I will be taking the six month extension.

[NomadPanda]

Senior BA day rate gigs - why so quiet?

Long time lurker here

15 yrs exp, 5 years contracting with multiple clients (Banking and Insurance). Technical BA, ex dev. I enjoy contracting, but the state of the market is giving to pause to consider selling my soul and returning to permie land

Agents/hiring managers (ex colleagues) are saying the market for day rate BA contracts "gone very quiet" in the past 2 weeks or that the budget for Q2 hasn't been approved yet. Handful of relevant gigs with insulting day rate given the senior level of the roles!

Anyone else noticing a similar pattern? This sub has been quiet, am I the only one looking?

[siphr]

Long time lurker here

15 yrs exp, 5 years contracting with multiple clients (Banking and Insurance). Technical BA, ex dev. I enjoy contracting, but the state of the market is giving to pause to consider selling my soul and returning to permie land

Agents/hiring managers (ex colleagues) are saying the market for day rate BA contracts "gone very quiet" in the past 2 weeks or that the budget for Q2 hasn't been approved yet. Handful of relevant gigs with insulting day rate given the senior level of the roles!

Anyone else noticing a similar pattern? This sub has been quiet, am I the only one looking?

I have been on the bench since November and I concur. It doesn't look pretty. Having said that I only started last year so don't have much experience to be able to detect patterns. Because I am new, I can only wonder if it is private sector IR35 or brexit or end of financial year that may be the cause. Have to rely on more experienced contractors like yourself to share your analysis and observations here to be able to judge.

[northernladuk]

that the budget for Q2 hasn't been approved yet

There are loads of reasons for quiet periods that people pull out of the hat and they are generally rubbish if you think about them. The budget one IMO is generally less believable than most of them.

Businesses will have a portfolio planned at least a year ahead if not more and they will be budgetted to suit going forwards. Each of these projects got on the portfolio because they being some kind of benefit be it efficiency, cost savings, increased sales. It is highly unlikely the budget for Q2 is a reason as it should already be ring fenced and even if it isn't its unlikely they will pause a project that will save money because of budget. That's throwing money away. Very occasionally I see the odd project going on hold but sweeping statements about it going quiet due to budgets is generally wrong.

Keep applying, don't listen to the agents and don't make excuses about the market that will do nothing but demoralise you.

Hammer the applications and something will turn up regardless the time of year.

The itjobswatch proves the point in graphs and all shows a rapid decline over the last few years which is more likely the reason, probably driven by the sheer number of people contracting now and the offshore suppliers gobbling up work.

Have a play on there for different terms and see if you can find anything in there that might help. Dig in to the data to see if your skillet is declining and less asked for etc. Try searching on different role titles and so on.

Business Analyst contracts, demand trends, contractor rates & skill sets | IT Jobs Watch

Just be a little careful though as I believe the data is scrapped from job sites so will include fake ads and really poor data from the agents. It will, however show trends so should show dips around budget periods, which you will see it doesn't.

[fiisch]

Long time lurker here

15 yrs exp, 5 years contracting with multiple clients (Banking and Insurance). Technical BA, ex dev. I enjoy contracting, but the state of the market is giving to pause to consider selling my soul and returning to permie land

Agents/hiring managers (ex colleagues) are saying the market for day rate BA contracts "gone very quiet" in the past 2 weeks or that the budget for Q2 hasn't been approved yet. Handful of relevant gigs with insulting day rate given the senior level of the roles!

Anyone else noticing a similar pattern? This sub has been quiet, am I the only one looking?

Same role, same industry (biased towards insurance), much less experience than yourself, but I've found a sharp up-turn in calls from agency contacts and LinkedIn messages in last few weeks.

If you haven't already, try the LinkedIn Premium month free trial. A fellow contractor has just secured a gig through LinkedIn, and suggested by going Premium he had a significant increase in contacts.

Admittedly, I am not currently looking, so the agents I'm talking to may well just be on a fishing expedition.

[SandyD]

Same role, same industry (biased towards insurance), much less experience than yourself, but I've found a sharp up-turn in calls from agency contacts and LinkedIn messages in last few weeks.

If you haven't already, try the LinkedIn Premium month free trial. A fellow contractor has just secured a gig through LinkedIn, and suggested by going Premium he had a significant increase in contacts.

Admittedly, I am not currently looking, so the agents I'm talking to may well just be on a fishing expedition.

Me three, same 20 years experience. Why do you say LinkedIn premium is better??

[NomadPanda]

BA gigs

There are loads of reasons for quiet periods that people pull out of the hat and they are generally rubbish if you think about them. The budget one IMO is generally less believable than most of them.

Businesses will have a portfolio planned at least a year ahead if not more and they will be budgetted to suit going forwards. Each of these projects got on the portfolio because they being some kind of benefit be it efficiency, cost savings, increased sales. It is highly unlikely the budget for Q2 is a reason as it should already be ring fenced and even if it isn't its unlikely they will pause a project that will save money because of budget. That's throwing money away. Very occasionally I see the odd project going on hold but sweeping statements about it going quiet due to budgets is generally wrong.

Keep applying, don't listen to the agents and don't make excuses about the market that will do nothing but demoralise you.

Hammer the applications and something will turn up regardless the time of year.

The itjobswatch proves the point in graphs and all shows a rapid decline over the last few years which is more likely the reason, probably driven by the sheer number of people contracting now and the offshore suppliers gobbling up work.

Have a play on there for different terms and see if you can find anything in there that might help. Dig in to the data to see if your skillet is declining and less asked for etc. Try searching on different role titles and so on.

Business Analyst contracts, demand trends, contractor rates & skill sets | IT Jobs Watch

Just be a little careful though as I believe the data is scrapped from job sites so will include fake ads and really poor data from the agents. It will, however show trends so should show dips around budget periods, which you will see it doesn't.

Makes for sobering reading. In my own experience and observations, there is a downward trend in demand for Senior BA's and an increase in demand for "Product Owners" where speed and multitasking is prized more than deep focus, complex problem solving and quality. This is creeping into Banking too much to my disappointment. Some of the younger managers are too young to have ever worked Waterfall which makes me feel old and perhaps in need of a new path. BA and Agile make strange and akward bedfellows.

I'm not sure how to future proof oneself in the BA contracting world, other than making the move back to permie role in order to move in a different direction - no interest in management and the politics that come with it. I'm exploring the idea of "transitioning" over to the role of Data Analyst as its one of the few roles in the industry that still appeals to me - you get more time to investigate and problem solve and produce deliverables where quality is prized and rewarded!..