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State of the Market

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    Originally posted by CosmicWave View Post
    I have been applying for all applicable roles for the past 4 months, and I have not managed to interview on any role yet.
    There are calls coming up from pimps now and then (including the ones I have done business with), and they all put forward my CV, and wait and wait and nothing.

    When calls do come, they all seem to be the usual fishing type ones, trying to find out my earlier rates, and clients, etc, and not forthcoming with any info on the role they were supposedly calling me for.

    There was one from an agent, and I had to submit a long (a very long) test - an end-to-end app, that would take several hours to finish.
    That turned to be a fake role. Waste of time. I don't want to go into the details of that one! Really frustrating one to even think about it.

    After that one, I have decided to never do tests (I never had to do one ever before, all of my contracts before).

    It could not be my CV, I am pretty sure (some agents have even said they are waiting for feedback from client).
    I have managed to secure contracts throughout the past (16+ years), with about 2 weeks max. gap.

    Feels dreadful.

    I need to get something sorted by end of next month at least, otherwise the usual holiday mood will kick-in and it will be early next year (after Jan) to get any roles showing up, which is also highly unlikely given new rules to kick in soon at that time.

    Got some war chest, so can go on for some more time.

    Am I alone? Has anyone secured any role in the past 4-5 months (Inside or Outside IR35)?
    I am almost on tears!

    Never felt this weak!!!! I am struggling to get words out of my mind now!... I will stop here.
    I am very sorry to hear and read your pain.

    To me, you have been fortunate, especially when I compare my own experiences. I don't know why me exactly, but between some contracts, I had more than few gaps of several months on occasion. The shortest ever gap I had was 3-4 days. I finished on a Friday and then started the next client on following Wednesday week. I would love my gaps between contracts to be regular 2-4 weeks like yours, mate, but the music did not play nicely for me in that way.

    My last gap of bench time started end of November 2019 and it stretched into early 2020. I wanted Outside IR35 contracts and then suddenly at the start of new year these contracts suddenly dried up. I panicked and started to worry desperately about outgoings. I then won a gig in the middle of February, but I did not official start until the middle of March. This was due to turmoil at the client, IR35 in the private sector debacle and confused contractors either leaving or staying on, transferring to umbrella. Whatever. My current contract gig is a fixed term contract and I am still working the FTC as it appears to be the only game in town. I'd be unwise to bail on it without a safety net. Clients, unfortunately, have the power in 2020. So you go figure tulip out.

    Listen, your destiny will sort it self, you just have to keep applying, keep going. If you don't apply then you'ill never know.

    In the past, I had to complete online and offline-at-home coding tests before the telephone interview in past, usually the client wants a telephone interview and then tells me the next stage is a test.

    Your last experience to me sounds like speculative web design / architecture design . Maybe the agent wanted your answer and other candidates' best answer, so he could get his favourite candidate forward with the cumulative copied answer. (The sneaky bugger! Speculation from my side, however. Unfortunately, corruption happens in tendering processes alot, and perhaps it takes place in recruitment circles too)

    Likewise, I'd also blow out a long winded test before a telephone interview (now COVID-19 Zoom, Skype and Team chat ). I would insist on the 25-30 online chat or telephone beforehand with the client representative: again as a defence against speculative design. (Oh yes, in the recent past, I had one of the InfoSys clowns try to get me to complete an online coding test, and they claimed to be the actual banking client hiring manager, which I knew they weren't.)

    I know the state of the market is depressing, but you need to keep on going at it: coding, blogging, vlogging, connecting to be people on linkedin and most importantly learning now, push your portfolio, your github / your gitlab and keep up to date with the latest technologies with your precious bench time.

    Good luck and chin up from this side.
    Last edited by rocktronAMP; 20 August 2020, 23:57. Reason: refactored for clarity

    Comment


      Originally posted by CosmicWave View Post
      I have been applying for all applicable roles for the past 4 months, and I have not managed to interview on any role yet.
      There are calls coming up from pimps now and then (including the ones I have done business with), and they all put forward my CV, and wait and wait and nothing.

      When calls do come, they all seem to be the usual fishing type ones, trying to find out my earlier rates, and clients, etc, and not forthcoming with any info on the role they were supposedly calling me for.

      There was one from an agent, and I had to submit a long (a very long) test - an end-to-end app, that would take several hours to finish.
      That turned to be a fake role. Waste of time. I don't want to go into the details of that one! Really frustrating one to even think about it.

      After that one, I have decided to never do tests (I never had to do one ever before, all of my contracts before).

      It could not be my CV, I am pretty sure (some agents have even said they are waiting for feedback from client).
      I have managed to secure contracts throughout the past (16+ years), with about 2 weeks max. gap.

      Feels dreadful.

      I need to get something sorted by end of next month at least, otherwise the usual holiday mood will kick-in and it will be early next year (after Jan) to get any roles showing up, which is also highly unlikely given new rules to kick in soon at that time.

      Got some war chest, so can go on for some more time.

      Am I alone? Has anyone secured any role in the past 4-5 months (Inside or Outside IR35)?
      I am almost on tears!

      Never felt this weak!!!! I am struggling to get words out of my mind now!... I will stop here.
      Its probably not you if your CV is ok & you know how to land work its the market & a looming & already here in many places global financial depression!
      All you can do is drastically lower your outgoings pay the important bills like mortgage, rent, tax etc etc & keep going & ensure the warchest is only used for essential purchases.

      These things pass eventually. This one is most likely going to last a while longer until mid 2021 for sure any financial recovery betweeen now & then is patently false & just a natural correction (what goes up must eventually come down).


      Also consider going forwards supply & demand factors. Right now supply is at an alltime high & demand is deep in the other direction with an unlimited labour market in the UK thanks to weak laws which do not protect workers who originated here first & foremost!


      So bearing all that in mind alter your expectations to avoid too much anguish.

      Comment


        Originally posted by Shezz View Post
        The market's finally getting a bit noisy after several weeks of silence. I've managed to pick up a new role in a lead position earlier today. Since the end of June, I'd been looking solely at contracts and didn't hear anything back from countless applications. In August I decided to send my CV off for some perm positions too and had a fair bit more luck. I managed to arrange it so that I had all 4 interviews booked in this week. The first was a contract, which came back with an offer. The second was perm and also an offer - I've accepted mostly because it was a team lead role using newer tech. I also interviewed with Amazon yesterday, which was honestly one of the worst interview experiences I've ever had. I've not heard back but I don't want to hang around either, especially because their timelines are so stretched that I wouldn't start for several weeks/months potentially. Last interview would have been this afternoon but I cancelled in light of the offer.

        I'm not sure how long I can endure as a permie, but I'm more than happy to have the stability for the near future. I really don't fancy getting back on the job market until it picks up again, which might not be until after the corona/IR35 impact.

        I have noticed that and rates seem to be going up a bit to, I have only recently started a new gig but lots of calls this week and a good percentage of them coming back to normal(ish) rates as well

        Finally looks like its picking up a bit

        In terms of the guys on the bench long term, my only advice would to be to try and spend as much time on pluralsight etc and skill as much as possible in less niche areas and maybe be a little bit 'creative' with your CV

        For normal dev/senior dev roles which I am lucky enough to have as my tech stack like .net, azure, angular, react etc there are still gigs out there. I turned down 2 or 3 when offered my current one a week or two ago and the phone has been busy this week as well, obviously nowhere near what it was precovid but its definitely picking up

        Comment


          Originally posted by CosmicWave View Post
          I have managed to secure contracts throughout the past (16+ years), with about 2 weeks max. gap.
          16+ years of contracts with no gaps, high rates and most likely maximum tax avoidance and you're not retired? What's wrong with you?

          Comment


            Originally posted by PCTNN View Post
            16+ years of contracts with no gaps, high rates and most likely maximum tax avoidance and you're not retired? What's wrong with you?
            Maybe he decided to live his life? Maybe his other half doesn't work?

            Comment


              Originally posted by PCTNN View Post
              16+ years of contracts with no gaps, high rates and most likely maximum tax avoidance and you're not retired? What's wrong with you?
              I've been contracting 15 years and am not retired. Can't say I always had high rates and definitely haven't engaged in tax avoidance...

              Comment


                Is it tax avoidance is legal and tax evasion is illegal, can't remember which is which...

                Comment


                  Originally posted by ladymuck View Post
                  I've been contracting 15 years and am not retired. Can't say I always had high rates and definitely haven't engaged in tax avoidance...
                  If you have a pension and/or Isa you have.
                  "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

                  Comment


                    Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
                    If you have a pension and/or Isa you have.
                    Or if you bought a sandwich to eat outside the cafe...

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by Antman View Post
                      Is it tax avoidance is legal and tax evasion is illegal, can't remember which is which...
                      HMRC: I'm going to ask again Mr Antman, how do you explain the transaction of $300,000 from the trust account in the Cayman Islands to your personal account?..

                      Comment

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