State of the Market

[ensignia]

Dell brought them.

Where?

[edison]

Worked for a European clearing bank years ago, which was part owned by a well known American consultancy. So a lot of Americans on site. Never seen anything like it, people were often threatened with the sack during meetings if they disagreed with anything. So a lot of cringey awkward moments. But the worse experience was when the head of IT picked up a phone and threw it at somebody.

I could never understand people working for companies like that. I've got plenty of friends who made a lot of money contracting in investment banking in that era but TBH it just sounded awful despite the huge money offered.

[SueEllen]

Don't think he ever got in trouble for it. This was back in 2001. The consultancy was Perot Systems, they aren't around anymore. No wonder from my experiences with them.

Dell brought them.

[avonleigh]

How did that end? I've always said engineering is a breading ground for mental people, but never seen anything like that

Don't think he ever got in trouble for it. This was back in 2001. The consultancy was Perot Systems, they aren't around anymore. No wonder from my experiences with them.

[dsc]

But the worse experience was when the head of IT picked up a phone and threw it at somebody.

How did that end? I've always said engineering is a breading ground for mental people, but never seen anything like that

[avonleigh]

I have only been perm at one US bank and they expected you to be available at almost any time if something went wrong. I have contracted at other US and European banks and this also seems to be the case for my colleagues.

This in India tend to get the worst of it and are expected to attend meetings at 8pm-10pm there time.

Worked for a European clearing bank years ago, which was part owned by a well known American consultancy. So a lot of Americans on site. Never seen anything like it, people were often threatened with the sack during meetings if they disagreed with anything. So a lot of cringey awkward moments. But the worse experience was when the head of IT picked up a phone and threw it at somebody.

[TheDude]

Hey Dude, is this from experience or hearsay? And are you talking main stream banks? Ta

I have only been perm at one US bank and they expected you to be available at almost any time if something went wrong. I have contracted at other US and European banks and this also seems to be the case for my colleagues.

Staff in India tend to get the worst of it and are expected to attend meetings at 8pm-10pm there time.

[willendure]

Hmm. Not sure. I think there's going to period of asset inflation in the housing markets and stocks. Neither one of us know, so I guess we'll check back in 6 months :thumbsup:

Stocks at record highs, housing at record highs. I think the period of asset inflation has already happened. Next up, recession and deflation.

I remember in 2007 credit crunch, the queen was noted for asking "Why couldn't anybody see it coming?". Well of course there were plenty that did, and some that knew how to play it, and a few that did and got very rich. The exact timing of these is unpredictable for sure, but the general trends are not really so hard to comprehend. I don't know how to make money out of a market crash and recession, but I am at least prepared by holding safer assets and keeping cash on the sidelines.

Just heard, I will get an interview for a outside IR35 public sector job (pushing their stuff to the cloud). Fingers crossed I get it, because that could be a cushy place to sit the next recession out.

[oliverson]

If you use LinkedIn to find contracts are you "active" on it, in the sense that you write publish articles, post to groups, network agressively and that sort of thing? Seems fiarly time consuming to do these things, but maybe I should if it can be worth it.

Yes, I actively insult people on there when I see their moronic posts. Seems to work for me and on many levels!

[edison]

Remember with LI you can unfollow those people who you connect with then they immediately spam your timeline with post after post of inane drivel.

I have plenty of connections but I hardly follow any of them.

I wouldn't give up on LI, in last 10 years around 70% of my gigs have come directly from that, the rest Jobserve and a few from previous clients/WOM.

qh

This is a good tip. Part of the power of your LI network is the more connections you have, the more second connections you can access. Job opportunities tend to come more from second connections than first level connections.

LI is really pushing the 'Creator' Mode. Like much social media, traffic and engagement tends to be driven largely by posts that are deliberately provocative or click bait. More eyeballs, better advertising rates.

Bear in mind, only about 1% of people in LI post regularly. There are still plenty of people who post and share interesting content, you just have to find them.