State of the Market

[Smartie]

I've been pretty lucky - after a few months at the start of Covid when my contract finished, I'll have been with this client of five years in a few months.
Transitioned from outside to inside to employed external consultant though, albeit with actual income being maintained throughout.
Guess that might indicate that some flexibility rather than an 'outside only' approach can be helpful.
Saving into a pension can push your actual income up to 70%+ percent of the rate even inside IR35.

Still, the client has been slashing costs and resources, so if I make it to the end of the year I'll be happy.
Probably be happy to stay with them until I retire to be honest.

Anyway, IT JobsWatch shows an uptick in BA roles at least in the past few months so hopefully that will continue across all role types and we can get back to talking about which Porsche to drive to the airport for our first class flight to the Maldives.

[dsc]

A rather nihilistic thought I came up with for anyone who does public sector contracting - regardless of what happens in other industries, the government's willingness to spend money on absolute rubbish will ensure that at least some new roles will come out in April.

Seeing behind the veil is depressing when you see what the thousands of pounds of tax you pay each month are spent on. But it can also be your salvation...

Tbh I can't really see the gov spending much, I'd say it will be slashing pretty much whatever it can to lower the deficit as otherwise financial markets will start betting the economy will fold (similar to the guilts situation a few months back). There's no money for anything, we are either going into more austerity or tax rises...or both. Actually one thing which might get some investment is defense, but as they need to spend in that area, they will look to chop stuff in other depts.

[SchumiStars]

******* market is a ******* joke. Piece of tulip.

What the **** is going on!!! No clear answers, no idea when it will get better. Nothing from the industry experts at all. Bollocks ******* everywhere.

[oliverson]

******* market is a ******* joke. Piece of tulip.

What the **** is going on!!! No clear answers, no idea when it will get better. Nothing from the industry experts at all. Bollocks ******* everywhere.

I take it the gym was shut?

[SussexSeagull]

******* market is a ******* joke. Piece of tulip.

What the **** is going on!!! No clear answers, no idea when it will get better. Nothing from the industry experts at all. Bollocks ******* everywhere.

Not taken then?

[SchumiStars]

I take it the gym was shut?

Bad training session

[TheDude]

...and just like that I am back on the market from the 1st April.

Annoying because I have made non-refundable hotel reservations for office trips but thems the breaks.


I have about 12-15 months of money in the tank but for the first time in my career I am genuinely concerned about finding my next role.

[sadkingbilly]

Nothing from the industry experts at all.

and who might they be?
I don't believe anyone can accurately predict anything in the current global situation.
happy to be proven wrong.

[edison]

I've been reading a couple of industry reports which seem to confirm that the ‘good old days’ of contracting are never, ever coming back.

One is a research report on IT sourcing conducted with CIOs at several hundred large UK organisations. It stated there are four times as many CIOs looking to increase spend on nearshoring as decrease it.

35% of CIOs are looking to increase spend with external service providers in the coming year and satisfaction with external providers has risen in the last year.

Contrary to the experiences of many of of us here, several of the big Indian outsourcers score highly on customer satisfaction.

For a different perspective, the Institute of Interim Management provides a detailed annual survey of the UK interim market (across all functions and skills, not just IT.) Average day rate in 2024 was a little less than £900.

Average days billed a year has been steadily falling for a decade and is 12% lower than 2014. Average day rates have fallen about 11% in real terms over the last 15 years.

All in all, the above paints a depressing picture and there doesn’t seem to be any likely catalyst that will reverse either real term falls in day rates or increased utilisation.

[SchumiStars]

I've been reading a couple of industry reports which seem to confirm that the ‘good old days’ of contracting are never, ever coming back.

One is a research report on IT sourcing conducted with CIOs at several hundred large UK organisations. It stated there are four times as many CIOs looking to increase spend on nearshoring as decrease it.

35% of CIOs are looking to increase spend with external service providers in the coming year and satisfaction with external providers has risen in the last year.

Contrary to the experiences of many of of us here, several of the big Indian outsourcers score highly on customer satisfaction.

For a different perspective, the Institute of Interim Management provides a detailed annual survey of the UK interim market (across all functions and skills, not just IT.) Average day rate in 2024 was a little less than £900.

Average days billed a year has been steadily falling for a decade and is 12% lower than 2014. Average day rates have fallen about 11% in real terms over the last 15 years.

All in all, the above paints a depressing picture and there doesn’t seem to be any likely catalyst that will reverse either real term falls in day rates or increased utilisation.

So what's the future for 25yr experienced software Devs? If it's cycling, boxing, gym, then not sure it will be enough to keep the grey matter working.