State of the Market

[fatJock]

I might be on the wrong thread for this, but surely you don't want the forum to be only an echo chamber for the unemployed.
If I were (and believe me, I very well might be soon!) I would be more interested in the posters who were in work.

No one here is working to spite you. We're (I believe) just trying to help out our colleagues.

Totally agree and thought the original comment was a bit uncalled for - we're all in the same boat. Genuinely interested in hearing about both sides of the fence especially as I'll likely be looking in a few months.

[fatJock]

Cant edit for some reason - but if anyone thought my prior post was a bit insensitive (why out of work for so long) then I apologise. Wasn't in any way trying to appear superior.

[simes]

I'm genuinely struggling to accept that there has been nothing you could have got in the last two years? Even if it wasn't what you ideally wanted .....

Believe it. I am not far behind at one and half years. I am currently a film extra... Otherwise, not even an interview...

[SussexSeagull]

Can only speak for myself but I want to hear how a cross section of people are doing. I actually am more worried when nobody is finding anything as that is the market and not anything I can do much about, which at times on here has been the case. The people who used to be on here claiming to never have breaks between contracts and always have a rate bump either aren't anymore or keeping quiet about it.

It is also echoed on LinkedIn in multiple English speaking countries (I imagine I don't get non-English speaking posts on my timeline so don't know about the rest of the world). There have been what seems like a lot of economic shocks caused by events starting with the crash in 2008, plus places like India are on the rise. There is only so much resources in the world and they are claiming theirs.

[SussexSeagull]

Thank you for your honesty. Refreshing in this place that's full of in-demand-contractors who have a superioir skill set and contact list

Congrats on your new contract.

Most of the people I have worked who I can verify are very good at what they do have had months between contracts lately.

I have worked with a couple of guys in the past, one of which was not very good in the slightest and the other was ok if not great. Both of them never seem to struggle for work for reasons I can never fully understand. Some, and it isn't many, do seem to be able to always find someone to take them on but it isn't always talent related.

I remember in the final knockings of my permanent career about 17 years ago we were told to move away from a Hero culture where one of two developers swopped in and solved all the problems. Hence I have never really got my head round the concept of Rockstar Developers. I get that a start up will need a good all rounder but to be sustainable you need processes and human resource to still function if one person leaves.

[Bluenose]

Totally agree and thought the original comment was a bit uncalled for - we're all in the same boat. Genuinely interested in hearing about both sides of the fence especially as I'll likely be looking in a few months.

bits and bobs interest wise, its going to be a bad year for most contractors regardless of skills and experience. Its roulette wheel time. I was contacted twice in the past month with a relevant opportunity paying the right money.

Interest has been mostly the usual YTS/Gen X drones asking me five questions and if i dont fit exactly on all five answers binning my CV off and then ghosting me. The usual nonsense that everyone seems get. I do it just to keep my toe in the water with the system you use to attract a phone call.

I know of 30 contractors who were mass recruited in January for an initial 12 months onto a programme and I turned that opportunity down as I really like the people I am working with and they have been straight and fair with me. Took a chance on them tbh.

Got extended for two years in February at 1000EUR a day (already did a year with them), mostly remote but its been that way for over 10 years now. The jobs workflow ranges from pitter-patter and helping other people to heart-palps, 6 days per week, 8-9 hours solid with no lunch.

[SussexSeagull]

Cant edit for some reason - but if anyone thought my prior post was a bit insensitive (why out of work for so long) then I apologise. Wasn't in any way trying to appear superior.

I had a contract during most of 2012 when apparently others were struggling and I was completely oblivious to it. It does happen but if my contracting career has taught me nothing else you can't really understand the market at a given point unless you are involved in it. Sometimes people equate phone calls and messages from agents as a sign of demand but it means nothing if they don't lead to interviews and even then things have a tendency to evaporate at that stage at the moment.

[BlueSharp]

I've taken an extension on my current contract; however, in better times, I would have looked to jump ship as the next 12 months look to be a death march. On the bright side, its a contract, my mental health is solid, and I should be able to pick up a new Identity Management Platform skillset.

[dsc]

Can only speak for myself but I want to hear how a cross section of people are doing. I actually am more worried when nobody is finding anything as that is the market and not anything I can do much about, which at times on here has been the case. The people who used to be on here claiming to never have breaks between contracts and always have a rate bump either aren't anymore or keeping quiet about it.

It is also echoed on LinkedIn in multiple English speaking countries (I imagine I don't get non-English speaking posts on my timeline so don't know about the rest of the world). There have been what seems like a lot of economic shocks caused by events starting with the crash in 2008, plus places like India are on the rise. There is only so much resources in the world and they are claiming theirs.

Yes I've heard of a lot of European countries also going through the same, roles being cut, low-exp people no longer finding it easy to land jobs, even seniors struggling to find something or being worried about being let go. US is apparently in a massive tulip state and was for over a year now I think, I get updates from Glassdoor weekly and every week there's posts about people basically giving up on tech / IT and doing other things.

As for shear luck in getting a role, I'm a good example, my current assignment was back in covid times, got contacted via LI, role was an ideal match to what I did before, then I was told it was dropped, so I gave up...only to find out it's back and I got hired. If it wasn't for this I'm sure I would've been without a job for at least a year (well I was ready to accept another perm position at a tulip place, but I dodged that) or longer, until another opportunity opened up at a different previous client. With the market now being as tulip or worse than covid, you really need luck, to have something special on your CV, to know someone on the hiring team, to have niche skills which are suddenly needed, or to simply land on top of the CV pile when the 3/5 candidates prep'd for interviews are being picked etc. It's not about skills anymore I'd say, you can have the best things on your CV / super niche stuff, but if there's 500 people applying to a position, unless you somehow know about the ad sooner, no one will even look at your CV, so you might as well not exists to them...

[Dorkeaux]

I've taken an extension on my current contract; however, in better times, I would have looked to jump ship as the next 12 months look to be a death march. On the bright side, its a contract, my mental health is solid, and I should be able to pick up a new Identity Management Platform skillset.

Good one.

I used to also have a tendency to ditch death march projects. I even gave my boss a copy of "Death March" by Ed Yourdon when I left one particularly bad role. Inscribed! He was French, so didn't get it..

Those days are gone for me also. I'll sit out a contract for as long as I can, if there is nothing better about. Even if I can see it failing at the interview stage.