State of the Market

[avonleigh]

Many did benefit from ruthless tax efficiencies during the good times and justified their actions by the need to build up a war chest for the bad times.

Of course when the bad times arrived they moaned like hell about having to spend the money they had accrued for this very situation.

Never had any war chest whatsoever during 22 years of contracting. Due to wife at the time always wanting to have the best of everything. Got divorced during Covid, real scare as left with hardly anything. Very lucky to get away with it for so long. Stupid really when I look back. Now have made sure I have a decent war chest. Where I can survive 1-2 years if needs be.

[Dorkeaux]

Never had any war chest whatsoever during 22 years of contracting. Due to wife at the time always wanting to have the best of everything. Got divorced during Covid, real scare as left with hardly anything. Very lucky to get away with it for so long. Stupid really when I look back. Now have made sure I have a decent war chest. Where I can survive 1-2 years if needs be.

Glad you made it through, sounds like you are in a much better place.
My wife calls that "Having the gimmes".

In the old days the crusty contractors would talk about having at least 3 months war chest. Seemed prudent at the time.
3 months! Seems crazy small now.

[SussexSeagull]

Many did benefit from ruthless tax efficiencies during the good times and justified their actions by the need to build up a war chest for the bad times.

Of course when the bad times arrived they moaned like hell about having to spend the money they had accrued for this very situation.

I broadly agree with you but the lockdowns were fairly unique times. Certainly people who were freelance because that it was their industry dictates, such as event management, didn't get any help which was a bit of a scandal.

Oddly I seemed to stumble between a string of shortish, not great paying contracts through the same agent as clients still had work that needed doing and in the early days of remote working they felt it better to buy in some experience.

[SchumiStars]

Could be worse, you could have renovated a big old, unaffordable house in London believing that the worst of the market was in COVID and things would always improve, like me

The way I see it, at some point you have to take a beating that will hurt. No-one gets a pain-free life and no-one is entitled to anything. Once you understand these rules, then everything becomes a game of stamina.

I betted on the market not suffering like this after thinking COVID was the worst ever but this is significantly deeper. And at 2yrs with no uplift it's looking like I need to make alternative plans for the future.

But all part of the game of life. All these twists and turns will ultimately lead me to my designated destination. The question of course, is where is the destination?

[dsc]

Could be worse, you could have renovated a big old, unaffordable house in London believing that the worst of the market was in COVID and things would always improve, like me

The way I see it, at some point you have to take a beating that will hurt. No-one gets a pain-free life and no-one is entitled to anything. Once you understand these rules, then everything becomes a game of stamina.

I betted on the market not suffering like this after thinking COVID was the worst ever but this is significantly deeper. And at 2yrs with no uplift it's looking like I need to make alternative plans for the future.

But all part of the game of life. All these twists and turns will ultimately lead me to my designated destination. The question of course, is where is the destination?

I know it's a harsh lesson, but at least you know not to assume work will be there constantly forever (I'm sure loads of contractors did this, it was visible when IR35 changes came in and loads of people suddenly went from outside to inside but on half the money). I did a similar thing in my late 20s, worked in O&G, went to site, was doing 12hr long days, 10 days straight with minimal breaks in between, was perm back then on some tulip salary, but with the hours put in, paid for accommodation (I moved from a rented flat, so the company was effectively paying my rent - not so good from a tax perspective for the company of course, but what did I know about taxes back then), paid food, per diems etc. I managed to save up around £50k in just over a year and...spent the lot, thinking I can always just go back to working on site, that there would be loads of projects similar to that one etc. Well turned out there wasn't, also O&G went to tulip right after that project ended and I was made redundant...so yeah, that was fun. Now my brain is wired the other way, I have reasonable savings, but it's company money and either a large deposit for a house somewhere or part of my pension. With the cost of living going up I'm constantly worried it will all go poof really quickly and I'll be left with nothing and as I'm 40+ now, it will be very hard to earn the same again.

I'm sure things will turn for the better when interest rates go down, just a question of when that happens Also, as it's been said above many times, you only need one opportunity and you're back in the game.

[SchumiStars]

It's not the lack of day rate that's hurting me, it's the work. I really, really do enjoy working. I love software development, the harder it is the more I can learn.

The current situation means brain is dying of inactivity. I am loosing time that could be actively learning new skills and systems.

I tend to only learn in practice. I am not much of a fan of text box knowledge TBH. CBT courses with no qualifications don't do it for me.

I did become a MSCD at one stage but found it had little to no value in the real world.

Gosh....I need a contract!! FFS....market needs sorting out one-time.

[Smartie]

But all part of the game of life. All these twists and turns will ultimately lead me to my designated destination. The question of course, is where is the destination?

That's the easiest question in the world to answer.

[hobnob]

It's not the lack of day rate that's hurting me, it's the work. I really, really do enjoy working. I love software development, the harder it is the more I can learn.

Have you tried applying for permanent roles? How about contributing to an open source project (e.g. on Github)?

[SchumiStars]

Have you tried applying for permanent roles? How about contributing to an open source project (e.g. on Github)?

Permi roles are deader than dead. There is absolutely no demand for programmers ATM. I was getting 1 or 2 interviews per month but that seems to have also stopped.

I'm not really into os software TBH. I have never really looked into it or taken part as my day job took priority and after a day coding, the last thing I want to do is write more code or fix issues.

I am rarely free. I applied to some roles in the am, had a couple of short meetings over lunch, went cycling with a couple of mates in the afternoon and just got back from the gym. And now sitting with the wife, and helping her do her nth degree.

It's a depressing market but there is nothing it seems I can do about it ATM, so I may as well just relax. It's highly frustrating. Wanting to be part of an enterprise and contribute to theirs and mine progression.

[Appydaze]

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.

thanks a lot !