State of the Market

[TheScheduler]

This just has to be one of these 'opportunities' advertised to seek evidence of a 'skills shortage' ...

My thoughts was they need to advertise something otherwise their account is deleted. Either way it's poor.

[PerfectStorm]

Seeing rather a lot of roles paying tuppence ha'penny, in or out of IR35. Strange times.

[oliverson]

Seeing rather a lot of roles paying tuppence ha'penny, in or out of IR35. Strange times.

Speaking of which:

AI Engineer
London - mandatory 3 days/week
Contract role : 6+ Months - Inside Ir35
Rate 300-350 p/d


7+ years experience, 2+ years Generative AI


WTF?!?!

Axiom Software Solutions. Checked them out on Companies House. Plenty cheapness! Work it out.

[Bluenose]

Seeing rather a lot of roles paying tuppence ha'penny, in or out of IR35. Strange times.

Some of it is market bottom feeding but ´testing´as a well paid profession with plenty of roles died around ten years ago.

The bottom feeding will stop in some areas as the people that are starving get fed and the market price re-adjusts.

[hungry_hog]

Finally had to bite the bullet.

after 5 years of working fully remote and outside ir35.

I have an interview next week for an inside hybrid role.

2 days a week in the office. Gonna have to buy a new wardrobe and get the car taxed and remember how to interact with people again. Sad times.

Sounds like exactly the way many people have been contracting since COVID restrictions were removed

I worked at a US bank which was fixed Mon - Wed in office.
A colleague asked to swap a day due to family issue, received a look that would sour milk and a couple weeks later was terminated! Some of them make Stalin look like a wallflower!

[SchumiStars]

Without trying to bragg, I have applied to all those positions advertised, the drastically low rate ones and still gotten nowhere.

It's just utterly impossible to get a contract or a permi job ATM. It's unbelievable dire market. I thought COVID was bad but this is next level, ****ed-up that I have never, ever seen before.

Nevermind it's the weekend, which means more running, cycling and gym. Do I ever get bored, no chance!

[SussexSeagull]

Some of it is market bottom feeding but ´testing´as a well paid profession with plenty of roles died around ten years ago.

The bottom feeding will stop in some areas as the people that are starving get fed and the market price re-adjusts.

I think the main change in testing has been the skills people want. You used to see adverts for Automated Testers for £500 a day but with the growth of open source tools people it isn't that rare a skill anymore and is kind of expected, to varying degrees, in most test roles now. I am not sure the art of Test Analysis is much coveted at the moment but this has happened before and it could come back into fashion.

Performance Testing used to be something of a highly in demand black art but now just gets listed in one line of a job advert.

[SchumiStars]

I think the main change in testing has been the skills people want. You used to see adverts for Automated Testers for £500 a day but with the growth of open source tools people it isn't that rare a skill anymore and is kind of expected, to varying degrees, in most test roles now. I am not sure the art of Test Analysis is much coveted at the moment but this has happened before and it could come back into fashion.

Performance Testing used to be something of a highly in demand black art but now just gets listed in one line of a job advert.

Yep. I agree with this. Performance testing, tuning stored procedures, web stressing are all skills from the past.

TBF, microservices, cloud computing, scabale, infrastructure at the touch of buttons rather than upgrading hardware makes life considerably easier.

When was the last time an application was sized in terms of throughput and SQL storage size, again skills of the past.

It's cheaper and more efficient to upgrade the infrastructure rather than improve the application.

I can code in most languages and I can say most applications are written using SOLID principles. Again removing the need for rockstar programmers as everything is a lot simpler.

I used Copilot the other day to resolve a coding problem and was impressed with how quickly and efficiently an answer was provided. Very impressive.

Although I am still waiting for the influx of companies wanting to use AI in their processes, creating jobs and so forth. But the younger grads will be already trained in this anyway.

I personally think the contracting market is now permentaly dead. There will be contracts but few and far between.

Sorry for long post but it's better than arguing with the wife

[Cookielove]

What’s everyone’s plan B?

The market is dire and these job ads with rates are grim reading…

I’m in a role but it’s not great micromanaging clock watchers…must do 3 days in office non negotiable and even that is like they are doing you a favour …no flexibility it’s like school someone asked to take an early lunch and that was frowned on …😦it’s like a social experiment gone wrong…

Rate is v mediocre too but given commitments I’ve got to work…otherwise I’d have thrown the towel in retired abroad and do odd bits & pieces…we toyed with Turkey might still do it…I know someone who retired there…great food and weather and not expensive to live compared to here if you have savings …

Do people that have been out for a long time have large war chests? Mine was severely diminished hence grabbing what I could even that was hard work and sheer luck of getting the agent on the phone otherwise same old …apply and cv lost in the hundreds of other applications…

[SussexSeagull]

Yep. I agree with this. Performance testing, tuning stored procedures, web stressing are all skills from the past.

TBF, microservices, cloud computing, scabale, infrastructure at the touch of buttons rather than upgrading hardware makes life considerably easier.

When was the last time an application was sized in terms of throughput and SQL storage size, again skills of the past.

It's cheaper and more efficient to upgrade the infrastructure rather than improve the application.

I can code in most languages and I can say most applications are written using SOLID principles. Again removing the need for rockstar programmers as everything is a lot simpler.

I used Copilot the other day to resolve a coding problem and was impressed with how quickly and efficiently an answer was provided. Very impressive.

Although I am still waiting for the influx of companies wanting to use AI in their processes, creating jobs and so forth. But the younger grads will be already trained in this anyway.

I personally think the contracting market is now permentaly dead. There will be contracts but few and far between.

Sorry for long post but it's better than arguing with the wife

I think the big question is if the lack of contracts is simply a part of the wider downturn or specific to contracting. Or a combination of both.