State of the Market

[Fraidycat]

More bad news for the UK/London IT market:

On May 20, the London start-up 'Builder.ai' confirmed that it would be appointing administrators with the loss of about 1,000 jobs.

Although I think the some of those job might be in India as they were using 700 Indians behind the scenes to run what looks like a scam AI website.

[SussexSeagull]

I follow this thread with interest but by page 1,374 this thread has all gotten a bit depressing, but for balance I have to say this does not mirror my experience of contracting in London at all in recent years.

All of my contacts who've had gigs end recently have jumped straight into another role, and I'd argue Brexit actually helped the contract market (certainly in my space as a BA in Finance/Insurance) as it spun up a lot of additional project work.

If anything there are more roles and rates are 30 - 50% higher than they were when I got my first couple of London contracts in 2017-18, and still many roles that are outside IR35.

There are always headwinds, political turbulence, economic uncertainty that people can point to and highlight that things are changing for the worse. But as contractors many of us work in change - roles change, demand for certain skills change, the law and tax landscape changes. Surely as contractors who embrace the idea of working in a new office every 12-18 months, changing market conditions should be viewed as an opportunity rather than heralded as the end of contracting and Britain as we know it?!

I think you and your friends are very much in a minority or have the mythical niche skills that the ancient scrolls tell us about.

[SussexSeagull]

herman_g is a lot more generous than me with broadcasting advice. There has been a lot of talk over the years of IR35 separating the contractors from the temp staff. Contractors: outside ir35, temp staff: inside ir35.

I would add that the prospect of going to efforts to make yourself appealing in the EU is a necessary step to exist as a contractor and those who won't will find excuses and reasons not to, because they don't want to. Everybody has a limit and there are reasons why, although children isn't really one of them. You can afford good schooling in many countries. The UK was exceptional in education decades ago, that is no longer the case.

There is always lots of talk of reasons not to move, citing invalid unemployment figures or GDP of other countries. If a country has a good market for your skills, none of that matters. People are full of excuses. There are international country rankings, maybe that will help some people: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

You are aware that most of us work to live and don't live to work?

I say this as someone who doesn't have children: children really are a reason not to go and work abroad. I am sure it is a great experience for most who go abroad to experience another culture but equally it does mean taking them away from their schools, friends and the rest of their family.

If that makes them a lesser contractor than you, then so be it.

[SussexSeagull]

More bad news for the UK/London IT market:

On May 20, the London start-up 'Builder.ai' confirmed that it would be appointing administrators with the loss of about 1,000 jobs.

Although I think the some of those job might be in India as they were using 700 Indians behind the scenes to run what looks like a scam AI website.

So it begins.

[avonleigh]

I follow this thread with interest but by page 1,374 this thread has all gotten a bit depressing, but for balance I have to say this does not mirror my experience of contracting in London at all in recent years.

All of my contacts who've had gigs end recently have jumped straight into another role, and I'd argue Brexit actually helped the contract market (certainly in my space as a BA in Finance/Insurance) as it spun up a lot of additional project work.

If anything there are more roles and rates are 30 - 50% higher than they were when I got my first couple of London contracts in 2017-18, and still many roles that are outside IR35.

There are always headwinds, political turbulence, economic uncertainty that people can point to and highlight that things are changing for the worse. But as contractors many of us work in change - roles change, demand for certain skills change, the law and tax landscape changes. Surely as contractors who embrace the idea of working in a new office every 12-18 months, changing market conditions should be viewed as an opportunity rather than heralded as the end of contracting and Britain as we know it?!

Nonsense. BA's have been affected as much as everybody else. You may be right if you have nichce skills but being a BA in Finance / Insurance is not niche, far from it.

[Dorkeaux]

I follow this thread with interest but by page 1,374 this thread has all gotten a bit depressing, but for balance I have to say this does not mirror my experience of contracting in London at all in recent years.

All of my contacts who've had gigs end recently have jumped straight into another role, and I'd argue Brexit actually helped the contract market (certainly in my space as a BA in Finance/Insurance) as it spun up a lot of additional project work.

If anything there are more roles and rates are 30 - 50% higher than they were when I got my first couple of London contracts in 2017-18, and still many roles that are outside IR35.

There are always headwinds, political turbulence, economic uncertainty that people can point to and highlight that things are changing for the worse. But as contractors many of us work in change - roles change, demand for certain skills change, the law and tax landscape changes. Surely as contractors who embrace the idea of working in a new office every 12-18 months, changing market conditions should be viewed as an opportunity rather than heralded as the end of contracting and Britain as we know it?!

This.
Good on Herman, Fiisch and others for sharing some of the positive dynamics of the current market in the UK.

I haven't experienced the uplift that Herman has since 2017, but doing roughly the same.
The roles I get offered are almost always outside IR35, and I have been working continuously for what seems like bloody ever.

I see a surprising resiliance on this forum against positive advice and information.
Lots of posters, some unemployed for years seem determined that there is no market, it's not them and there is nothing they can do. Ever.

I hope people can strip the positive advice out of these threads and use it to find new contracts.
Because if all you are taking away from these threads is the negativity, you might as well do something else.

[Dorkeaux]

I think you and your friends are very much in a minority or have the mythical niche skills that the ancient scrolls tell us about.

Groaann... Not this again..

None of the contractors I work with have what any sensible person would consider niche skills.
I don't personally work with Quants, legacy software/hardware nor any other wierd specalities. Just commodity software and cloud platforms.

[SussexSeagull]

This.
Good on Herman, Fiisch and others for sharing some of the positive dynamics of the current market in the UK.

I haven't experienced the uplift that Herman has since 2017, but doing roughly the same.
The roles I get offered are almost always outside IR35, and I have been working continuously for what seems like bloody ever.

I see a surprising resiliance on this forum against positive advice and information.
Lots of posters, some unemployed for years seem determined that there is no market, it's not them and there is nothing they can do. Ever.

I hope people can strip the positive advice out of these threads and use it to find new contracts.
Because if all you are taking away from these threads is the negativity, you might as well do something else.

I want to hear everyone's stories both good and bad but of all the people I have worked with, and they can't all be bad, have at best gone months between contracts so excuse me if I am a bit cynical about people saying they and their friends have had absolutely no problems finding a contract immediately after leaving a previous one. It might very well be the case but that is not what I am seeing anecdotally from across the English speaking world in Technology and other white collar roles.

Unfortunately some of the 'positive advice' becomes 'I am a better contractor than you' or 'you were never really a proper contractor'. The problem, and I don't think anyone is disputing this, is there is less work around. At best you can position yourself at the front of the queue for it but it isn't a zero sum game and it can't support the amount of people it used to.

The fact remains not everyone can up sticks and move to another country. If that is what it takes to stay in the industry then quite a few people will need to bow out. It might mean the the end of them as contractors but it doesn't make them any the less of a human being.

Some people need to remember this.

[SussexSeagull]

Groaann... Not this again..

None of the contractors I work with have what any sensible person would consider niche skills.
I don't personally work with Quants, legacy software/hardware nor any other wierd specalities. Just commodity software and cloud platforms.

All I am saying is people walking immediately into another contract, or even permanent job, in any type of numbers at the moment goes against everything I see in people I have worked with or anecdotal evidence through LinkedIn and other sources.

If it is the case can we please acknowledge it is the exception at the moment and not decide it is a personality failing of the majority of people who haven't been able to do it?

[SussexSeagull]

Nonsense. BA's have been affected as much as everybody else. You may be right if you have nichce skills but being a BA in Finance / Insurance is not niche, far from it.

TBF my last (so far) daily rate was the highest I ever had so if you happened to start a contract before the company realised they could drop their rates due to market conditions you might be on quite a high rate still.