State of the Market

[ResistanceFighter]

Not quite over the line yet but I might have something. £400pd Outside, few days a week onsite. Feel like I need to take it in this current market.

Noticed a definite uptick in calls over the last week or so

[TheDude]

I would rather take a low paid contract and weather the storm than take a perm position.

[edison]

That is tulipe indeed, perhaps there was someone in the interview process that you didn't particularly "click" with? Typically companies bite off your hand if you've been with them before though, so it does sound very much like a money based decision.

Yes, it reduces the risk so much if the person is a known quantity but like you say, if someone else was a lot cheaper, that could have tipped the balance.

I went to work at an organisation a few years ago for a second time and someone there coined the term 'boomerang' for returning contractors.

I ended up going back for a 3rd stint a year later after I had finished to find there were plenty of contractors on their 3rd or 4th stint, often within just a few years. I think there was genuinely a good sense of camaraderie across perms and contractors despite it being quite a challenging environment and rates weren't particularly high.

[edison]

Mini-boom.... I'm off on a family holiday early next month but managed to get a very small piece of work for a software startup via a family contact. It's not much but that will be the holiday spending money sorted.

[Dorkeaux]

Mini-boom.... I'm off on a family holiday early next month but managed to get a very small piece of work for a software startup via a family contact. It's not much but that will be the holiday spending money sorted.

[SussexSeagull]

I have managed to find some work in a non IT role in a field I have volunteered in before. Not great money (although better than minimum wage) but the IT industry seems to be dead on it's feet at the moment

[oliverson]

I've decided to switch my emphasis from contract search with some plan B on the side (when I can be 4rsed), to plan B with one eye on the contract market.

My plan B's (focusing on two from my shoebox of plan B ideas) are 1) mobile app with AI, and 2) 2D mobile game development.

According to ChatGPT, both of these have a better than average chance (70% for the AI app) of being a success. It does come up with some aggressive timescales, frightening even, but with the boost in productivity AI itself has given me in my contracting job, well why not?

Basically I have about 3 months before I need to sell one property and live off the proceeds for a few years. If I don't deliver at least one of these ideas, it's over for one of them, which will be very sad given we've had both for 20+ years. It's now or never for the plan B's.

Of course, what this means is that next week I'll land a contract and the plans will go back in the shoebox for another few years!

[sadkingbilly]

yeh, it's so bad we've had to close the east wing and pay off one of the butlers.

[oliverson]

yeh, it's so bad we've had to close the east wing and pay off one of the butlers.

Ha ha. That’s funny. For you!

[MikeS7]

I’ve been contracting (with the odd permanent role) for the last 25 years, and this is the worst I’ve ever known the market.

For the last 15 years I’ve worked as an IT project manager (PM). I’ve always been a generalist PM (as have 90% of the PMs I’ve worked with) rather than a PM with a technical specialty, but my skillset has served me well and always secured interviews and roles.

Since my last contract ended in March 2025 due to budget cuts, I’ve applied for hundreds of perm/contract roles. I’ve paid for a CV writing company to make my CV and LinkedIn profile more ATS friendly and tailored it where applicable for specific roles. I have job alerts set up from multiple sites and networked with former employers I have good relationships with.

Net result in the last 3 months? Two call backs and zero interviews.

I don’t know if there is a single reason for this downturn/change, but I do have a few observations about the IT PM field that apply to contract and perm:

1. Roles are asking for very specific industry experience (e.g. will not be considered if haven’t worked in Banking, Retail, NHS, Education, Local Gov, Media, Insurance etc)
2. Roles are asking for very specific project experience (e.g. will not be considered if haven’t delivered Salesforce, Digital Transformation, Windows 11 etc)
3. Roles increasingly appear to want very technical PMs. I’ve seen jobs requiring expertise and qualifications in AI, SAP, Oracle, Service Now etc, or stating “would suit someone from a developer/programming/architecture background”. In some cases, the PM is required to have comprehensive BA skills. Historically, my teams have consisted of a SME (e.g. Solutions Architect) and a BA, as they are very different roles with different skillsets. It feels like some companies want to consolidate these backgrounds into one role, possibly as a cost-cutting exercise.
4. I suspect, by can’t prove, that most applications aren’t even reviewed by humans and are initially screened by filtering technology.
5. Once plentiful roles for generalist IT Infrastructure/Network/Software Development PMs, that focused more on core delivery and soft skills, are virtually non-existent.