State of the Market

[ShandyDrinker]

ok, - 685.
now, is that closer to 7 or 6??
depends on your point of view.
a miserable, whining. hard done by person might have the latter view, so as to attempt to denigrate the position of someone more fortunate, but i'm not one of those. fortunately

Your posts do mark you out as being rather insufferable.

For many of us who have worked as contractors for a long time, it's f***ing hard when you've managed to land contracts for the best part of 20 years and then all of a sudden it's nigh on impossible to find work. On a personal level it's been way worse than 2008-2010 so far, and definitely worse than covid.

It's great for you that you're fighting off work. Congratulations, you're the forum hero.

Your niche may well be doing fine right now, but it may well see a downturn too at some point.

A little humility and empathy goes a long way, especially for people struggling in this market, myself included.

[sadkingbilly]

Seem to recall you posting recently you'd just landed another contract, rate starting with a 6.

ok, - 685.
now, is that closer to 7 or 6??
depends on your point of view.
a miserable, whining. hard done by person might have the latter view, so as to attempt to denigrate the position of someone more fortunate, but i'm not one of those. fortunately

[oliverson]

Well, this old ticker's still coining 700/day.

Seem to recall you posting recently you'd just landed another contract, rate starting with a 6.

[sadkingbilly]

But then you work on archaic systems and dead languages. Such skills are obviously both rare and in demand. So hardly typical of the bulk of IT people.

hardly archaic, since they're processing all or most of your banking/insurance/grocery info 24/7.
and assembler/REXX aren't dead yet for the same reason.
I don't do applications, so no cobol/'pl/1'/fortran/etc.
strictly infrastructure systems integration/maint.

hthbidi.

[SchumiStars]

This is one of the reasons why IT is such a hard sport. Having to keep skills up to date.

I remember coming out of a long contract and everyone was using Git repos. It took me a long time to understand how to use it effectively. Even now, I struggle with merge conflicts.

Although it does look as if I'll be retiring early at this rate anyhow. October, 2026, round the corner and market is flat.

[jamesbrown]

Yeah, I think to be a succesful contractor you need to go one of 2 ways. 1. Some out of date, hard to find niche skill, that is still in demand because there are still enough systems using it in big enough companies that will pay well for the skill or 2. Some cutting edge skill that is in demand but hardly anyone else does it yet. In between you don't have an edge in the market.

I guess 1 is your Z-Systems or Cobol for Billy.
2 might be latest AI stuff.

Java used to be 2, but these days its almost ready to become a 1!

Or perhaps consider the world outside of bloody IT .

[willendure]

Yeah, I think to be a succesful contractor you need to go one of 2 ways. 1. Some out of date, hard to find niche skill, that is still in demand because there are still enough systems using it in big enough companies that will pay well for the skill or 2. Some cutting edge skill that is in demand but hardly anyone else does it yet. In between you don't have an edge in the market.

I guess 1 is your Z-Systems or Cobol for Billy.
2 might be latest AI stuff.

Java used to be 2, but these days its almost ready to become a 1!

[malvolio]

I spent 20 years working on niche systems with niche languages. Those skills brought me steady work with diverse clients including McDonalds, Lockheed Aerospace, stock exchanges, banks and even a trucking company. When I came to Europe from Canada most companies were in the process of sunsetting those system except for the banks.

When the banks started sunsetting systems based on my skillset I had no choice but to focus on a niche area of business instead. My old niche skills are no longer mentioned on my CV and years of working in a niche part of banking have kept me busy ever since. Except for about 4 months in the last 10 years, I've been busy the whole time.

You can't rely on technical skills forever, especially with massive foregin competition that will work for peanuts. If you have decades in the IT industry, your value increases parimarily with business knowledge.

I agree, actually. When I realised I was on my fifth language and ninth operating system I deliberately moved into business consultancy and service architecture. I kept up with the tech, but only as a set of capabilities. Leave the detail to the experts!

[herman_g]

But then you work on archaic systems and dead languages. Such skills are obviously both rare and in demand. So hardly typical of the bulk of IT people.

I spent 20 years working on niche systems with niche languages. Those skills brought me steady work with diverse clients including McDonalds, Lockheed Aerospace, stock exchanges, banks and even a trucking company. When I came to Europe from Canada most companies were in the process of sunsetting those system except for the banks.

When the banks started sunsetting systems based on my skillset I had no choice but to focus on a niche area of business instead. My old niche skills are no longer mentioned on my CV and years of working in a niche part of banking have kept me busy ever since. Except for about 4 months in the last 10 years, I've been busy the whole time.

You can't rely on technical skills forever, especially with massive foregin competition that will work for peanuts. If you have decades in the IT industry, your value increases parimarily with business knowledge.

[malvolio]

Well, this old ticker's still coining 700/day.

But then you work on archaic systems and dead languages. Such skills are obviously both rare and in demand. So hardly typical of the bulk of IT people.