What is your #1 challenge preventing you from doing contract work in UK right now?

[MrMarkyMark]

Red ties frighten people they think you are a fan of Komrade Korbyn.

Good point, I have a very strong feeling that "Pip" has worn a tie on more than one occasion

[SueEllen]

Good point, I have a very strong feeling that "Pip" has worn a tie on more than one occasion

You mean when Pip went to school and in interviews?

[MrMarkyMark]

You mean when Pip went to school and in interviews?

But...........she didn't, did she

[rocktronAMP]

Hi,

My name is David and I am a Java developer from Berlin. Three years ago I made the big move to London in order to work as a contractor for different companies in UK.

Currently I am working as an entrepreneur on a potential business idea and was wondering if there are by any chance any other IT professionals here, who are thinking about coming to UK?

What is your #1 single biggest challenge preventing you from doing some contract work in UK right now?

Cheers,
David

Ok I will bite.

So why are you not taking advantage of the Berlin Start-up Tech City? I thought Berlin was a hot bed of IT. Perhaps, it was over hyped by Wired, BBC, Huff Post, etc. Are there no big investment banks / fintech in Berlin at all? Whatever.

The biggest challenge is:

1. Finding the next contract and being on the bench
2. Building the war chest
3. Finding the gigs with decent clients, building the relationship with clients, retention and repeat job prospect
4. Dealing with the increasing numbers game of Indian Recruitment workers attempting to muscle in the game. If the agency is not Recruitment Employment Confederation sanctioned that they can go and suck eggs
5. Dealing with slinky recruitment agencies that own the market and constantly push the contract rates downwards (see advertisements with MARKET RATE - e.g. Opus RS I am looking at you)
6. Staying up to date with technology, making the time, related to all of the above through unpredictability of on-contract versus bench time.

That enough for ya? Good.

[rocktronAMP]

Yes, for reasons we've already discussed. New boss wants to improve profits to hit his bonus. He doesn't care about long term ability to deliver; he'll get his bonus and be gone. Short term, he cuts costs by downsizing the UK operation. Next guy then has the task of getting the business up and running again. Brings teams back here. Costs sometimes rise but more importantly, the UK footprint rises, so the immediate costs are visible. New CEO comes in, cuts costs, etc. It's cyclical depending on whether you're in a delivery or cost-cutting phase.

So who are these CEOs that keep jumping from company to company and performing these outsourcing deals? Is there evidence in the public domain to support these allegations?

[SueEllen]

So who are these CEOs that keep jumping from company to company and performing these outsourcing deals? Is there evidence in the public domain to support these allegations?

There isn't evidence in the public domain.

But ask yourself this how do companies reduce costs?

Btw in my case I know accountants who workout the figures for outsourcing and moving plants, offices etc from one country to another and know people personally effected. I've also worked on bids in the past for companies who were going to take on the work - however the main body of the work was going to India.

[LondonManc]

So who are these CEOs that keep jumping from company to company and performing these outsourcing deals? Is there evidence in the public domain to support these allegations?

There is evidence if you look for it.

Look for large outsourcing moves, find out who the CEO is and follow the chain of dominoes. There's no outsourcing league table or enemies of the British worker dossier.

[SueEllen]

There is evidence if you look for it.

To be fair it's a constant issue on here if you challenge someone's world view they expect you to provide links. It shows how bad the British education system has been and is that educated people can't find things themselves.

[MrMarkyMark]

To be fair it's a constant issue on here if you challenge someone's world view they expect you to provide links. It shows how bad the British education system has been and is that educated people can't find things themselves.

Ah, but I like that.

Its certainly made me quite a few £££ in the past

[RonBW]

To be fair it's a constant issue on here if you challenge someone's world view they expect you to provide links. It shows how bad the British education system has been and is that educated people can't find things themselves.

Or it is a logical extension of the legal premise that "he who asserts must prove".