Market really this bad?

[expat]

Are you honestly telling me you couldn't live on 300 per day?

That's 1500 per week. So even with the worst tax provision that would be a grand a week in your bin.

If I couldn't live on a grand a week something is very very wrong.

Say work 11 months of year, 20 days/ month = 220days.
Less 10 days off at Christmas and New Year, and 2 weeks holidays: so 200 working days per year.

£300/day gives £60k/year billing.

Average expenses £1000/month (double if abroad but let it stand), i.e. £11000/working year.
Leaves £49k for payroll.
After Employers NICs, gross salary = £43286.
Net salary = £36631, or £3052/month.

(If working abroad, the £2000/month expenses would make it £2442/month take-home)

"If you can't live on ..."? Get to mid-50s with no house because you lost the 2 that you had: how much will your mortgage be? Plug 10-year term into any mortgage calculator and be surprised. Mine is £1800/month.


OK not everyone is in the same position, and some people even find work near home and have lower expenses; but even at only £500/month the take-home is still only £3294. Not as gung-ho as you make it sound, especially if you spend more time on the bench.

[Olly]

WHS
Of couuuuuuuurse it's possible to live on £300 a day.

Is it worth working for that? Depends on your perspective. Personally when I start looking for jobs next month I'm going to substantially drop the min I'll but it's going to have to be a pretty special contract for me to accept.

Otherwise it's just much more appealing to spend some of the war chest and do something more enjoyable than feeling bitter in a day rate far less than half the previous!

Also, as you can work out yourself, £300 a day with bench time is a pretty mediocre annual income and not sufficient to afford a particularly good quality of life (subject to your aspirations of course - and mine aren't sky high believe me)

P.S. before this sounds like boasting - in reality I think £300 is far from the end of the world but at the end of the day you have to know your worth too (..........err...minimum wage!)

[Jubber]

300/day is way better than the bench. I would take the work while looking for something else.

Take some time off, of course, that is the great part of contracting, work/life balance. But if you're hungry, take the work. Simple. Just my honest opinion.

[SantaClaus]

IT, whether contract or perm is going down the pan.

As Eliquant says, start working on a Plan B now.

[NickNick]

I'm still not convinced that it's all going down the pan in the way bemoaned on here. December 07 this place was fuill of doom and glooom and nothing happened.

Currently this place is full of doom and gloom and I've landed a new contract on 50 a day more than my last gig with no real looking and no real gap between contracts (well, 2 weeks off over Xmas so I dont call that a gap). Even this morning I got a call from an old client who are currently offereing 30 a day more than they were offereing when I worked there in 06/07.

And these are not niche skills.

[BoredBloke]

I'm finding it pretty dead at the moment. Jobserve is just tumbleweeds at the moment

[dehydratedskulls]

It is pretty dead. I'm in a contract for 300/day, but its stuff that I was doing about 5-6 years ago. I'm only doing it cos I cant afford to be on the bench right now. There are no decent contracts out there for me, at the moment.

I'm hoping things will pick after April.

[swamp]

Rates in finance have obviously dropped, plus this is in insurance which is finance's little brother. Also note the role doesn't exactly have a big skill list; "ajax", "CSS", "HTML" points to a front-end pixel jockey rather than a proper developer.

Take it for what it is: a cheeky low offer for a newbie contractor. I'd even say the rate was about right.

[BoredBloke]

the only ones who seem to be taking on are the public sector

[chicane]

I sure hope the people complaining that £300/day is low are either living down south or have some kind of major ongoing financial commitment.

Plenty of people round here getting by on the equivalent of £50/day.