Officially off the bench!

[herman_g]

Uh, what I mean is I experienced several months of being jacked around by arrogant clients that were more interested in wasting my vacation time and cutting into my war chest ( and doing the same to several colleagues ) with no apparent intentions of putting a piece of paper on the table.

Now that silly phase of the economy is seemingly over, pieces of paper have been put on the table by two serious clients.

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

And, yes, ICT transfers and the backlash against the abusers of same, seem to be a factor.

[Mr.Whippy]

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

Congrats

[NickFitz]

Congratulations!

[tim123]

My game is also in the doldrums, with barely an advertised job. What few jobs there are the agents keep quiet about if they have any sense. A mate with 10 years experience just did 8 months out with barely a sniff but eventually got something by going for anything and everything. Something always comes along but 8 months is getting into scary territory. After 3 or 4 months I'd be looking at some sort of retraining (-> blagging ) exercise as you have nothing much to lose.

At the end of the the last two recessions I met people (mostly hardware engineers) who had been benched for two years.

tim

[rootsnall]

At the end of the the last two recessions I met people (mostly hardware engineers) who had been benched for two years.

tim

If there is no work there is no work, and once you have a big build up of experienced people on the bench then it's a struggle. I reckon two years is telling you to retrain though ( if possible and you CBA ) as those nasty recessions do keep on coming round.

[tim123]

If there is no work there is no work, and once you have a big build up of experienced people on the bench then it's a struggle. I reckon two years is telling you to retrain though ( if possible and you CBA ) as those nasty recessions do keep on coming round.

Financially, I can live with two years.

But I'm concerned that when the jobs do come back a 55 year old with a two year gap on their CV is going to be anybody's first choice.

And then I'm not sure that a retrained 55 year old with no "real" experience of the sector is either!

tim

[BolshieBastard]

Uh, what I mean is I experienced several months of being jacked around by arrogant clients that were more interested in wasting my vacation time and cutting into my war chest ( and doing the same to several colleagues ) with no apparent intentions of putting a piece of paper on the table.

Now that silly phase of the economy is seemingly over, pieces of paper have been put on the table by two serious clients.

I have accepted one and it is now official. I am off the bench.

And, yes, ICT transfers and the backlash against the abusers of same, seem to be a factor.

Ah, I see. I think!

Anyway congrats and to any one else, keep your chins up, I was once 12 months on the bench in the 2001 - 02 downturn. Havent been affected this time and have worked through it!

[rootsnall]

Financially, I can live with two years.

But I'm concerned that when the jobs do come back a 55 year old with a two year gap on their CV is going to be anybody's first choice.

And then I'm not sure that a retrained 55 year old with no "real" experience of the sector is either!

tim

Ah, 55 ! Looks like it's B&Q for you I'm afraid.

My Mrs was asking me about ageism last week, I think you are still OK if your CV and skills are OK, I was working with two 60 year old code cutters last year.

I see were you are coming from, but I'm talking 'self training' and probably some sort of sideways step if that is possible. One buzzword is often all it takes to jump the queue !?

I had my first doom day last week after 6 weeks or so of very lazy benchdom with thoughts of my game is all over and Plan Bs and !?!?!? 10 mins later and an email from an old client and it looks like I am sorted for a few months.

[mace]

Well done.