State of the market

[Graemsay]

Here in Melbourne the market is booming and I can't find people to fill my tester roles at any level. Even our (Bob-based) partner can't supply onshore resources, there are just too many large IT Programmes on the go right now.

I need about 15 people and an associated Programme has demand for upwards of 50 testers soon....

That's interesting to know. I got a visa for Oz last year, and having just had a renewal go south, am tempted by sunnier climes.

[sjpknight]

I left a perm job end of November to go contracting, having secured a 6month (government project) role, only to discover (along with the client) that the government had decided to pull the plug on funding. Next day, guess who's in the firing line!

I'm now in the unenviable position of being a newb contractor, with a very short term contract on my CV which seems guaranteed to raise the eyebrows of any prospective future clients! :-(

That said, I have just secured an interview, so may not be all bad. The general sense of glass-half-empty-ness on this thread isn't particularly encouraging though!

[PropertyCrashUK]

Did you get the role sjpknight? How did it go?

Everyone else - any change on views of the market?

It seemed to pick up last week briefly in number of roles in my area/skill-set but has died off this week.

I live in South Wales which is about 70 Public Sector dominated so I don't have much hope of the contract market improving this year as the PS bodies cut back on spending.

[nomadd]

Everyone else - any change on views of the market?

London. Booming.

I live in South Wales which is about 70 Public Sector dominated so I don't have much hope of the contract market improving this year as the PS bodies cut back on spending.

I'd consider moving if I were you. Or going permie.

[Fred Bloggs]

After the corpse of the north west process engineering industry twitched a bit in December, so far January is like the grave at the present. Good job I've been extended to end of June in present (darn sarf) role, I think

[craig1]

After the corpse of the north west process engineering industry twitched a bit in December, so far January is like the grave at the present. Good job I've been extended to end of June in present (darn sarf) role, I think

2011 is booming in London so far. I'm getting multiple calls per day from agencies desperate to get good infrastructure PMs with a solid history to do the huge backlog of upgrade that many London companies have been putting off. One actually got quite angry with me for not telling him I'd taken another contract after I'd applied for a job in early December through him then heard nothing, he thought it was rude of me not to tell him I was no longer available. I thought that was quite amusing

[sjpknight]

Did you get the role sjpknight? How did it go?

Having finished my contract on the Monday, I had 2 interviews on the Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday and another 2 lined up for the Thursday. Out of the 3 I actually attended, I reckon I would have gotten an offer on at least 1, possibly 2. My phone was ringing off of the hook all week.

As things transpired, I got offered a renewal on my previous contract within 2 days of being on the bench - so all's well that ends well.

My own thoughts on the state of the market - pretty good, depending on your specialist area of course...

[SuPaStA]

sjpknight what company were you working for?
Does it start with ST..............

[Scrag Meister]

Lot of calls today.

London, Dev, Banking.

[ChrisPackit]

Scragmeister - How you finding it out there ?

Your skill set is very similar to mine, and getting twitchy about coming to the end of my contract...

I'm North West based though, and have no intention on working down there, so won't stand on your toes