State of the market

[Robinho]

I'm not hearing back from roles i am extremely suited to - Very frustrating. Not sure if this is because the pimps can't be arsed to look for the suitable CVs and are just keywording or the competition is huge.

[Clippy]

I'm not hearing back from roles i am extremely suited to - Very frustrating. Not sure if this is because the pimps can't be arsed to look for the suitable CVs and are just keywording or the competition is huge.

What is your skillset?

[Robinho]

I'm a web developer but i've been effectively a DBA in the past too. So my niche is any ASP job that requires some hardcore SQL as well.

Probably 2 for a penny!

[PropertyCrashUK]

I'm a web developer but i've been effectively a DBA in the past too. So my niche is any ASP job that requires some hardcore SQL as well.

Probably 2 for a penny!

Therein lies your problem - only 2 jobs in one person.

I was put forward for a contract a fortnight back that was 5 or 6 people in one - asked around and every other contractor I know said the same thing so I pulled out deciding that it was a killer role.

[Robinho]

Oh you could shoehorn me into 3 other roles if you must do. And that's before you include tea-boy and toilet cleaner!

[wantacontract]

Been driving like a mofo this week, had four interviews, three were permie roles, all of which I am through to the final stage, so awaiting booking dates for the second interview next week, had my one contract interview today - absolutely awful rate

Fingers crossed for the other permie roles next week, never thought I would say it......the market is tough out there...

[PropertyCrashUK]

Oh you could shoehorn me into 3 other roles if you must do. And that's before you include tea-boy and toilet cleaner!

I look at some of these roles that crop up on the jobsites and I think they have left out one skillset - having a broom strapped to your ar*se so that you can sweep the building as you do the other 101 things they ask for.

The public sector appears to be particularly bad at this - 15 to 20 non techie paper shuffling managers, all on fat salaries and pensions, all writing Prince 2 reports and demanding reports from some poor TA who is expected to be a Microsoft EVERYTHING, Cisco EVERYTHING, VMware, Citrix, Oracle, Cloud, Mobile, VOIP, build a datacentre including doing the brick-work, electrics, plumbing and painting, yadda, yadda, yadda.

A few years ago I used to actually stress myself worrying about trying to get such roles - now I know better and just switch off when I read or hear about them.

[pastalista]

I look at some of these roles that crop up on the jobsites and I think they have left out one skillset - having a broom strapped to your ar*se so that you can sweep the building as you do the other 101 things they ask for.

The public sector appears to be particularly bad at this - 15 to 20 non techie paper shuffling managers, all on fat salaries and pensions, all writing Prince 2 reports and demanding reports from some poor TA who is expected to be a Microsoft EVERYTHING, Cisco EVERYTHING, VMware, Citrix, Oracle, Cloud, Mobile, VOIP, build a datacentre including doing the brick-work, electrics, plumbing and painting, yadda, yadda, yadda.

A few years ago I used to actually stress myself worrying about trying to get such roles - now I know better and just switch off when I read or hear about them.

It's not just at tech level that this happens - I am currently on contract in the public sector and am the Head of ICT, Head of Premises and Head of Procurement, as well as handling two medium size construction projects and one major refurbishment. I have a staff of, count them, two. One does the invoicing and general buying and the other manages information, looks after the databases, makes tea and so on.

And all this on £200 per day less than my last role.

Still, at least it's reasonably close to home and I'm working.

Things, as they say, can only get better. Surely?

Pastalista

[PropertyCrashUK]

It's not just at tech level that this happens - I am currently on contract in the public sector and am the Head of ICT, Head of Premises and Head of Procurement, as well as handling two medium size construction projects and one major refurbishment. I have a staff of, count them, two. One does the invoicing and general buying and the other manages information, looks after the databases, makes tea and so on.

And all this on £200 per day less than my last role.

Still, at least it's reasonably close to home and I'm working.

Things, as they say, can only get better. Surely?

Pastalista

Thanks for the heads up.

How did you wangle Head of ICT as a contractor in a public sector organisation? Is it some rural Council?

[perplexed]

Tulip ad of the day.

Our client in Cardiff is looking for a Java Developer to start immediately: All candidates will require good English communication skills, be self motivated and be a good Team worker. Specific skills required for the role: JEE 1.4 (EJB, MDB, container-managed transactions) JDBC JavaScript JDom Java Enterprise application Servers configuration (ideally JBoss) SQL Awareness of GIS/coordinate systems (ideally Oracle Spatial) Desirable skills required for the role: JBoss PL-SQL Oracle Spatial JSF (v1.2) Facelets (v1.4) Oracle database design Mapping Tool eg Mapinfo and Google Earth AJAX Windows 2003 Red Hat linux [view full job]

Specified rate in job ad?

£175 per day.