Advice needed state of market for developers

[Jacko_1975]

I am a permie for a company where I've been for 11 years. I just found out that my team is being broken up and there is a strong possibility of redundancy. Through some contacts I have a good chance of an internal transfer but it will be a lot of travel to the MEA region and the rest working from home in the UK.

My dilemma is should I push for the transfer or try and get redundancy and go contract. I've always been tempted to go contract as I think I am well suited as I already do a lot of work away from home on site at customers. In effect I'm carrying out contract work but not getting the money for it. My skill set is mainly development in C#, VB & WPF. From looking on job sites it seems there is a demand for my skills mainly in London but I don't know how real this is or whether it's agency BS.

Any honest advice would be appreciated.

[stek]

Suggest you read the first timers guide, I don't think you've grasped what contracting is about just yet...

[Jacko_1975]

What makes you think that Stek?
I've looked a lot into contracting and I see a lot of similarities between what I do now. e.g. I work on project from anywhere from 3 - 12 months, I work away from home for long periods, I work and fit in at different client sites in unfamilar surroundings.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

What makes you think that Stek?
I've looked a lot into contracting and I see a lot of similarities between what I do now. e.g. I work on project from anywhere from 3 - 12 months, I work away from home for long periods, I work and fit in at different client sites in unfamilar surroundings.

Go for it. Market is awful at the moment now though - just like with everything else.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Go for it. Market is awful at the moment now though - just like with everything else.

When was it not?

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

When was it not?

Times when the market is good..... like a lot of last year or pre-2008

[BolshieBastard]

Go for it. Market is awful at the moment now though - just like with everything else.

You were banging on about it being very good a few days ago. Job offer of 450 a day that you could afford to turn down etc, etc. Make yer mind up.

For what its worth, I know for a fact LTSB are going to have approx 800 contract positions up for grabs over the next few months. Project Verde But tha rates are piss poor (250 a day mark). Glad my new contract exceeds that by some.

Oh, and for the record, I think the contract market is in the doldrums right now with some spikes here and there depending on yer specialism.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

You were banging on about it being very good a few days ago. Job offer of 450 a day that you could afford to turn down etc, etc. Make yer mind up.

For what its worth, I know for a fact LTSB are going to have approx 800 contract positions up for grabs over the next few months. Project Verde But tha rates are piss poor (250 a day mark). Glad my new contract exceeds that by some.

Oh, and for the record, I think the contract market is in the doldrums right now with some spikes here and there depending on yer specialism.

You answered your own question - that was a spike. I got offered one contract at £400/day and had an interview at £450/day and turned them both down. I don't regret that cos they were both not right for me but the fact things were coming along shows that they spiked very briefly.

For the last 2 weeks and before that "spike" things have been shocking.

I have been contacted about Lloyds contracts - are the ones you talk about all in Yorkshire or are there some elsewhere as well?

[The Spartan]

The market isn't great at the moment but there are still contracts around if you're willing to travel and work away from home (obviously depending on where you live). I've seen a lot of vacancies for mobile app developers going lately at decent rates. I always find that the work for my profession as a Tester centres around Bristol and the South West and London. I'm sure if they're asking for testers they will most definitely need dev's

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

The market isn't great at the moment but there are still contracts around if you're willing to travel and work away from home (obviously depending on where you live). I've seen a lot of vacancies for mobile app developers going lately at decent rates. I always find that the work for my profession as a Tester centres around Bristol and the South West and London. I'm sure if they're asking for testers they will most definitely need dev's

I have actually noticed quite a few contracts in Bristol recently...