State of the .NET market (MVC, C#, Azure)

[rurffy]

OK. There is no such thing as the market is dry or not too good.

My opinion

If you have the experience and you are really good in what you do with a good CV . The sky is your limit (Well not really though lol -But you get the point ) . Then if people say "there are loads of contractors out there with similar skills" - Well this is were LUCK comes in .

As a contractor , it is not all about your skills and experience . Its all about selling your self to the client (Good rapport with agents and your client ) .

If you want to be a contract .... You must be a good sales man. "Your product is your skills"

[MyUserName]

I got into contracting through my investment banking knowledge, having a previous colleague in the team who vouched for me helped too!

If you do not have domain knowledge or contacts then it will be touch to distinguish yourself from the crowd. It can be done, of course, pretty much anything CAN be done but, as I said above, it will be tough especially in the current job environment.

[css_jay99]

Reading all these posts is enough to put any permie of contracting!

OP

The IT market is currently tough and everyone's luck & experience is different.

It simply boils down to taking a chance and being man enough accepting consequences of your actions wherever it leads .

If you are still young (& without dependents) take the chance now! ..... or build a better warchest and take your chances

Obviously get a contract before you leave your permie role and make sure that contract will see you through at least 6months of work.


Problem in this tread is most forget how nervous they were jumping on to their first contract

[eek]

Problem in this tread is most forget how nervous they were jumping on to their first contract

I don't because I wasn't nervous. Its a risk but provided you are careful and save a bit from your first contract you should be fine.

[MyUserName]

Problem in this tread is most forget how nervous they were jumping on to their first contract

To be honest I was not particularly nervous. I had been mauled by 2 permie jobs in a row and was sick of them. I knew I could do the job and that my background gave me access to investment banks.

[d000hg]

I doubt a short time at your current work will matter if you go contracting.

I'd suggest chasing Azure as your main skill because .net developers are a dime a dozen.

[rurffy]

I don't because I wasn't nervous. Its a risk but provided you are careful and save a bit from your first contract you should be fine.

Funny enough, i have neva worked as a permi . lol I was straight into contracting from day one of my IT job. Since then , boy! i couldnt even think of going permi . Imagine making 2 years permi money in 1 year contracting ..

Hw sweet can it get

[sog]

I appreciate all the comments, thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's helping me.

My main motivation to try contracting is not money, but to be more detached from office politics and have less of the formal yearly reviews, appraisals, "team building" activities, etc.

Ideally I'd like to be a person who receives technical challenges and business requirements and transform them into solutions. I know I can do that well. It's the office and corporate culture that is demotivating me. The idea of moving to a new environment every X months also attracts me, much more than spending years on the same place.

I've just moved to this company, which is well known in the UK and europe (many of you may be clients of this company), I should be feeling happy, everyone around me is saying congratulations, however, I got demotivated in my third week. My team colleagues are nice, the work itself is not bad, but when I was presented with my objectives spread sheet (from line manager), I wanted to vomit.

So that's where I am, I haven't decided what to do yet, I'll think more about it in the next days.
Thanks again.

[rocktronAMP]

Congrats .NET C# and Azure are all hot skill sets now and probably for the next 10 years, ignore all the scare mongerers who have posted here. Your job is to get a couple of contracts under your belt, so try a lower rate at first then increase it. I have 6 years contracting experience in with these skills with banks and large international clients and I never have to look for my next contract, the agents are constantly calling.

Gosh! I wish they also would start calling the many Java Enterprise people (Java EE men and women) like me. (We're here!) I also have several years experience of working for investment banks and their IT departments in both a permanent and contract role. I am also looking for my next contract since my last one finished a couple of weeks ago.



BTW: Good luck with the Azure / C# search, sounds like you are onto winner if you negotiate an appropriate deal.

[dagonza]

Gosh! I wish they also would start calling the many Java Enterprise people (Java EE men and women) like me. (We're here!) I also have several years experience of working for investment banks and their IT departments in both a permanent and contract role. I am also looking for my next contract since my last one finished a couple of weeks ago.



BTW: Good luck with the Azure / C# search, sounds like you are onto winner if you negotiate an appropriate deal.

How do you find the java market for permanent and contractors?

One thing that always annoys me is everybody saying... "Java, .NET... easy boobable skills" but (at least here in Dublin) the market looks buoyant for permies and good for contractors.