its been 2 years in my first gig. decent rate.. what's the problem then?

[northernladyuk]

sit tight, the only new contract you will get will be one which is almost identical to the one you have now. After 3 weeks you will feel just as frustrated as you are now. I would wait for the market to improve.

WHS.

[Fred Bloggs]

Isn't that what CUK is for?

Natch, yes. But the OP clearly has too much time on his hands any way. Not that it is an uncommon problem.

[lukemg]

Been there, although not quite on 600...
Blaster is right, I am convinced magic interesting contract does not exist FOR ME, because I am pretty bored with IT and many aspects of the jobs I can get.
So - consider approaching client to offer additional services, say you have some bandwidth, happy to assist outside of normal area etc. I have done this a few times and it has never resulted in the end of a contract. Manager is likely to rate you, as no perm will ever have said this (unless they hate you already/all contractors in which case it will support their views !).
If they do get shot of you, they have to find someone to take your 3/4 of a job, good luck getting the perms to do that...
Once you have done that, if no work turns up (never had more than additional scraps), feel free to work a 'lean' number of hours, I did a 9-4 happily for 2 years.
Another tactic a mate did was to always book a decent holiday with every renewal when he wasn't loving the job, gave him focus that every 13 weeks he would be having a blowout so worked towards that rather than thinking about the contract, or chuck a 4-day week at it (which I am doing now).
Internet is packed with info to study in the meantime, work and other related, I have spent huge amounts of time researching investing which I am interested in (to my surprise !)

[ChimpMaster]

It's the classic "contractor trap". Paid too much to leave, but not enough to leave.
<snip>

But the longer you leave it before moving, the harder it becomes.

<snip>

Again, as an example, my cousin specialised in telecoms package. He made great money for a decade, but eventually, it declined as the technology company behind it withered and in the end, he was struggling to get a contract. His skill base had atrophied. He was the world's premier expert in a skill that nobody wanted.

What you should do depends on where you are in life and what your goals are. If you are 50, with a clear plan to retire at 55, then stick where you are. If you are 25 with 35 years more work in front of you then you need to consider the longer term.

<snip>

Wise words there. Not something we often get on CUK

I have found myself in this position and the phrases above align very closely with my personal experience. I am working in a dead-end contract in a dead technology that isn't used anywhere else now (well, almost).

Thing is, I had a pretty good idea that it would end up like this when I started contracting around 12 years ago. For me this meant I was going contracting for one reason only: to maximize my income. I was a SME in this product and I had to milk it while I could. Ever since day 1 of my contracting career, I have been preparing for my final contract and have worked with the end in mind. Unfortunately I never quite knew when the end would come, which means that I haven't enjoyed much of the past 12 years contracting, and have been relatively thrifty with my funds; shame, but it became that way.

I also didn't learn much new tech along the way, for whatever reason. And now, truthfully, I'm just exhausted.

Another few months and I will be out of this final contract and out of my specialist tech for good. But I am prepared now - financially at least - and will then take time to relax before planning my next onslaught on life.