is the IT market dead in the water?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

What happened to your market? I was hiring contractors to work on payroll and HR projects only 3 years ago and most of the highest paid contractors seemed to be working with Workday or SuccessFactors. It seemed to be a licence to print money then - a lot of the CVs that landed on my desk were £800-1000pd or more.

PSC bans.

Pretty much every org who I have ever worked for in the past or might be a prospect has a PSC ban and some even have a total contractor ban.

[edison]

Almost total absence of my niche (Workday consultancy) contracts - was offered £600/day inside recently but needed to start immediately (and inside so no).

Very occasionally see an outside gig but I could count them on one hand since the PSC bans started.

I am a permie - not thrilled but I'd rather that than an inside gig.

What happened to your market? I was hiring contractors to work on payroll and HR projects only 3 years ago and most of the highest paid contractors seemed to be working with Workday or SuccessFactors. It seemed to be a licence to print money then - a lot of the CVs that landed on my desk were £800-1000pd or more.

[darmstadt]

Never been busier

[Jog On]

My Linkedin inbox has been in overdrive the last few months - much more than normal.

[ladymuck]

At the risk of being banned for asking a serious question, but why?

Personally I'd be happy with an inside role at a decent rate, rather than lower rate outside. So long as I'm on a take home after tax that is comparable surely inside is less hassle?

I'm perm too at the moment, but moving back to London soon (if house sales etc continues) so I'll be looking at contracts again and I'd be fine with 600 p/d inside via a brolly so long as I can dump into a pension via salary sacrifice.

To me, perm is better than an inside gig because the latter is perm but without the benefits. If I'm considered to be an employee then I want the free training, company mobile, 30 days paid holiday etc etc.

I get that an inside gig means you can shove loads of cash into a pension far easier than you could via employment but that's not a viable option for everyone.

I'm interested in why you think an inside contract is better than perm?

I am, of course, ignoring the dross that comes with perm work - 360 reviews, Sharon from Accounts counting how long you spend in the loo, etc.

[Whorty]

Almost total absence of my niche (Workday consultancy) contracts - was offered £600/day inside recently but needed to start immediately (and inside so no).

Very occasionally see an outside gig but I could count them on one hand since the PSC bans started.

I am a permie - not thrilled but I'd rather that than an inside gig.

At the risk of being banned for asking a serious question, but why?

Personally I'd be happy with an inside role at a decent rate, rather than lower rate outside. So long as I'm on a take home after tax that is comparable surely inside is less hassle?

I'm perm too at the moment, but moving back to London soon (if house sales etc continues) so I'll be looking at contracts again and I'd be fine with 600 p/d inside via a brolly so long as I can dump into a pension via salary sacrifice.

[vetran]

If managers think they can save money going cheap they will.

Don't work for cheapskates!

[TheDude]

Doubt it will drive it down much, its making/saving a lot of money.

If managers think they can save money going cheap they will.

[vetran]

Except you'll have to deal with the fact that Data Scientist is no longer the 'sexiest job of the 21st century'...

A lot of people have started to enter the data science field in the last few years which might start to drive down salaries and rates.

Doubt it will drive it down much, its making/saving a lot of money.

[edison]

I will make the first non silly reply.

Python is super hot in the Data Science / Machine Learning world.

So if you are a reasonable Python Developer, have a masters degree in mathematics, know all the usual stuff like PyTorch, TensorFlow, Apache Spark and Jupyter notebooks, you are never going to spend a minute on the bench.

Outside of that, I expect the work has gone to the usual lowest bidders in India.

Except you'll have to deal with the fact that Data Scientist is no longer the 'sexiest job of the 21st century'...

A lot of people have started to enter the data science field in the last few years which might start to drive down salaries and rates.