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Is contracting disappearing for higher roles?

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    Is contracting disappearing for higher roles?

    Is it only my impression or the majority of higher level IT jobs (such as architects or proj/programme manager) are assigned almost exclusively to permanent employees?

    Having a quick look at jobserve (my mistake, I was idle for the last year), I came to notice that the contracts are predominantly, and would say 95%, reserved for specialist in an IT area (examples, Oracle, SAP, WebSphere, Unix, etc).

    What's the point of becoming an architect/programme manager if your salary is going to be the same as an IT specialist and you trade-off non-existing security in return? Sure, you get a decent perm salary of 70-80k, in some cases close to 100k, but unless you become a senior backstabber manager it's hard to go over that.

    From one discussion today with a senior manager, they think that for higher roles they want "committed" people. My idea is who can be really committed to a company if not for the money? Isn't that only a way that low skilled people are promoted to higher profiles because they don't have the proper skills to go contracting?
    Last edited by Francko; 19 August 2005, 16:13.
    I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

    #2
    Sounds about right. Thougt it was normal.

    Contractors are:
    a) Hired for their specialist skills.
    b) Trucked in regardless of quality/skill when the contract goes into panic mode in the forelorn hope that it is not way too late to rectify the situation.
    bloggoth

    If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'
    John Wayne (My guru, not to be confused with my beloved prophet Jeremy Clarkson)

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      #3
      Originally posted by xoggoth
      Sounds about right. Thougt it was normal.

      Contractors are:
      a) Hired for their specialist skills.
      b) Trucked in regardless of quality/skill when the contract goes into panic mode in the forelorn hope that it is not way too late to rectify the situation.
      I agree with b). However, I remember between 5 and 10 years ago where I didn't have enough experience to go contracting that I was working with many architects or progr/proj manager who were contractors. Now, it never happens anymore.
      I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

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        #4
        Originally posted by Francko
        I agree with b). However, I remember between 5 and 10 years ago where I didn't have enough experience to go contracting that I was working with many architects or progr/proj manager who were contractors. Now, it never happens anymore.
        It just depends on the company, Franco. BT was full of contract PMs until a few weeks ago.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Lucifer Box
          It just depends on the company, Franco. BT was full of contract PMs until a few weeks ago.
          But still it looks like a trend to me, assigning the highest profile roles to permie people only.
          I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

          Comment


            #6
            Speaking as someone that contracts as a project/programme manager these days, there are lots of opportunities around, particularly within the public sector.

            When done properly, project management is a specialist skill. Note that I said when done properly! Apart from Investment Banking and being a QC, I can't think of many jobs paying more than £100k p/a. Those sorts of sums are usually the realm of CEOs and senior directors, not programme/project managers (contract or not).

            Very often clients in the public sector want to take on a contract manager in order to tick a box. This satisfies HM Treasury/NAO (etc.) that a specialist has been procured to handle the project. When everything goes wrong (and it will), the senior civil servant/council director can claim, "We brought in an outside specialist, it's all his fault!".
            Autom...Sprow...Canna...Tik banna...Sandwol...But no sera smee

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