Originally posted by Bwana
People,
For about five years now I've been lurking on these forums, lying lower than a snakes belly! With great amusement I've followed the banter between regulars such as Xoggoth (brilliant writer, should be a novelist!), AtW, DimPrawn, and MilanB, to name just a few. I remember the days when Janek was a frequent poster. Whatever happened to Steven Rees (posting from Wales if I remember correctly) ? Your collective rantings on such perenial topics as house prices, get rich quick schemes, and the mess our once great country is in, have kept me amused and entertained, particularly throughout the severe downturn in the IT industry from 2001 to 2003. With a knowing smile I've watched the young Milan Benes aspiring, as I once did, to become a fully fledged contractor earning a fat contract rate. As a wise contractor once told me "One day, grasshopper....". So after all these years I decided to step out of the shadows and introduce myself.
I started off in a permie role as a VB developer working for a software house in my native Cheshire, around the mid nineties. Within a few moves I'd made it to the top of the pile, at least as far as VB development in a straight forward analyst programmer role goes (ie not team leading). The pinacle for me was working in London in the City on a greenfield ecommerce website project in 2000, funded and run by one of the big investment banks. The novelty of invoicing for two grand per week (plus VAT @ 17.5%!) never did wear off! But then came the downturn. In 2001 the bank decided to scrap the project and lay off the team, and it was all downhill from there for me. The agency I worked through went late with payments. I fought a legal battle and managed to get a county court judgement ordering them to pay, but I still didn't receive the money. The agency eventually went bust, leaving my company out of pocket to the tune of eight grand....ouch!
Contracting had proved to be a mixed blessing for me. During the boom years I made a lot of money, earning at least twice as much (and sometimes a lot more) as my friends outside the industry. But the uncertainty and the moving around to get work meant that I never quite felt in a position to buy a place of my own. After a few years of double digit house price inflation, I suddenly found myself no better off (and probably worse off) than people who'd plodded along in the first permie job they were offered. They'd bought a house, not as a shrewed investment but simply because it suited them to at the time. They'd got a pension, not because they were clued up financially, but simply because their employer provided one. And they didn't spend their evenings and weekends agonising over whether to accept IR35 or fight it!
From mid 2001 to late 2003, I only got one day of paid work. It was looking as though my IT career was over, having been crushed by a combination of severe IT industry downturn, the massive influx of cheap foreign labour under the FTV scheme, the rise of offshore outsourcing, and my own reluctance to take just any old job anywhere in the country for the sake of staying in the game. At one point I was seriously considering going back to university to study for a law degree! Being single and having missed out on the property boom, I ended up moving back in with my parents to reduce my outgoings whilst I was out of work. I spent my days sat at my computer desk in my bedroom, drinking lager, rattling the walls with loud belches and occasionally shouting "Monkey's Arse!" to amuse myself whilst I lurked on these forums (should that be fora? I'm sure one of the resident pedants will correct my spelling and grammer if necessary!). Sometimes a whole day would pass by as I surfed for internet porn in my pajamas. For months I didn't even bother chasing work, having become so dissilusioned with agents and clients rejecting me because I didn't have at least 5 years commercial experience of RockingHorsetulip version 6.457.24.515b, gained in dust-free zero gravity environment by personal invitation from Lord Lucan and Elvis. My idealistic desire to be honest about my skills and experience meant that I just couldn't compete with the blaggers, especially in such a tough market. My descent had happened just as quickly as my rise. Things hit rock bottom in summer 2002, when my only brother commited suicide. He was an accomplished programmer.
Eventually, thanks to a little help from some good friends of mine, I managed to get a permie job working for a Hedge Fund, based in an upmarket area of London. It was high pressure in a work hard play hard sort of way, but I was so glad to be back in work that my enthusiasm kept me going. As time went by though, I found myself starting to have doubts about my long term suitability for the front office environment. Then, around one year into the job, I decided to quit. I'd come to the conclusion that I simply wasn't thick skinned enough to put up with having traders shouting at me at 8:30 in the morning when there was a problem with the software I'd written. To be fair to them, they had a good sense of humour and they could be great fun to be around at times. There were occasions when they were very generous to me. But they could quickly loose their temper when IT problems arose, and being on the receiving end of their tantrums was making me unhappy. If they had a go at me, half an hour later they'd be laughing and joking, but I'd feel depressed for the whole day. So I hit the eject button, and once again I find myself on the bench. What will the future hold for me ? Which way will the wind blow ? Who knows ? Who cares ?
Bwana.
For about five years now I've been lurking on these forums, lying lower than a snakes belly! With great amusement I've followed the banter between regulars such as Xoggoth (brilliant writer, should be a novelist!), AtW, DimPrawn, and MilanB, to name just a few. I remember the days when Janek was a frequent poster. Whatever happened to Steven Rees (posting from Wales if I remember correctly) ? Your collective rantings on such perenial topics as house prices, get rich quick schemes, and the mess our once great country is in, have kept me amused and entertained, particularly throughout the severe downturn in the IT industry from 2001 to 2003. With a knowing smile I've watched the young Milan Benes aspiring, as I once did, to become a fully fledged contractor earning a fat contract rate. As a wise contractor once told me "One day, grasshopper....". So after all these years I decided to step out of the shadows and introduce myself.
I started off in a permie role as a VB developer working for a software house in my native Cheshire, around the mid nineties. Within a few moves I'd made it to the top of the pile, at least as far as VB development in a straight forward analyst programmer role goes (ie not team leading). The pinacle for me was working in London in the City on a greenfield ecommerce website project in 2000, funded and run by one of the big investment banks. The novelty of invoicing for two grand per week (plus VAT @ 17.5%!) never did wear off! But then came the downturn. In 2001 the bank decided to scrap the project and lay off the team, and it was all downhill from there for me. The agency I worked through went late with payments. I fought a legal battle and managed to get a county court judgement ordering them to pay, but I still didn't receive the money. The agency eventually went bust, leaving my company out of pocket to the tune of eight grand....ouch!
Contracting had proved to be a mixed blessing for me. During the boom years I made a lot of money, earning at least twice as much (and sometimes a lot more) as my friends outside the industry. But the uncertainty and the moving around to get work meant that I never quite felt in a position to buy a place of my own. After a few years of double digit house price inflation, I suddenly found myself no better off (and probably worse off) than people who'd plodded along in the first permie job they were offered. They'd bought a house, not as a shrewed investment but simply because it suited them to at the time. They'd got a pension, not because they were clued up financially, but simply because their employer provided one. And they didn't spend their evenings and weekends agonising over whether to accept IR35 or fight it!
From mid 2001 to late 2003, I only got one day of paid work. It was looking as though my IT career was over, having been crushed by a combination of severe IT industry downturn, the massive influx of cheap foreign labour under the FTV scheme, the rise of offshore outsourcing, and my own reluctance to take just any old job anywhere in the country for the sake of staying in the game. At one point I was seriously considering going back to university to study for a law degree! Being single and having missed out on the property boom, I ended up moving back in with my parents to reduce my outgoings whilst I was out of work. I spent my days sat at my computer desk in my bedroom, drinking lager, rattling the walls with loud belches and occasionally shouting "Monkey's Arse!" to amuse myself whilst I lurked on these forums (should that be fora? I'm sure one of the resident pedants will correct my spelling and grammer if necessary!). Sometimes a whole day would pass by as I surfed for internet porn in my pajamas. For months I didn't even bother chasing work, having become so dissilusioned with agents and clients rejecting me because I didn't have at least 5 years commercial experience of RockingHorsetulip version 6.457.24.515b, gained in dust-free zero gravity environment by personal invitation from Lord Lucan and Elvis. My idealistic desire to be honest about my skills and experience meant that I just couldn't compete with the blaggers, especially in such a tough market. My descent had happened just as quickly as my rise. Things hit rock bottom in summer 2002, when my only brother commited suicide. He was an accomplished programmer.
Eventually, thanks to a little help from some good friends of mine, I managed to get a permie job working for a Hedge Fund, based in an upmarket area of London. It was high pressure in a work hard play hard sort of way, but I was so glad to be back in work that my enthusiasm kept me going. As time went by though, I found myself starting to have doubts about my long term suitability for the front office environment. Then, around one year into the job, I decided to quit. I'd come to the conclusion that I simply wasn't thick skinned enough to put up with having traders shouting at me at 8:30 in the morning when there was a problem with the software I'd written. To be fair to them, they had a good sense of humour and they could be great fun to be around at times. There were occasions when they were very generous to me. But they could quickly loose their temper when IT problems arose, and being on the receiving end of their tantrums was making me unhappy. If they had a go at me, half an hour later they'd be laughing and joking, but I'd feel depressed for the whole day. So I hit the eject button, and once again I find myself on the bench. What will the future hold for me ? Which way will the wind blow ? Who knows ? Who cares ?
Bwana.
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