how low can I go?

[SuperZ]

Go permie if it suits your lifestyle and pays the bills. Get training: update the skills that are still useful (Oracle etc) and learn new ones. Remember that 75% of what you read on this board is bravado or bollocks. Remember that many here, even the most experienced forum users, are or have been permies when it's suited them or when circumstances dictated it was necessary.

But permie at 58? Would they want you after contracting for a while and at that age? And would you be better off just hopefully grabbing the £££ contracting before you retire (assuming market picks up).

Not being ageist but in twenties and thirties its easier to transfer to permie but not sure after that especially if having been a contractor for a while.

I`m in in my thirties and practically have no mortgage. . Oh, and I`m not married either even more cool .

[Troll]

But permie at 58? Would they want you after contracting for a while and at that age? And would you be better off just hopefully grabbing the £££ contracting before you retire (assuming market picks up).

Not being ageist but in twenties and thirties its easier to transfer to permie but not sure after that especially if having been a contractor for a while.

I`m in in my thirties and practically have no mortgage. . Oh, and I`m not married either even more cool .

Would you like to know how quickly 30 becomes 40?... the blink of an eye

[minestrone]

Would you like to know how quickly 30 becomes 40?... the blink of an eye

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

[Shimano105]

Would you like to know how quickly 30 becomes 40?... the blink of an eye

too flippin true.

[expat]

The trouble with that permie role is that it doesn't even quite pay the bills. The trouble with my mainframe experience is that it's not recent. Wipe that smile off your face, it's true.

But the root point was not my position, it was the realisation that every remaining year is precious, because it is one of a rather small number.

[minestrone]

The trouble with that permie role is that it doesn't even quite pay the bills. The trouble with my mainframe experience is that it's not recent. Wipe that smile off your face, it's true.

But the root point was not my position, it was the realisation that every remaining year is precious, because it is one of a rather small number.

Can I ask you, in all sincerity, did you think you would be in this position 20 - 30 years ago?

The reason why I ask is that I always, naively, believe that in 2 years time I will be set for life. I am 36 just now but for the last 20 years I always think that I will have reached the top of the hill in a couple of years and it will be easy street from there on in. In school it was get to uni an it will be OK, then it was get a degree, then get a job, then make senior developer, then make architect, then go contract. No matter what level I get to easy street is never there.

[Turion]

The trouble with that permie role is that it doesn't even quite pay the bills. The trouble with my mainframe experience is that it's not recent. Wipe that smile off your face, it's true.

But the root point was not my position, it was the realisation that every remaining year is precious, because it is one of a rather small number.

Why are you in the position of having such large commitments? At your age you should be debt free with a big pension pot building up.

[gingerjedi]

Can I ask you, in all sincerity, did you think you would be in this position 20 - 30 years ago?

The reason why I ask is that I always, naively, believe that in 2 years time I will be set for life. I am 36 just now but for the last 20 years I always think that I will have reached the top of the hill in a couple of years and it will be easy street from there on in. In school it was get to uni an it will be OK, then it was get a degree, then get a job, then make senior developer, then make architect, then go contract. No matter what level I get to easy street is never there.

I know how you feel, I'm starting to think I won’t have it as good as my parents even though we are supposed to be generally richer these days they had the advantage of ridiculously cheap property in the 70's. My long term plan of a 5 bed country dwelling and a property abroad seems near impossible now.

I honestly think all this talk of upturn is just hot air as the world around us has moved on, IT may pick up a little from the current floor but nowhere near previous highs.

[Shimano105]

That's right, my dad worked bloody hard all his life in the building trade. But he managed to retire in his 50s with a decent house he built and no money worries.

I can't see me ever being able to retire, which is the most depressing thought I can imagine.

[expat]

Why are you in the position of having such large commitments? At your age you should be debt free with a big pension pot building up.

Divorce late in life. OK, TBH combined with early profligacy. But I did have a house, and it is still owned, just not by me. So I eventually wanted to buy another. I was 56 by then. If you plug 10 years into a mortgage calculator, you will see the effect on the monthly payments.

I'll start the pension pot when I get the house sorted. Of course the house that I bought a couple of years ago was itself intended to be part of it.

Now we are talking about putting it on the market if I don't get work by the end of August. It will have to be priced to sell of course. So a loss on the savings, no house, and no job. Sigh.

As Minestrone says, I just wanted a few more years. But it looks like time has run out.