State of the Market

[wurzel]

Contract is up this week. Was feeling pretty bullish about my situation & was planning on sitting tight until I found something paying a decent rate. After all, I need the cash to start offsetting the damage that the last 2 years have inflicted on my finances. Got my cv back out there & am slightly dismayed at how quiet it is. When I picked up this role back in December there was a sudden flurry of activity & I was expecting the market to be buoyant by now. There are a lot more c# .NET contracts out there than a year ago but when I filter the results in Jobserve it's apparent that most of them are IB jobs in the city for which I don't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting. Outside of this area the market looks pretty stagnant.

[norrahe]

It has been quite odd. The market was all a flurry in Dec and Jan but the gigs that were being touted then have all but disappeared.

At this time of year one would expect to see lots of activity as people start new projects and assemble teams for April starts, but

[suityou01]

It has been quite odd. The market was all a flurry in Dec and Jan but the gigs that were being touted then have all but disappeared.

At this time of year one would expect to see lots of activity as people start new projects and assemble teams for April starts, but

Possibly projects are on hold until after the election?

[norrahe]

Possibly projects are on hold until after the election?

That's my reckoning. People are getting a tad nervous about the whole situation.

[suityou01]

That's my reckoning. People are getting a tad nervous about the whole situation.

so should we get an out and out winner the projects should start rolling in.

[original PM]

interesting we have quite a few C#.net devs on the go at the moment

but we are not hiring just extending the delivery timescales - maybe this is what is causing the slow market?

not sure what anyone else's views are though

[facboy]

are you totally against working in an IB in london?

i'm in java (mortal enemies! civil war etc) and the market does seem to be very hot in the IB space. my experience, in the java space at least, is that a lot of people on the market (at any time, not just during the downturn) are not that good. i expect .net is the same.

at least some IBs are keen to get good tech people on board (someone has to do the work!), ideally they'd like you to have some IB experience but it's not a strict requirement.

[wurzel]

are you totally against working in an IB in london?

i'm in java (mortal enemies! civil war etc) and the market does seem to be very hot in the IB space. my experience, in the java space at least, is that a lot of people on the market (at any time, not just during the downturn) are not that good. i expect .net is the same.

at least some IBs are keen to get good tech people on board (someone has to do the work!), ideally they'd like you to have some IB experience but it's not a strict requirement.

No, not against it at all but all the specs I've looked at have emphasised the need for previous IB experience.

[norrahe]

The IB side of things is definitely looking up, anything other than that is a tad on the dead side.

[swamp]

are you totally against working in an IB in london?

i'm in java (mortal enemies! civil war etc) and the market does seem to be very hot in the IB space. my experience, in the java space at least, is that a lot of people on the market (at any time, not just during the downturn) are not that good. i expect .net is the same.

at least some IBs are keen to get good tech people on board (someone has to do the work!), ideally they'd like you to have some IB experience but it's not a strict requirement.

Unless they need a rare skill then IBs will not touch you with a proverbial unless you have previous (and recent) IB experience. I know of only one contractor who has broken into IB work. And he said many people there were dross.