Whats the views on rate reductions?

[Chaffinch]

I usually take this as a sign of more pain to come, i.e. reduced head count etc.

The have looked at their spend against budget or they missed something from the budget, whatever the reason they are making cuts after the first quarter of the year, the next three quarters may not be much fun.

Start looking when things pick up in Sept. would be my advise.

As a newbie to contracting - is the market cyclical?

[DimPrawn]

As a newbie to contracting - is the market cyclical?

Yes, it goes down, and then it goes down again.

HTH BIDI

[Mich the Tester]

As a newbie to contracting - is the market cyclical?

Yes, it used to be 'Aston Martinical' back in the good old days, then it went a bit 'BMWical', but we could live with that, and now a rusty bicycle is probably the best you'll be able to afford.

[Chaffinch]

Yes, it used to be 'Aston Martinical' back in the good old days, then it went a bit 'BMWical', but we could live with that, and now a rusty bicycle is probably the best you'll be able to afford.

Haha, for a second there I was almost getting some much needed good advice

[swamp]

Did they lock the stationary cupboard before the rate cut?

[Arturo Bassick]

As a newbie to contracting - is the market cyclical?

Budgets and work loads and other factors.

[Caveat]My experience.
Companies tend to decide project budgets when the new tax year comes so for the UK it tends to better May or June and Europe Feb or Mar. There is a constant flow for the rest of the year as projects are not solely driven by budget.
Often a surge late summer as PM realise that they are going to miss their deadlines.
In Europe Aug and Sep are slow as those are holiday periods and the guys that sign the forms are off for one of those two months.

I have been doing this for 15 years and it feels like swimming against the tide. I have increased my rate year on year (except this year mad) but my outgoings are outpacing that. I do well but my disposable seems to be shrinking. Still way better than perm.

[lukemg]

I 'kin hate clients doing this mid-contract. Fair enough at a renewal, kick out the sob story and offer a lower rate. Most people are on a 3-monther anyway so not going to make any difference to the client.
My policy is to get searching for an alternative and take the reduction if I can't get one. From that point I will remain professional but you can forget about all the usual extras e.g. time, covering people on projects during leave, informal on-call. I also won't stop looking till I find another job (which I never do during a contract) and will walk if need be to take it.

[Chaffinch]

Er, that was good advice.

Yeah, cheers for that

Just light hearted response to the other comment

[alreadypacked]

As a newbie to contracting - is the market cyclical?

The market is cyclical around budgets and holidays, UK is slightly different to Europe.

Financial year starts in April so many projects get their budgets /kick-off then. Depending on the type of work you do will depend on when you get hired for a new project PM, BA first, then BA DBA etc. (not set in stone, but from my experience). Projects are reviewed each quarter and adjustments made. Holidays around August, so new people to be added to project might get delayed until Sept. Most project have a bigger review at the half year mark so more people might be added around October, so look in September but you might not find anything until October. Hiring will go on until end November but then it will go dead after that until maybe until the end of January.

Good news is the European financial year starts January, so if you really need to work they are hiring in December. Depending on budgets in the UK they may pick up a few critical people in the last quarter or if they have a critical go live date the will hire in the last quarter. Then we are back to the beginning again.

I always plan when I am leaving a contract, if I want a new role when that contract is over. I have been offered a 3 month extensions that I have turned down because it would leave me looking for a new role in the middle of summer or the middle of winter. It’s better to finish and get a new 6 month role than take 3 months and have 2-3 months on the bench when you don’t want it. Also being on the bench may turn you desperate and you don’t come off well in interview. The 2-3 months turns into 12.

HTH

[Mich the Tester]

Did they lock the stationary cupboard before the rate cut?

It gets worse; next step is to downgrade the bog roll to tracing paper.