User Profile

[TheDude]

War stories and bluster do not a good developer make....

[TheDude]

They don't need to. They already employ some of the best in the business....

[TheDude]

Because they pay their developers more than that as a perm salary....

[TheDude]

Contractors need to get out of the mindset that they are the finest most indispensable experts available....

[TheDude]

A day out at Cheltenham is a fight in a suit that is two sizes too small and no socks....

[TheDude]

If they ask any questions about gambling debts just say that Iran/North Korea are acting as guarantors.

[TheDude]

Where is the prestige?

Being a developer at an Investment Bank is like being the person who sells the pies at a football club. You are nowhere near the big earners.

Working at Goldman Sachs (Real Madrid) may be more prestigious then Barclays, Credit Suisse or UBS (Southampton)...

[TheDude]

I went from a job where people were in the pub pretty much every lunchtime to working for a US investment bank where I never had a lunchtime drink in three years.

I have spent about 15 years working at various banks and the only lunchtime drinks I had were at Morgan Stanley where it was...

[TheDude]

Same experience here. Sadly they are pretty much the only people calling at the moment....

[TheDude]

It's because every gym bro has a side hustle dispensing unqualified advice on social media....

[TheDude]

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Complain and you might find you are not being paid for another 12 months or more in this market....

[TheDude]

Nothing to regret. Anyone who thinks they have a 'usual rate' anymore is misguided.

Those who live through the good times were fortunate that decent rates were the norm. Those days aren't coming back no matter how skilled you think you are....

[TheDude]

The braggart contractors in my sector started dying out around the time of the pandemic and are now a rarity.

Turns out they were not as indispensable as they thought they were and were mostly bog standard Java/C# devs whose core business was tax efficiency....

[TheDude]

I have had at least ten Indian recruiters contact me for the same banking role in Northampton. Despite me clearly stating the rate is much too low they all seemed to believe that I am definitely interested and start discussing next steps.

[TheDude]

There is no usual day rate anymore....

[TheDude]

...and just like that I am back on the market from the 1st April.

Annoying because I have made non-refundable hotel reservations for office trips but thems the breaks.


I have about 12-15 months of money in the tank but for the first time in my career I am genuinely concerned...

[TheDude]

I am currently on my lowest ever day rate but it is outside IR35 and pretty much fully remote with two (consecutive) days required in the office per month.

The rate is 50% lower than my previous inside gig but looking at the current market I am not complaining.

I do wonder...

[TheDude]

No uptick - pre pandemic I would get a couple of calls per day. I haven't had a call since mid Feb. Part of this is due to companies changing their position on Scala which is my core skill.

My current outside rate is 50% of my previous inside rate and I have had to step outside of financial...