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[Dorkeaux]

If I had a quid for every person who says "I'll never fly SqueezyJet/Ryanair/Wizz etc.." then quietly uses them when it's a little cheaper and/or more convienient I would be considerably more wealthy than I am now.

Airlines each have certain attributes, tedencies towards lateness,...

[Dorkeaux]

If you don't know what you are doing in terms of investment and stock picking (almost no one does) ETFs are a much better than anuities, cash or random stock picks IMO.

You still have to make decisions, though.
And understand what you are doing.

You can buy ETFs that...

[Dorkeaux]

I've worked with Paystream, Giant and now Nasa.

They are largely aligned in terms of their KIDs, but there are some definite differences.

I find that how long it takes to get paid largely depends on the relationship between the agency and the umbrella rather than the umbrella...

[Dorkeaux]

It's a pure game of luck if you don't stack the odds.
By putting a lot of CVs out there, spending a lot of time on Linkedin and Jobserve etc. and talking to a lot of agents about unsuitable roles.

It has become more of a numbers game, but we live in the world we have....

[Dorkeaux]

Agree.

Some additional points that might apply:

Some companies have a contract whereby they train you up and in return you are indentured to them for a certain period.
Usually a year or two. I think it unlikely that if you were in this arrangement it would still apply...

[Dorkeaux]

On another note, has anyone noticed an uptick in contact from agents?
Excluding the obvious chancers, the last two weeks has been relatively lively.

My other KPI, the number of profile views on Linkedin has been slowly increasing for a couple of months.

[Dorkeaux]

I feel that there is a rise in the number of roles given to smaller "Boo-teek" consultancies.
The clients often feel that this is the sweet spot between ability, cost and risk.
Compared to shovelling millions into one of the big consultancies and getting bupkis.

The...

[Dorkeaux]

Welcome, antifragileoperator.

This is a UK contractor forum, but I think this question is timely.
Many of the members here worked in the European markets, it seems like the number is increasing.

My observation is that an increasing number of contracts are via small (sometimes...

[Dorkeaux]

Now Auntie is weighing in, but weirdly from a US point of view: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ewje4xk3yo
"The US economy is growing - so where are all the jobs?"


Tech focussed, it might as well have had "UK" substituted for "US" in the...

[Dorkeaux]

Yeah, I didn't mean to suggest that I don't value PMs and BAs.. I really do.
Nor that the roles are completely gone, only that I'm seeing a _lot_ fewer of them these days. Particularly PMs.

It's normally people in these roles that I seek out first in new contracts. Often to find...

[Dorkeaux]

Have this hand-crafted tropical fruit: ...

[Dorkeaux]

Project Management as a role has been on the decline for over a decade.
I've had clients who abolished the role completely in their organisation.
Non-technical BAs as well.
God save you if your prime skills are Microsoft Project and PowerPoint.

Often these roles are redefined...

[Dorkeaux]

I should mention, I had a chat with my accountant some time ago about what would happen should I die unexpectedly.
He tells me that it happens a lot, and that he had processes in place for his existing clients.
I have no idea if they would take on this sort of work for a new client, but...

[Dorkeaux]

Condolences.

Here is the advice I got from Googling "How to access HMRC website for a company whose director has died".

It all sounds like good advice to me, probably you have done much of it.

Accessing the
HMRC online account for a company after...

[Dorkeaux]

Indeed this.
Relatively few people in our industry have college or university education in computer science. Or math, for that matter.

Which is fine with me, I've posted previously that IT skills are more a talent (like music or languages) than a teachable skill beyond a certain...

[Dorkeaux]

Sure, some.
In the last 5 years, all my clients have shifted to Citrix implementations instead of secure-ish laptops.
But there are still lots that dole out the laptops....

[Dorkeaux]

It appears that the site certificate for contractoruk.com has expired.

Now throwing up the usual warnings in my browser that you may be trying to steal my credit card details.
Long may it profit you..

Time for another few bob in the meter....

[Dorkeaux]

Aggravating. Is this for a permie role?
In defence of the interviewer, Mrs Dorkeaux is often asked to conduct interviews on behalf of PermieCo, her employer.
She is given no agency whatever.
The interviewees will not be working with her, the interview questions are scripted.
...

[Dorkeaux]

I don't think anyone here was suggesting using the cloud as the primary storage for critical data.
A good possibility for backup, though.

[Dorkeaux]

Many of the cheapo consumer NAS devices use a chipset that is a severe bottleneck in terms of performance and reliability.
In otherwords, RAID is pointless if your tulipy hardware fails, bringing all the drives down with it.

I would do my research with that in mind.

I...